AC & heat pump
AC Keeps Tripping the Breaker? Stop Resetting and Read This First
One trip is an event; repeated trips are a message. Weak capacitors, seized fans, dirty coils, shorted compressors and tired breakers, in diagnosis order.
Formerly Adam & Sam Brothers RepairMukilteo · Harbour Pointe to Old Town
AC and heat pump repair from Harbour Pointe to the ferry
Harbour Pointe was built out in the 1980s and 1990s, and many of its homes cool with an air conditioner on a gas furnace. We repair those systems and the older ones near Old Town and Picnic Point, and install new ACs and heat pumps.
- Drive time
- 16–20 minutes to Harbour Pointe; 24–30 to Old Town.
- Housing age
- About 49% of homes built from 1980 to 1999.
- Heating mix
- Roughly 53% gas and 44% electric heat.
- $85 diagnosticBecomes part of the repair price when you say yes. If you pass on the repair, that visit is all you pay.
- Up to $18 offAny repair requested through the online form. The diagnostic itself is never reduced.
- No-charge site visitInstalls are quoted in writing, equipment and installation work in one number.
Mukilteo grew in steps. Boeing opened its Everett plant next to Paine Field in 1967, and housing followed; then the Harbour Pointe planned community, started in 1978 and annexed in 1991, doubled the city and was largely built out by about 2000. The SR 525 Speedway corridor, annexed in 1980, added apartments and older houses of its own. Today about 49% of homes date from 1980 to 1999 and 24% from after 2000, Gas heats about 53% of homes and electricity 44%. Many Harbour Pointe houses have a gas furnace in the garage or a closet with a central air conditioner's indoor coil on top, and that pairing is the setup we repair most often here.
Many original 1990s systems have already been replaced once, and the ones that haven't are past twenty years. Heat brings their weak points out. Paine Field set its official record of 100°F in 2009 and tied it in 2020, and during the June 2021 heat dome it reportedly sat at 100°F for a while. Days like that expose contactors with burned points, tired capacitors and coils that have been leaking slowly for years. We carry the electrical parts on the van, handle refrigerant repairs in-house with our own technicians, and when a system is old enough that a repair won't pay, we quote a new central AC or a heat pump with the numbers side by side.
Mukilteo AC and heat pump warning signs
Outdoor unit hums or buzzes but won't start
- Likely cause
- Contactor points burned, pitted or stuck open
- What we do
- Replace the contactor, and check the capacitor while the panel is off
Outdoor unit keeps running with the thermostat off
- Likely cause
- Contactor contacts welded closed by arcing
- What we do
- Shut off power at the breaker, replace the contactor, and test the thermostat circuit
Cooling fades over several seasons
- Likely cause
- Slow leak in an older indoor coil
- What we do
- Find the leak with an electronic detector or bubble test, then quote coil repair or replacement
Ice forming on the coil above the furnace
- Likely cause
- Dirty filter, slow blower or a low charge
- What we do
- Check the filter and blower airflow first, then refrigerant pressures and superheat
Rust and pitting on a unit near the bluff
- Likely cause
- Marine air corroding the coil, cabinet and wiring
- What we do
- Inspect wiring connections, the coil and the base pan, and advise on how much life is left
Water in the furnace closet in summer
- Likely cause
- Clogged condensate line from the coil
- What we do
- Clear and flush the line, then check the pan, the float switch and the drain path outside
Harbour Pointe, Old Town and Picnic Point
Harbour Pointe's planned streets, laid out from 1978 and built through the 1990s around the golf course and Kamiak High School, are the heart of our Mukilteo work. Houses there went up in a short span, so their cooling equipment tends to age in step, and neighbors on the same street often face the same repair-or-replace question within a few years. Many of those systems were installed with R-22 before the switch to newer refrigerants, which matters the moment a coil or compressor fails. Harbour Pointe is sixteen to twenty minutes from our shop by I-5 and SR 525; Old Town, down the hill by the ferry terminal and the 1906 lighthouse, is twenty-four to thirty.
Old Town and the bluffs above Mukilteo Boulevard face the open water, so outdoor units there deal with salty, windy air, and fasteners, coils and electrical connections corrode faster than they would in Harbour Pointe. Picnic Point, the unincorporated area to the south in the Mukilteo School District, is older still: about 41% of its homes were built between 1960 and 1979, mostly houses with electric or gas furnaces and no cooling. For those, a heat pump that uses the existing ducts is often the simplest way to add air conditioning, and it trims winter heating costs in the electric-heated ones, where baseboards or an electric furnace have been doing all the work.
Mukilteo gets its electricity from Snohomish County PUD and its gas from Puget Sound Energy. When we price a heat pump, we check which programs or rebates either utility offers for your situation; amounts and rules change, so we don't promise any. We serve the whole city, the Speedway corridor and Picnic Point with no distance surcharge, and same-day visits are possible Monday through Saturday when you reach us in the morning. A furnace in the garage is easy to work around; one in a tight closet or attic takes more planning for a coil swap, which the estimate reflects.
Mukilteo starting prices
Mukilteo AC and heat pump repairs begin at $285: a burned contactor is a quick fix, while a leaking indoor coil in a Harbour Pointe furnace closet is a larger job. If the outdoor unit is old enough that the coil isn't worth doing alone, a new central air conditioner starts at $5,000. These figures are where prices begin in our area, not your quote; after the diagnostic you receive a written estimate with the exact amount and decide from there. Install prices include the new equipment and its full installation, and the site visit and the written install quote cost nothing. Near the water, the estimate also notes any corrosion-resistant options we recommend, priced separately so you can weigh them.
- AC / heat pump capacitorfrom $285
- Contactorfrom $285
- Heat pump defrost boardfrom $300
- Outdoor fan motorfrom $425
- Refrigerant leak repair and rechargefrom $500
- Heat pump reversing valvefrom $1,100
- Indoor (evaporator) coilfrom $1,500
- Compressor (out of warranty)from $2,200
- Diagnostic visit$85, included in the repair
Starting prices for the north Seattle area, 2026. The $85 diagnostic is included in any repair you approve, and the exact price is in the written estimate before work starts.
System, installed
- Central air conditionerfrom $5,000
- Heat pump outdoor unit onlyfrom $5,250
- Inverter (variable-speed) heat pumpfrom $6,000
- Heat pump with air handlerfrom $7,000
Install prices start here, equipment and installation included, before any utility program. Multi-zone systems are priced after a visit. We do not charge for the site visit or the written quote.
A 1990s Harbour Pointe system: coil, or everything?
On a Harbour Pointe system from the mid-1990s, the indoor coil is usually what forces the decision. Replacing a coil means recovering refrigerant, brazing, a vacuum and a full charge, and if the outdoor unit runs on R-22, the new coil gets paired with old, expensive refrigerant and an outdoor unit near the end of its life. In that case we recommend pricing the coil and outdoor unit together, and in a gas-heated house we suggest making that outdoor unit a heat pump so it can share the heating with the furnace. A burned contactor or failed capacitor is the opposite case: cheap, quick, and worth doing on almost any system. Near the bluffs, we also factor in how much corrosion the cabinet and coil show before recommending a major repair on the outdoor unit. In Picnic Point's 1960s and 1970s houses without any cooling, the decision is simpler: a heat pump on the existing ducts usually beats adding a separate air conditioner. Both prices go in writing, and you choose.
Common questions
Is Old Town Mukilteo in your service area?
Yes. Old Town is twenty-four to thirty minutes from our shop and Harbour Pointe sixteen to twenty, both off peak. We serve all of Mukilteo and Picnic Point with no distance surcharge, and same-day visits are available Monday through Saturday when you reach us in the morning.
My outdoor unit keeps running when the thermostat is off. Is that a problem?
Yes. It usually means the contactor's contacts have welded shut, so the compressor runs without a call for cooling. That can freeze the indoor coil and overheat the compressor. Switch off the breaker for the outdoor unit and call us; a contactor replacement is a quick repair.
Should I replace my AC with a heat pump?
If your gas furnace is healthy, a heat pump outdoor unit in place of the AC cools the same and also handles heating on mild days, which is most of a Mukilteo winter. It costs somewhat more than a straight AC. We price both and explain where the furnace takes over.
Which utilities and programs apply in Mukilteo?
Snohomish County PUD provides the electricity and Puget Sound Energy the gas. Heat pump programs differ between the two and depend on your current heating and the equipment chosen. We check which programs or rebates apply when we quote, without promising amounts.
Will salt air near Old Town shorten a new unit's life?
It can, which is why placement and equipment choice matter near the water. We recommend coated coils where available, keep the unit out of the direct wind, and use corrosion-resistant hardware. Regular coil cleaning during a tune-up, from $149, also helps.
Talk to Adam & Sam
From Harbour Pointe, Old Town or Picnic Point, call (425) 570-9520 or book online. When you approve the repair, the $85 diagnostic goes toward it, and booking online lowers the repair by up to $18. For a new AC or heat pump, the site visit costs nothing.
From Sam’s repair notes
AC & heat pump
The Small Part That Kills Most ACs in a Heat Wave: Capacitor Failure Explained
Humming outdoor unit, a fan that needs a stick-start, breaker trips, cooling that quits late in the day: the run capacitor's tells, and the right fix.
AC & heat pump
Outdoor AC Fan Not Spinning: Capacitor, Motor or Contactor — the Stick Test Tells
A still fan on a humming condenser points to one of three parts. Why the stick-start trick is a warning, not a fix, and what each repair involves.
Schedule a repair
Request a visit from Adam & Sam
Send the basics and we call you back with an arrival window, most days the same morning.
- $85 diagnostic Becomes part of the repair price when you say yes. If you pass on the repair, that visit is all you pay.
- Up to $18 off Any repair requested through the online form. The diagnostic itself is never reduced.
- $10 off A second appliance’s diagnostic when we check it during the same trip.