Formerly Adam & Sam Brothers RepairShoreline · Ductless heat pumps
Shoreline was mostly built in one burst after the war, and many of those houses still heat with baseboard or an aging electric furnace. We install mini-splits that replace that heat, and we repair the newer heads going into townhomes by the stations.
Between 1950 and 1957 the area that became Shoreline grew faster than anywhere else around Seattle, and the houses from that era still set the pattern: one-story ramblers on modest lots in Ridgecrest, Briarcrest, Echo Lake and Highland Terrace. Many sit over a crawlspace or a daylight basement, which gives us more than one way to route a line set. About half of Shoreline homes heat with electricity, often baseboards, and many of the rest rely on a gas furnace feeding ducts laid out seventy years ago. Both groups end up asking the same question. How do you add efficient heat and real cooling to a house whose ducts are missing, undersized or tied to a furnace that is nearing retirement?
A ductless mini-split is often the cleanest answer. The heads go on the walls of the rooms you use, the line set runs outside to a compact heat pump, and the old system can stay as backup or be shut down once you trust the new one. We plan those conversions room by room, and the refrigerant work stays with our own technicians under EPA Section 608 rules. We also service the mini-splits that builders have installed in many newer Shoreline townhomes, since the state energy code that took effect in March 2024 pushes new buildings toward heat pumps. Our van reaches most of the city in 8–11 minutes from Mountlake Terrace.
Baseboard-heated Shoreline houses are a common conversion for us to plan. Some have an old electric furnace with ducts that can take a ducted heat pump; others have tight 1950s ducts, no ducts at all, or ductwork so tired that reusing it makes little sense, and that is where ductless heads fit. We usually suggest one head in the main living area and another for the bedroom wing, so the baseboards can sit idle for most of the year. They stay on the wall as backup, and we plan the heating side so you can decide later, on your own schedule, whether any of them should come out.
The west side of the city is a different environment. In Richmond Beach and Innis Arden, salt air off Puget Sound works on outdoor coils, and view homes with big west-facing windows can turn a living room into a greenhouse on a July afternoon. We choose outdoor locations sheltered from the prevailing wind where possible, rinse coils on service visits, mount units on wall brackets where a bluff lot has little flat ground, and size heads for the afternoon sun instead of the floor area alone.
East of I-5, the new townhomes near the 148th and 185th light rail stations often came with a small mini-split already installed, sometimes only one head for three floors. We clean them, repair them and add zones to them. Shoreline is also a convergence-zone city, where a 2008 band of snow left 3.5 inches, so outdoor units belong on stands. The November 2024 bomb cyclone knocked out power to about 43,000 City Light customers, and the surge when power returns is one way an inverter board gets damaged. Seattle City Light supplies Shoreline's electricity, and we check what City Light and the city currently offer for heat pumps before you commit.
Shoreline mini-split repair and cleaning start at $285. On a leak we find it, fix it and charge the system to the correct weight, and if the leak turns out to be inside an indoor coil rather than at a joint, you hear that before any repair starts, along with the cost of a coil versus a new system. For a new system, one head on one outdoor unit starts at $4,000 installed, equipment included, and a conversion that needs more heads adds from $2,250 for every zone after the first. Whole-house multi-zone systems for baseboard or electric-furnace conversions are quoted on request, and the site visit and written quote cost you nothing. These are area starting prices, not a quote for your job. A repair is priced in the written estimate that comes out of the diagnostic; when you convert a house, the figure follows our measurement of the rooms.
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.
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.
If you already have a mini-split, the age and the failure decide most of it. A drain, a sensor, a fan or a single leaking flare on a system under ten years old is worth repairing. A coil eaten through by salt air on a beachside unit, or a compressor failure past about twelve years, usually means replacement makes more sense. The bigger choice in Shoreline is often what to do with the old heat. If the baseboards or an old furnace still do most of the work and the mini-split covers one room, it may be time to plan a multi-zone layout that lets the old system retire. In a post-war rambler with three bedrooms, two or three well-placed heads can carry nearly the whole house. We write the repair, the replacement and the larger conversion as separate options so you can compare them.
In many Shoreline homes, yes. Two or three heads usually cover a post-war rambler, and the baseboards can stay in place as backup while you get used to the heat pump. If the house also has ducts in good shape, a ducted heat pump may be the better fit, and we tell you which way we would go after looking at the house. Cooling comes along either way.
On Daikin systems, U0 generally signals a refrigerant shortage, which means a leak somewhere, often at a flare connection. Topping it off without finding the leak only buys a few weeks. We test pressures, locate the leak with a detector or a nitrogen test, repair it, pull a vacuum and recharge by weight. Leave the unit off until then if it is icing.
Often, yes. Some outdoor units installed in new townhomes can accept another head, while others are single-zone only and need a second outdoor unit. We check the model, the electrical capacity and where a line set can run on a tight lot. The quote lists the options, including whether an added zone or a separate system makes more sense.
It can. Salt spray corrodes the thin aluminum fins and copper of the outdoor coil faster than inland air does. Rinsing the outdoor coil with fresh water a couple of times a year helps, as does placing the unit on the side of the house away from the wind off the water. For new installs, some models offer coated coils.
Yes. Shoreline is on Seattle City Light, and the programs that apply depend on your current heat source, the equipment and sometimes your income. Sorting out which ones fit your situation is part of writing the quote. We do not promise any amount, because these programs change during the year.
Talk to Adam & Sam
Call (425) 570-9520 and read us the error code on the head, or book online and save up to $18 on the repair. If you go ahead with the repair, the $85 diagnostic is counted inside it; a conversion walk-through and written quote cost nothing.
Mini-split
No ducts, room-by-room control, heating and cooling from one wall unit: why mini-splits suit North Seattle metro homes and what a clean install looks like.
Schedule a repair
Send the basics and we call you back with an arrival window, most days the same morning.