Residential only
Puget Sound weather — long mild damp stretches, a handful of hard cold snaps, a few genuinely hot weeks — is close to ideal heat pump territory. That's why so many houses around Tacoma, Lakewood, Puyallup, Parkland, Spanaway and University Place now heat and cool with one. The owner does the diagnosis himself, and the recommendation comes from what the system is actually doing, not from a replacement target.
Most no-cool and weak-heat calls trace back to a short list: refrigerant charge that has drifted or leaked, a defrost control or sensor that isn't clearing frost off the outdoor coil, a failed capacitor or contactor, a coil packed with fir needles and moss, or airflow that was never set up correctly. Damp shaded yards are hard on outdoor units, and a restricted coil looks a lot like a failing compressor until someone measures.
A capacitor, a contactor, a sensor or a control board is usually worth fixing. A compressor failure on an aging system with a discontinued refrigerant usually is not. You'll get the findings, the root cause and the practical options — including the cost of doing nothing for a season — and then you decide. There is no commissioned salesperson in the middle of that conversation.
Sizing matters more than the badge on the cabinet. An oversized heat pump short-cycles, never dehumidifies properly and leaves the far bedrooms uneven. We look at the envelope, the existing ductwork and static pressure, the electrical service, outdoor unit placement and how you actually use the house before specifying anything.
Cold-climate heat pumps hold useful capacity well below the temperatures Pierce County typically sees, which makes all-electric heat realistic for many homes here. Where a gas furnace is already in good shape, a dual-fuel arrangement can be the more sensible build. We're not locked into one manufacturer, so the equipment gets matched to the house and the budget.
Replacement and retrofit pricing follows an on-site evaluation — every home is different, so we don't publish flat prices. Projects needing substantial measurement, calculations and system design may carry a paid design or assessment fee; eligible design fees may be credited toward the project if Dreadnought performs the installation, subject to the proposal.
Common questions
Sometimes it's normal — heat pumps deliver a steadier, lower-temperature air than a gas furnace, and during a defrost cycle the outdoor unit briefly reverses to melt frost, which can feel cooler indoors. But genuinely weak heat usually has a cause: drifted refrigerant charge, a defrost sensor or control fault, auxiliary heat strips that aren't staging, or an outdoor coil choked with fir needles and moss in a damp shaded yard. A gauge set and a few readings tell the difference between normal behavior and a fault.
It depends on the failure, the age of the system and the refrigerant it uses. A capacitor, contactor, sensor, fan motor or control board is usually worth repairing. A failed compressor in an aging system — especially one running a discontinued refrigerant — usually isn't. We'll show you the findings and the realistic options, including what happens if you wait, and you decide. There's no replacement quota on our side of the table.
Yes — Puget Sound's long mild, damp heating season is close to ideal heat pump territory, and the same system cools the house during the handful of hot summer weeks. Cold-climate models hold useful capacity well below the temperatures we typically see, which makes all-electric heat realistic for many local homes. Where a good gas furnace already exists, a dual-fuel setup can also make sense.
Light frost on the outdoor coil during cold damp weather is normal — the unit periodically runs a defrost cycle, which can produce steam and a brief whooshing sound. What's not normal is a coil encased in thick ice that never clears, the unit running constantly without heating, or ice forming in mild weather. Those point to a defrost control fault, low charge or airflow restriction and are worth a diagnostic visit.
In many Pierce County homes, yes. A straight furnace-to-heat-pump conversion uses the existing ductwork after it's evaluated for sizing, leakage and static pressure; a dual-fuel arrangement keeps the furnace as backup for the coldest snaps. Either way the decision follows a look at the house — envelope, ducts, electrical service and outdoor unit placement — not a rule of thumb.