# Mini Split Installation in Camas, WA

> Mini split installation in Camas, WA for the bonus room, upstairs or old mill-town house the furnace misses, sited out of the gorge wind, with Camas permits.

URL: https://firlandsportlandminisplits.com/service-areas/camas-wa/

Service area, Washington

Mini split installation in Camas, WA for the bonus room, upstairs or old mill-town house the furnace misses, sited out of the gorge wind, with Camas permits.

(971) 458-4515

Last Updated: November 12, 2026

61%

of Camas homes heat with utility gas (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year)

2001

median year Camas homes were built (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year)

Permits

City of Camas (mechanical); Washington L&I (electrical)

Electric utility

Clark Public Utilities

## Rooms that need help in Camas

### The room the furnace misses

Most Camas houses heat with gas. A bonus room over the garage or a west bedroom upstairs is where a single head earns its keep.

### Wind out of the Gorge

Camas sits where the Columbia River Gorge opens up. Winter storms bring a hard east wind, so the outdoor unit goes on the lee side.

### Older houses downtown

About one Camas home in ten predates 1940, mostly near the old downtown, often with no ducts upstairs at all.

## One room that never feels right

In a Camas house, the call is usually about one room: a bonus room over the garage, a west bedroom upstairs, or a converted space the furnace’s ducts barely reach.

Most Camas homes heat with gas, and many were built after 2000 with a furnace sized for the whole house and ducts that favor the main floor. [Firlands Portland Mini Splits](https://firlandsportlandminisplits.com/) puts a head in the room that’s wrong, sized to that room, and leaves the furnace to do what it already does well.

### Why one head instead of a new furnace

- the furnace still works, and replacing it doesn’t fix a long, leaky duct run
- the problem room gets its own thermostat, so it stops dragging the rest of the house
- one head, one outdoor unit, usually one day on site

A [single-zone mini split](https://firlandsportlandminisplits.com/single-zone-mini-split-installation/) is the starting point. Two problem rooms can share a [multi-zone outdoor unit](https://firlandsportlandminisplits.com/multi-zone-mini-split-installation/).

Project

## Inside a Prune Hill bonus room over the garage

### The problem

The 15 by 22 foot bonus room over the three-car garage is 10 degrees warmer than the rest of the house on summer afternoons and cold in January. It sits at the end of the longest duct run, over an unheated garage.

### The house

Prune Hill houses of this age usually have a gas furnace in the garage or attic and ducts that were never balanced for the room over the garage. This house faces east, with the bonus room's long wall on that side, and Camas sits at the west mouth of the Columbia River Gorge, where winter storms bring a hard east wind.

### What we decide, and why

We leave the furnace alone and give the bonus room its own 12,000 BTU head, sized for the west window, the garage ceiling below and the knee-wall attic. The outdoor unit goes on the west side of the garage, away from the east wind, on an 18-inch stand. Because the house heats with gas, the utility's ductless rebate doesn't apply, and we say so on the estimate.

### The work

The head mounts on the bonus room's west wall; the line set drops through the garage ceiling inside a closet chase and out through the garage wall in a short painted cover. A 20-amp, 240-volt circuit runs from the garage panel. The line set holds a nitrogen test and a vacuum below 500 microns; the drain falls to daylight and is tested with water.

The City of Camas issues the mechanical permit and charges a fee for each mini split installed; the electrical permit comes from Washington L&I, because Camas doesn't run its own electrical inspections.

### What it changes

The bonus room becomes a room people use in July, and the furnace stops running long cycles just to warm the one room it never could.

Location

Prune Hill, Camas

House

2004 two-story, gas furnace and central air

Equipment

One 12,000 BTU cold-climate wall head and its outdoor unit

Price

$6,850, city permit fees included

Time on site

1 day, then the final inspections

## Where the Gorge wind changes the plan

Camas sits at the west end of the Columbia River Gorge, and in winter storms the east wind comes straight down the river toward town.

The nearest airport weather station is Troutdale, directly across the river. Over six winters, Troutdale logged 122 days with gusts of 40 mph or more; Portland’s airport logged 40. In the January 2024 storm, Troutdale’s gusts topped 53 mph while the temperature sat in the teens.

### What wind does to an outdoor unit

A coil facing that wind packs with ice and blown snow, so the unit defrosts more and heats less. Defrost water that can’t drain freezes into a dam under it. A house with an open east exposure, or one that looks straight up the river, takes it hardest.

### How we site it

- the west or north wall, in the lee of the house, even when the east wall is closer
- a stand that lifts the coil 12 to 18 inches above ice and drifting snow
- out of the roof’s drip line, with a clear path for defrost water

That can add ten feet of line set. [Mini split placement](https://firlandsportlandminisplits.com/guide/mini-split-placement/) covers clearances and covers.

## Camas permits: city mechanical, state electrical

In Camas, the City of Camas Building Division issues the mechanical permit, and Washington L&I issues the electrical permit for the new circuit.

| Permit | What it covers | Who issues it |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Mechanical | The heat pump, line set and drains | City of Camas Building Division |
| Electrical | The 240-volt circuit and disconnect | Washington L&I |

The city’s fee schedule charges a base mechanical permit fee plus a fee for each mini split, heat pump or air conditioner installed, so a two-head system pays a little more than one. We apply for both permits, book both inspections and close them out with the finals. Fern Prairie addresses outside city limits go to Clark County instead.

## Washington rules for the circuit

Every mini split needs its own 240-volt circuit and a disconnect within sight of the outdoor unit, and in Washington the branch circuit from the panel is electrical-contractor work.

The HVAC specialty covers wiring at the equipment; the new circuit from the panel falls under Washington’s electrical contractor rules. Your estimate names who wires it. In many newer Camas houses the panel sits in the garage, which keeps the circuit short. [Mini split electrical requirements](https://firlandsportlandminisplits.com/guide/mini-split-electrical-requirements/) covers sizes and panel space.

## Three kinds of Camas houses

Camas has a newer hillside majority, an older mill-town core and some rural edges, and each one changes the job.

### Prune Hill and Grass Valley, 1990s to today

Two-story houses with gas furnaces, central air and a bonus room or third-floor loft. The usual job is one or two heads for the rooms at the end of the duct runs. Line sets can often drop through a garage ceiling or a closet instead of running up the outside wall.

### Downtown and the older streets

About one Camas home in ten was built before 1940, mostly near the old downtown and the mill. These houses often have a furnace on the main floor and no ducts upstairs, which suits a head in each upstairs bedroom. In any house built before 1978, we set up lead-safe dust containment before we drill.

### Fern Prairie and the rural edge

Larger lots, longer distances to the panel, and some homes on electric baseboards or a heat pump that has seen better days. Where a house heats with permanently installed electric resistance heat, Clark Public Utilities’ $900 ductless rebate can apply.

## Cooling as much as heating

Many Camas calls are about summer, not winter, and the heat pump does both from the same head.

The ENERGY STAR cooling design figure for Clark County is 88°F, and a head sized for a hot bonus room handles that easily. In a heat wave far above that, a mini split’s output falls off, so we size west-facing rooms with margin.

### Heat in the shoulder seasons

Every head we install is a heat pump, so the same room gets efficient heat in October and April without starting the furnace for the whole house. [Mini split sizing](https://firlandsportlandminisplits.com/guide/mini-split-sizing/) explains how we size a room for both seasons.

## How a Camas job runs

A Camas job runs the same way as one in Portland, with two permit offices instead of one and a siting check for the east wind.

1. **Photos and a phone range.** Send photos of the room, the outside walls and the panel.
2. **A visit that measures the room.** We check the windows, the insulation, which way the room faces and where the wind hits the house.
3. **A written estimate.** It lists the head and its capacity, the outdoor unit and its stand, the line-set route, the drain, the circuit, the permits, the price and the exclusions.
4. **Permits, then the install.** City mechanical and L&I electrical permits, then a nitrogen pressure test, a vacuum below 500 microns, and a water test of every drain.
5. **The finals.** Both inspections close out, and you get the test readings on paper.

[The mini split installation process](https://firlandsportlandminisplits.com/guide/mini-split-installation-process/) walks through install day hour by hour.

## What Camas jobs cost

Firlands’ typical range for one head is $4,000 to $8,500, and for two heads on one outdoor unit $6,500 to $12,000.

### What moves the price

- a sheltered west-side outdoor unit that needs a longer line set
- a line set that has to climb two stories outside
- a head that can’t drain by gravity and needs a pump
- a panel without room for one more 240-volt circuit

The [cost estimator](https://firlandsportlandminisplits.com/tools/mini-split-cost-estimator/) gives a quick range, and [single-zone vs multi-zone](https://firlandsportlandminisplits.com/guide/single-zone-vs-multi-zone-mini-split/) helps when two rooms need help. For a whole-house decision, [mini split vs central heat pump](https://firlandsportlandminisplits.com/guide/mini-split-vs-central-heat-pump/) lays out the trade-off.

## Services in Camas

- [Service**Single-zone installation** Single zone mini split installation: one indoor head and one outdoor unit for the room the furnace never reaches, sized to that room.](https://firlandsportlandminisplits.com/single-zone-mini-split-installation/)
- [Service**Multi-zone installation** Multi zone mini split installation: two to five rooms on one outdoor unit, each head sized to its own room and set to its own temperature.](https://firlandsportlandminisplits.com/multi-zone-mini-split-installation/)
- [Service**ADUs and additions** A mini split for an ADU, an addition or a sunroom, planned with the build instead of after it.](https://firlandsportlandminisplits.com/adu-mini-split-installation/)
- [Service**Garage and workshop** Garage mini split installation for a workshop, home gym or studio, sized for the insulation the building really has.](https://firlandsportlandminisplits.com/garage-mini-split-installation/)
- [Service**Baseboard to mini split** Replace baseboard heat with a mini split: ductless heads take over in the rooms that use the most heat, and add cooling.](https://firlandsportlandminisplits.com/baseboard-heat-to-mini-split/)

## How a job usually runs in Camas

### The call

You tell us the rooms and send a few photos; we give a rough range.

### The visit

We measure each room, look at the walls, the panel and where the outdoor unit can go.

### The estimate

A written estimate: each head, the line-set route, drains, circuit, permits and price.

### Install and handover

Pressure test, vacuum, startup, a walk-through, and the permits closed out.

## Neighborhoods, landmarks and routes

- Downtown Camas
- Prune Hill
- Grass Valley
- Lacamas Shores
- Fern Prairie
- Crown Park

### Landmarks

- Lacamas Lake
- Round Lake and Lacamas Regional Park
- Fallen Leaf Lake
- Downtown Camas on NE 4th Avenue
- The paper mill on the Columbia

### Getting around

- SR-14 along the Columbia
- NE Lake Road
- NE 192nd Avenue to east Vancouver
- NE Everett Street north to Lacamas Lake

[Open Camas, Washington in Google Maps](https://www.google.com/maps/search/?api=1&query=Camas%2C%20Washington)

## Camas: questions

### What does a single-room mini split cost in Camas?

Firlands' typical range for one head is $4,000 to $8,500, and harder single-zone jobs run $8,500 to $12,000 and up. Two heads on one outdoor unit run $6,500 to $12,000. The City of Camas permit fees are included, and the written estimate sets your price.

### Who issues mini split permits in Camas?

Two offices. The City of Camas Building Division issues the mechanical permit and charges a fee per mini split installed. Camas doesn't run its own electrical inspections, so the circuit's permit comes from Washington L&I. We apply for both.

### Can I get a rebate for a mini split in a gas-heated Camas house?

Usually not from the utility. Clark Public Utilities' $900 ductless rebate requires permanently installed electric resistance heat being replaced. If your Camas house heats with baseboards, wall heaters or an electric furnace, it can qualify.

### Which side of a Camas house should the outdoor unit go on?

Usually the west or north side, out of the east wind that comes out of the Gorge in winter storms. We set it on a stand above ice and drifting snow, out of the roof's drip line, with room for defrost water to drain.

### Should I add a mini split or replace my Camas furnace with a heat pump?

If the furnace is young and the problem is one or two rooms, a mini split for those rooms is cheaper and fixes the cause. If the furnace is near the end of its life, a ducted heat pump or a ducted mini split can take over the whole house.

## Nearby service areas

- [Oregon**Fairview** Mini split installation in Fairview for townhouses and apartments on electric heat: back-wall installs, the higher Energy Trust incentive, and city permits.](https://firlandsportlandminisplits.com/service-areas/fairview/)
- [Washington**Washougal** Mini split installation in Washougal, WA: heat pumps for manufactured homes and wood-stove houses, set out of the gorge wind, with Washougal and L&I permits.](https://firlandsportlandminisplits.com/service-areas/washougal-wa/)
- [Oregon**Troutdale** Mini split installation in Troutdale: cooling gas-heated houses without new ducts, outdoor units sited for the gorge wind, and City of Troutdale permits.](https://firlandsportlandminisplits.com/service-areas/troutdale/)

## Guides for houses in Camas

- [Learn**Where should a mini split go?** Head placement inside, the outdoor unit outside, and the Portland rules and weather that decide both.](https://firlandsportlandminisplits.com/guide/mini-split-placement/)
- [Learn**Do mini splits work in cold weather?** Portland's winters are mild with sharp exceptions: freezing rain, an east wind and a few nights in the teens.](https://firlandsportlandminisplits.com/guide/do-mini-splits-work-in-cold-weather/)
- [Decision Guide**Mini split vs central heat pump: which fits a Portland house?** It comes down to your ducts: whether they exist, where they reach, and what shape they're in.](https://firlandsportlandminisplits.com/guide/mini-split-vs-central-heat-pump/)
- [Decision Guide**Single zone vs multi zone mini split: which should you choose?** One outdoor unit per room, or one outdoor unit for several rooms, and why the answer isn't always the cheaper one.](https://firlandsportlandminisplits.com/guide/single-zone-vs-multi-zone-mini-split/)

## Get an estimate in Camas

Tell us which rooms aren't working and where the house is in Camas.

(971) 458-4515