Townhomes, condos and a lot of electric heat
In a Wilsonville townhome or condo, the walls you control decide where a mini split can go. More than half the homes here aren’t detached houses, and about half heat with electricity.
That combination makes most Wilsonville jobs small and specific: one or two heads in an attached home, or a head in the great room of a single-level house. Firlands Portland Mini Splits sizes each head to its room and fits the heads, line sets and outdoor unit onto your side of the building.
What we usually find
- baseboards or wall heaters, room by room
- one free outside wall, or a courtyard or patio, in an attached home
- vaulted great rooms in single-level houses
Project
What a one-head great-room job in Charbonneau looks like
The problem
Baseboards under every window, and a vaulted great room with a wall of south glass that runs past 85°F on summer afternoons. The owners want one system for the room they live in, not a head in every bedroom.
The house
The great room combines living, dining and kitchen under a vaulted ceiling, with the two bedrooms down a short hall. One side wall is shared with the neighboring home; the other opens onto a small courtyard. The panel is in the garage. Wilsonville issues the mechanical permit, and Clackamas County the electrical.
What we decide, and why
One 15,000 BTU head, sized from the great room's load with its south glass and tall ceiling, goes high on the courtyard-side wall, throwing air across the room toward the hall. The bedrooms keep their baseboards. The outdoor unit sits on a low stand in the courtyard, set back from the neighbor's window and screened by the existing planting, after the owners clear the location and cover color with their association.
The work
One three-inch hole through the courtyard wall, a 12-foot line set in a short cover painted to match the siding, and a 20-amp, 240-volt circuit from the garage panel through the attic to a disconnect beside the unit. The two great-room baseboard circuits come off. The line set holds a nitrogen pressure test and a vacuum below 500 microns, and the drain falls to the courtyard bed by gravity, tested with water.
A vaulted room stratifies: warm air collects at the peak in winter. Mounting the head on the lower side wall and setting its louvers to blow down keeps the heat where people sit.
What it changes
The room the owners spend their days in heats and cools on one head, the baseboards that ran most come off, and because the head replaces electric resistance heat in an attached home's main living space, they can apply for Energy Trust's $1,800 incentive.
- Location
- Charbonneau, Wilsonville
- House
- 1984 single-level attached home, about 1,400 square feet, electric baseboards, vaulted great room
- Equipment
- One 15,000 BTU cold-climate wall head, outdoor unit on a low stand in the side courtyard
- Price
- $6,950, permits included
- Time on site
- 1 day, then the city mechanical and county electrical finals
A city permit and a county one
Wilsonville splits a mini split’s permits. The city’s Building Division handles the mechanical side, and electrical permits for the whole city are issued through Clackamas County.
| Part of the job | Who issues and inspects it |
|---|---|
| Heat pump, heads and line sets | City of Wilsonville |
| New 240-volt circuit and disconnect | Clackamas County |
The Washington County side
The north edge of Wilsonville sits in Washington County. Inside city limits, the permits still come from the city and Clackamas County, not Washington County. We confirm the parcel, file both, include the fees in the price and close both finals.
Townhomes, condos and apartments
More than half of Wilsonville’s homes aren’t detached houses, and about one in eight is in a building of 50 units or more.
| Your home | Where things usually go |
|---|---|
| Townhome | Heads and lines on the back or end wall; outdoor unit on the patio or in a courtyard |
| Condo, low-rise | Outdoor unit on a balcony bracket or a ground pad the association approves |
| Condo, larger building | A roof stand and a shared chase, if the building allows them |
If your association has exterior rules, we prepare the unit location, line route, cover color and a sketch for approval. Condo mini split installation covers the approval process, and mini split placement the mounting options.
Two floors, one free wall
A two-story Wilsonville townhome has shared side walls, so every head upstairs and down has to reach the back or end wall.
How we lay it out
- Downstairs living space. A head high on the back wall, with the line set straight through behind it.
- Upstairs bedroom on the back. Its own head, with the line set dropping down the back wall in one cover beside the downstairs run.
- Upstairs bedroom on the front. A head on the landing that reaches it with the door open, or a small ducted unit in the attic with a grille in the room.
Both heads usually share one outdoor unit on the patio. We check that each drain can fall to the outside by gravity; a head on an interior wall needs a small pump.
Quiet in a tight courtyard
Courtyards and patios in attached homes put the outdoor unit close to your windows and your neighbor’s.
We set it on rubber pads, away from bedroom windows on either side, with a foot of clearance from the wall and room above for the air it throws. An inverter unit runs at low speed most of the time, which is when it’s quietest.
One head in the great room
Many single-level Wilsonville homes have a great room: living, dining and kitchen under one vaulted ceiling. That’s where the heat bill and the summer heat both concentrate.
Why one head often works
The great room is open, so one head reaches all of it. We size it from that room’s load, including the glass and the tall ceiling, and mount it on a lower side wall with the louvers aimed down, because warm air collects at the peak. The bedrooms can keep their baseboards, or join later on a multi-zone system.
The incentive, and if you rent
Wilsonville is PGE territory, so Energy Trust of Oregon’s ductless incentive applies when the system replaces electric resistance heat in the main living space.
| Your home | Incentive |
|---|---|
| Detached house, owner-occupied | $800 |
| Townhome or other attached home | $1,800 |
| Rental, or income-qualified household | $1,800 |
About half of Wilsonville’s homes are rented. If you rent, a mini split is the owner’s decision. If you own rentals, each qualifying home gets the $1,800 rate. Mini split rebates in Oregon and mini split for rental property cover the details.
Winter on both sides of the county line
Clackamas County’s heating design temperature is 24°F; Washington County’s is 27°F. Wilsonville straddles the line, so we size to the colder figure.
Each head carrying a main room is a cold-climate unit, checked for output below the design low. In a baseboard home the bedrooms or a bathroom keep their heaters as backup for a cold snap or a service visit. Baseboard to mini split covers the order rooms come off.
Newer homes with ducts
Not every Wilsonville home is on baseboards. In the newer neighborhoods such as Villebois and Frog Pond, a house built with a gas furnace and ducts usually needs help in only one room.
There, the job is usually one room the ducts don’t keep up with: a bonus room, a top-floor bedroom or an office over the garage. A single-zone head or a small ducted unit in the attic fixes it without touching the furnace. Gas-heated homes don’t qualify for Energy Trust’s ductless offer.
Wilsonville prices
Firlands’ typical range for a single head is $4,000 to $8,500, and for two heads on one outdoor unit $6,500 to $12,000.
Three or four heads typically run $9,000 to $18,000 and up. A condo roof stand or a long route through a shared chase costs more than a patio unit with a short line. Taking baseboard circuits off usually frees enough panel space for the new circuit. Mini split installation cost in Portland breaks the price down.