Ductless · Portland Metro & SW Washington
Finally fix the room that's always wrong.
The bonus room over the garage that's always 10 degrees off. The converted attic that overheats in July. The ADU that needs its own thermostat. Quiet wall-mounted heads heat in winter and cool in summer, each one sized to its own room with a Manual J, with the Energy Trust rebate filed at install.
- 1 to 5 headsSingle-zone or multi-zone
- ~$1,500Energy Trust rebate, filed at install
- Manual JPer zone, not a catalog default
The assessment walks head placement with you and hands you a written quote with the rebate netted out.
The Portland ductless standard, in five facts
- 1 to 5 headsSingle-zone or multi-zone.
- Manual JPer zone. Not a catalog default.
- ~$1,500Energy Trust rebate, filed at install.
- Daikin · GoodmanAuthorized dealer.
- Any installerWe service any mini-split, any brand.
- Oregon CCB #40820
- WA Contractor #LARSEMS742D7
Pick the job you have.
One room, the whole house, or a system somebody else put in.
One zone
The room over the garage. The new sunroom. The bedroom the central system never quite reaches. One head, sized to that zone, solves it.
The whole house, no ducts
Older homes can skip the duct retrofit entirely by going multi-zone, 3 to 5 heads. One outdoor unit, individual heads in the living spaces, full whole-home conditioning without cutting drywall.
A mini-split someone else installed
Most HVAC companies refuse to service a ductless system they didn't install. We service any mini-split, any brand, any installer: annual cleaning and refrigerant check, head, condenser or line set repair, control board or remote diagnosis, performance diagnostics, leak detection and recharge, and adding zones to an existing system.
Tell us what you're noticing.
If your house is on this list, the assessment is short.
The house never had ducts.
Bungalows, four-squares and mid-century homes built with radiators or baseboards. Cutting ducts in after the fact is invasive; heads condition the rooms instead.
One room is always 10 degrees off.
The room over the garage, the new sunroom, the space the central system was never designed to reach.
You're finishing an ADU or a detached studio.
Portland leads the country in ADU permits. Rentals, in-law suites and home offices each need their own thermostat, their own schedule and ideally their own utility tracking.
The converted attic or basement is never right.
Finished spaces sharing an HVAC system with the original house get the wrong temperature for the floor they're on. A head decouples the comfort.
You want room-by-room control.
Set the bedroom cooler than the living room overnight. Run the ADU on its own schedule. Quiet inverter operation, so you can sleep with the unit on.
You want one system that heats and cools.
A ductless mini-split is a heat pump. Cold-climate models keep heating capacity strong well into Oregon's coldest winter nights.
The assessment is short.
A Tru72 technician walks each zone, calculates the load, and hands you a written quote with head placement options and the Energy Trust rebate netted out.
Comfort where your house never had it.
Three reasons ductless is the right answer for many Portland homes.
The home doesn't have ducts.
Many older Portland-area homes were built without forced-air ductwork: radiator-heated, baseboard-heated, or wood-stove-heated bungalows. Cutting in ducts after the fact is invasive and expensive.
What it means: the heads condition the rooms you use without opening the walls of the rest of the house.
Each room gets its own thermostat.
Cool only the rooms you're using. Set the bedroom cooler than the living room overnight. Run the ADU on a separate schedule from the main house.
What it means: you stop paying to condition rooms nobody is in, and the system matches how your household actually lives.
Lower bills, smaller footprint.
A ductless mini-split is a heat pump. Inverter-driven variable-speed compressors run at 30 to 60% capacity most of the time, not full-on/full-off cycling.
What it means: meaningfully lower operating costs than older equipment, and cold-climate models keep heating capacity strong well into Oregon's coldest winter nights.
Two ways to install ductless.
Only one matches the room you live in.
| What is being compared | Typical ductless install | Tru72 ductless install |
|---|---|---|
| Head sizing | Head sized by room size. A 12,000 BTU head for any room "about 500 sq ft." Result: short-cycling, uneven temperatures, higher bills, shorter equipment life. | Head sized to the room you actually have. Manual J load calculation per zone factors windows, sun exposure, insulation, and how the room gets used. Result: consistent comfort, lower bills, equipment that lasts longer. |
| Outdoor unit | Outdoor unit oversized to cover the heads. Sum of nameplate capacities, no diversity factor. Result: outdoor unit short-cycles, you hear it kick on and off constantly, system wears out fast. | Outdoor unit matched to real combined load. Diversity factor applied, because not every zone runs full-bore at once. Result: quiet outdoor operation, smooth temperature control, longer equipment life. |
| Line sets | Line sets routed the easy way. Shortest path, bends and lift heights treated as afterthoughts. Result: system runs below design efficiency from day one. You paid for performance you never get. | Line sets routed against manufacturer spec. Max line length, lift height, and trap placement engineered. Result: system runs at design efficiency. You get the performance you bought. |
| Evacuation | Vacuum done quickly. Short evacuation, system charged from the precharge, on to the next install. Result: residual moisture in the lines slowly corrodes the compressor. Failures show up in year 3, year 4, year 5. | Triple evacuation to manufacturer spec. Vacuum held below moisture-removal threshold, refrigerant charged by weight if needed. Result: clean dry lines, full equipment lifespan, no avoidable mid-life failure. |
| Rebate | Rebate paperwork is your problem. Apply yourself, wait six to eight weeks for the check. Result: you front the full install cost and chase the reimbursement. | ETO rebate filed at install. $800 on a qualifying ductless heat pump, or $1,800 in a rental, an attached home or a Savings Within Reach household, netted out on the invoice. Result: you pay the post-rebate balance from day one. No chasing checks. |
Five steps to finally get the room right.
Assess, calculate, place, install, commission.
Walkthrough
Walk every room that needs conditioning. Discuss head placement, condenser location, line-set routing options.
Manual J per zone
BTU load calculated for each zone separately. Diversity factor applied to size the outdoor unit honestly.
Itemized quote
Head selections, condenser model, line-set scope, electrical work. ETO rebate netted out before you sign.
Install
Heads mounted to spec. Line sets routed correctly. Condenser placed for service access. Electrical sub-panel as needed.
Commissioning
Triple evacuation. Charge verified. Each zone tested heat and cool. Numbers documented on the invoice.
Why ductless costs less than you'd guess.
Between Oregon rebates, federal tax credits, and Tru72 filing the paperwork at install, the out-of-pocket cost of a ductless system is meaningfully smaller than the sticker. Energy Trust of Oregon pays $800 on a qualifying ductless heat pump in an owner-occupied home and $1,800 in a rental, an attached home or a household enrolled in Savings Within Reach. Eligibility is narrow — the home has to be on PGE or Pacific Power, the heat pump has to replace electric heat, and it can't have a gas backup — so we confirm it at the assessment instead of promising it.
| Improvement | Owner-occupied home | Rental, attached home or Savings Within Reach |
|---|---|---|
| Energy Trust of Oregon Ducted heat pump | $1,000 | $3,000 |
| Energy Trust of Oregon Ductless heat pump | $800 | $1,800 |
| Energy Trust of Oregon Extended capacity heat pump | $1,000 | $2,000 |
| Energy Trust of Oregon Smart thermostat | $250 | $250 |
| State and federal credits Consult your tax professional | Varies | Varies |
Who the heat pump money is actually for: homes served by PGE or Pacific Power, where the new heat pump replaces electric heat. A ducted system has to replace an electric forced-air furnace and rate HSPF2 7.50 or better. A ductless one has to replace electric resistance heat in the main living space, rate HSPF2 8.10 or better, and put its largest indoor head in that room. Neither can have a gas backup, and if an electric furnace stays on as auxiliary heat the thermostat lockout has to be set to 35°F or lower. One ductless incentive per home.
The extended capacity figure needs a central ducted system on a traditional air handler that meets CEE Tier 1 Path A — slim-duct types don't qualify. The smart thermostat incentive runs the other way round: it is for a home heated by a gas forced-air furnace, and it drops to $100 if the installer isn't actively licensed.
The right-hand column is the amount for a rental, for an attached home — a duplex, triplex, fourplex, townhome or rowhome — or for a household enrolled in Energy Trust's Savings Within Reach. The application has to be in within 60 days of the install. We file it.
Two other programmes can stack on top: Oregon's Heat Pump Purchase Program, run by the Oregon Department of Energy, and the federal HEAR rebates for income-qualified households. Both move, so we confirm what is open and what it is worth at the assessment rather than print a figure here. Your tax professional can help you identify and file for any applicable state or federal credits or rebates.
Figures are Energy Trust of Oregon's own, from its Oregon Residential Incentive Information Sheet effective January 1, 2026 (PI 0320I v2026.1). Incentives depend on funding and are subject to change.
Keep reading.
Heat Pumps
The ducted cousin of ductless. Manual J on every install, ETO rebates filed at install.
Home Performance Testing
Blower-door and duct-leakage testing tells you whether ductless is the right call before you commit.
Tru Comfort Maintenance
Two diagnostics a year keep ductless heads at design efficiency.
Common questions about ductless mini-splits.
Plain answers from a diagnostic-first crew.
What is a ductless mini-split, and how is it different from a regular heat pump?
A ductless mini-split is a heat pump that distributes conditioned air directly into rooms through wall-mounted (or ceiling-cassette) indoor units called "heads," rather than through ductwork. One outdoor condenser can serve one zone or several, depending on the model. The same heat pump principle applies: heating in winter, cooling in summer, on a single electric platform. The difference is the absence of ducts, which makes it the right answer for homes that don't have ducts and for zones the central system can't reach well.
When should I choose ductless instead of a ducted heat pump?
Ductless is the right answer when: the home doesn't have existing ductwork (common in older Portland-area homes), the existing ductwork is leaky or undersized and remediation would cost more than ductless heads, you have a specific zone (ADU, addition, converted attic, sunroom, primary bedroom) that the central system doesn't condition well, or you want individual room control. Ducted is the right answer when whole-home conditioning through existing competent ductwork is the priority. The assessment tells you which path is right for your home.
How many heads can be on one outdoor unit?
Most residential multi-zone systems run 2 to 5 indoor heads on a single outdoor condenser. The right number is driven by Manual J per zone, not by how many rooms you want to condition. We do not oversize the outdoor unit to feed extra heads; we size each head to its zone and the outdoor unit to the combined load.
Are ductless mini-splits energy-efficient in Portland's climate?
Yes. Cold-climate ductless mini-splits maintain meaningful capacity down into the 20s Fahrenheit, which covers most of Portland's winter. Inverter-driven variable-speed compressors match output to demand minute by minute, which is significantly more efficient than the cycling on/off pattern of older fixed-speed equipment. PNW electric rates also favor heat pump technology in general; ductless inherits that advantage.
What ductless rebates apply in Oregon?
Energy Trust of Oregon typically offers approximately $1,500 on qualifying ductless heat pump installs for Oregon homeowners. Income-qualified households can stack to $3,000 in ETO rebates plus up to $2,000 from the state's Heat Pump Purchase Program. Your tax professional can help you identify and file for any applicable state or federal credits or rebates. Tru72 Portland is an active ETO Trade Ally and files the rebate paperwork at install so the discount appears on the invoice.
Do ductless heads look bad on the wall?
Modern ductless heads are slim, white, and unobtrusive, but they are visible. Ceiling-cassette and concealed-duct options exist for homeowners who want the head out of sight; they cost more and require ceiling access. The assessment includes a walkthrough of head placement options so you see exactly where each one would mount before you sign.
How long does a ductless installation take?
A single-zone install (one outdoor unit, one indoor head) is typically a one-day job (6 to 8 hours, two-person crew). Multi-zone installs depend on head count and line-set routing complexity: 2 zones run a long day or split across 1.5 days, 3 to 5 zones run 2 days. Electrical sub-panel work adds time and is scoped at quote.
Can a ductless system be added to a home that already has central HVAC?
Yes, and it's a common Portland configuration. The central system handles the main floor; a ductless head conditions the addition, the converted attic, or the primary bedroom that the central system never quite reached. Tru72 evaluates the two systems together so they cooperate rather than fight each other on the shared spaces.
Will Tru72 service a mini-split that another contractor installed?
Yes. Most HVAC companies refuse to service a ductless system they didn't install. Tru72 services any mini-split, any brand, regardless of who installed it. Annual cleaning, refrigerant check, head replacement, control board diagnosis, leak detection, recharge, or zone addition. The same diagnostic-first method applies whether we installed the system or not.
Finally use every room in the house.
Schedule a free in-home walkthrough. A senior technician runs the Manual J on each zone, walks placement with you, and hands you a written quote with the Energy Trust rebate already deducted. The room either gets fixed, or you find out honestly that ductless isn't the right path.
- Portland Metro & SW Washington(541) 652-6299
Ductless mini-split installation across the Portland metro and SW Washington
Tru72 Heating & Cooling installs and services single-zone and multi-zone ductless mini-splits in Portland, Lake Oswego, Beaverton, Tigard, Tualatin, West Linn, Oregon City, and across the Columbia in Vancouver, Camas, Washougal, Battle Ground, Ridgefield and La Center, from the Lake Oswego dispatch at 5 Centerpointe Dr, Ste 87. Manual J per zone. Authorized Daikin and Goodman dealer. Active Energy Trust of Oregon Trade Ally, rebates filed at install. Oregon CCB #40820 · WA #LARSEMS742D7.
