AC & heat pump
AC Keeps Tripping the Breaker? Stop Resetting and Read This First
One trip is an event; repeated trips are a message. Weak capacitors, seized fans, dirty coils, shorted compressors and tired breakers, in diagnosis order.
Formerly Adam & Sam Brothers RepairMountlake Terrace · cooling & heat pumps
AC and heat pump repair a few minutes from our shop in Mountlake Terrace
Our shop sits on St Albion Way near Town Center, so a stalled outdoor unit in Cascade View or Melody Hill is a short drive for us. We fix air conditioners and heat pumps first, and install new ones when repair no longer pays.
- Drive time
- One to three minutes off peak from St Albion Way.
- Electric heat
- About 64% of local homes heat with electricity (Census estimate).
- Power supplier
- Snohomish County PUD electric; Puget Sound Energy gas.
- $85 diagnosticBecomes part of the repair price when you say yes. If you pass on the repair, that visit is all you pay.
- Up to $18 offAny repair requested through the online form. The diagnostic itself is never reduced.
- No-charge site visitInstalls are quoted in writing, equipment and installation work in one number.
Mountlake Terrace began in 1949 on a former World War II landing field, with small cinderblock houses for returning veterans, and 44% of the homes standing today were built between 1950 and 1969. Hardly any of them came with air conditioning, and plenty never had ductwork at all; they warm up with baseboards or wall heaters. So the cooling equipment we work on here is usually younger than the house: a heat pump added during a remodel, a condenser set next to a furnace in the 1990s, or the split systems in Town Center's newer mid-rise buildings. Where ducts do exist, they were usually sized for a 1960s furnace rather than for summer airflow, which matters when we size new equipment.
Most calls start as repairs. A heat pump that hums but won't start, an air conditioner pushing room-temperature air on the first warm June afternoon, a breaker that trips the moment the compressor kicks on. Capacitors, contactors and outdoor fan motors travel on our van, so a good share of these are fixed during the first visit, and our own technicians handle refrigerant in-house under EPA Section 608 rules. When a system is past saving, or a home has never had cooling, we price an installation with the equipment and the work in one written number.
Symptoms we chase down in Mountlake Terrace
Outdoor fan sits still while the unit hums
- Likely cause
- Weak or failed run capacitor
- What we do
- Test it with a meter and swap in a capacitor from van stock
Thermostat clicks, nothing starts outside
- Likely cause
- Burned contactor or a tripped breaker
- What we do
- Check the breaker and the control signal, then replace the contactor if the points are pitted
Heat pump frosted solid on a raw, near-freezing morning
- Likely cause
- Defrost board or coil sensor not starting defrost
- What we do
- Force a defrost cycle and test the sensor and board to find which one quit
Vents blow barely cool air while the unit runs nonstop
- Likely cause
- Refrigerant low from a slow leak
- What we do
- Locate the leak, repair it, then weigh in the correct charge
Breaker trips each time cooling begins
- Likely cause
- Shorted fan motor, failing compressor or a wiring fault
- What we do
- Read amp draw and winding resistance before replacing anything
Water on the floor around the indoor unit
- Likely cause
- Coil iced from a clogged filter or low charge
- What we do
- Thaw the coil, check airflow and charge, clear the drain line
Cinderblock ramblers, condos and Town Center
About half of Mountlake Terrace's homes are single-family houses; a quarter sit in buildings of two to nineteen units and nearly a fifth in buildings of twenty or more. Condo and apartment systems come with their own puzzles: outdoor units on balconies or roofs, line sets running through walls the owner doesn't control, and a board that may need to approve new equipment. Garden-style complexes from the 1970s and 1980s often have a row of outdoor units along one wall, one per apartment, and those units tend to age and fail together. We repair those systems where access allows, and if a replacement needs building sign-off, the estimate lists the details your manager will ask about.
In the older blocks around Lake Ballinger, Cedar Terrace and Gateway, the usual install question is whether a house without ducts can take a central heat pump. A home that still has an old electric furnace already has ducts, and a heat pump with a matching air handler fits into that space. A cinderblock rambler heated by baseboards usually needs new ductwork for the ducted route, so a ductless system often comes out cheaper there; our mini-split page explains that option. With roughly 64% of the city on electric heat, moving off resistance heating is where owners notice the biggest change in the Snohomish County PUD bill, and we check which PUD heat pump programs or rebates apply before you sign anything.
Being a convergence-zone city, Mountlake Terrace gets long stretches of damp weather in the mid-30s each winter, the exact conditions in which an outdoor coil frosts and has to defrost over and over. That is why defrost faults show up here every winter, alongside the summer rush of capacitor failures after a heat spike like the June 2021 heat dome, when Sea-Tac reached an official 108°F. Heat like that is when a capacitor that has been weakening for years finally lets go, usually on the hottest afternoon of the week. Being a few minutes away, we can often get a stalled unit running again before the house has fully heated up, and a tune-up, from $149, catches a tired capacitor before it fails.
What repairs and installs start at here
In Mountlake Terrace, AC and heat pump repair starts at $285. Run capacitors and contactors explain a large share of the no-start calls we get in town. For a house that already has ducts, a heat pump with a new air handler starts at $7,000. Read these as the entry prices for our area rather than a quote for your home: after the diagnostic, you get a written estimate with the exact number before we touch anything. Install prices cover the equipment and the installation, and the site visit plus the written install quote cost you nothing.
- AC / heat pump capacitorfrom $285
- Contactorfrom $285
- Heat pump defrost boardfrom $300
- Outdoor fan motorfrom $425
- Refrigerant leak repair and rechargefrom $500
- Heat pump reversing valvefrom $1,100
- Indoor (evaporator) coilfrom $1,500
- Compressor (out of warranty)from $2,200
- Diagnostic visit$85, included in the repair
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.
System, installed
- Central air conditionerfrom $5,000
- Heat pump outdoor unit onlyfrom $5,250
- Inverter (variable-speed) heat pumpfrom $6,000
- Heat pump with air handlerfrom $7,000
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.
Fix it or replace it in a mid-century house
When the outdoor unit is younger than about ten years and the fault is electrical, such as a capacitor, contactor or fan motor, repair is the sensible move. The harder call comes with leaks and compressor failures on systems added fifteen or twenty years ago, many of which still run on R-22, a refrigerant that is no longer produced and costs a lot to buy reclaimed. Recharging an old, leaking coil with it rarely pays back. In that case we price both paths side by side: the repair, and a replacement heat pump that also takes over the heating from baseboards or a worn electric furnace. In a 1950s house with tight ducts or none, we tell you plainly when the ducted route needs duct work that changes the total, and when ductless is the cheaper whole-house answer. Inside Town Center condos, a replacement also depends on what the building allows, so we confirm that before quoting. You choose with both figures on paper.
Common questions
How quickly can you get to a Mountlake Terrace address?
Our shop is on St Albion Way beside I-5, one to three minutes from most of the city when traffic is light. Reach us in the morning, Monday through Saturday, and a technician can usually come that same day. Because capacitors, contactors and fan motors are already on the van, many repairs wrap up during that first stop.
My house has baseboard heat and no ducts. Can it still get a heat pump?
Yes, though a ducted heat pump would need new ductwork first, and in many 1950s and 1960s homes here that adds real cost. For those houses a ductless mini-split is often the simpler path. If your home has an old electric furnace, the ducts are already there and an air-handler heat pump fits. We visit, look, and quote the options at no charge.
Are there utility programs for switching off electric heat?
Snohomish County PUD supplies electricity here, and its heat pump programs and rebates change from year to year. We don't publish amounts on our site for that reason. When we write your install estimate, we check which PUD programs or rebates fit your home and the equipment we are proposing, and we tell you what paperwork is involved.
What can I check before I call?
Confirm the thermostat is set to cool or heat rather than off, and that the setpoint is past the room temperature. Look at the breaker for the outdoor unit and replace a clogged filter. If the breaker trips again right after a reset, leave it off and call us, because repeated resets can damage a compressor.
Do you work on condo and apartment heat pumps near Town Center?
Yes. We repair split systems and heat pumps in condos and townhomes, including outdoor units on balconies and rooftops when there is safe access. If your building needs to approve a replacement, the written estimate includes the equipment details and placement your board or manager will want to see.
Talk to Adam & Sam
Call (425) 570-9520, or book online; from our shop we're only minutes away. Approve the repair and the $85 diagnostic is folded into the price, and booking online takes up to $18 off the repair. Planning an install instead? The site visit costs nothing.
From Sam’s repair notes
AC & heat pump
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Humming outdoor unit, a fan that needs a stick-start, breaker trips, cooling that quits late in the day: the run capacitor's tells, and the right fix.
AC & heat pump
Outdoor AC Fan Not Spinning: Capacitor, Motor or Contactor — the Stick Test Tells
A still fan on a humming condenser points to one of three parts. Why the stick-start trick is a warning, not a fix, and what each repair involves.
Schedule a repair
Request a visit from Adam & Sam
Send the basics and we call you back with an arrival window, most days the same morning.
- $85 diagnostic Becomes part of the repair price when you say yes. If you pass on the repair, that visit is all you pay.
- Up to $18 off Any repair requested through the online form. The diagnostic itself is never reduced.
- $10 off A second appliance’s diagnostic when we check it during the same trip.