Ductless mini splits in Falls Church.

Falls Church is one of the two places, with McLean, where boilers are a regular part of our heating work. A house that heats with hot water has nothing for cool air to travel through, so the choices for summer are ductwork fitted into the attic or a head in each room that needs it. Ductless skips the attic work: from each head, a refrigerant line and a small drain pass through the wall to the outdoor unit.

Radiator houses rarely want just one room done, so the zone count matters more here than the single-zone price. Price two heads at $11,000 to $15,000 installed and three at $12,500 to $18,000. A typical layout puts one in the main living space and one in each bedroom upstairs, all fed by a single outdoor unit with enough ports for every head.

West Falls Church and Lake Barcroft are mostly single-family houses, close to half built before 1960, and a room added decades later often sits off the main system entirely. The City of Falls Church’s heat pump guidance covers ductless as well as ducted, and it flags what to check first: many older homes run on 60 or 100 amp service, and any wiring change is electrical permit work, checked at inspection. A mini split needs its own circuit, so look at the panel early.

Close to half the City’s homes, and more than 6 in 10 in Bailey’s Crossroads, are in buildings of ten units or more. There a head usually goes in the one room the unit’s system can’t keep up with, a corner bedroom or a sun-facing living room, and where the outdoor half can sit is the board’s call, so get that answer before the quote.