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North Eastside heating & cooling

HVAC Contractor in Cottage Lake, WA

Cottage Lake HVAC is a residential HVAC contractor in Cottage Lake, WA, providing furnace repair, heat pump repair, furnace installation, heat pump installation, ductless mini-split installation, air conditioning repair, air conditioning installation, HVAC maintenance and tune-ups, and ductwork and indoor air quality service. We serve Cottage Lake and the nearby communities of Woodinville, Redmond, Duvall, Bothell, Kirkland and Maltby.

  • Furnaces, heat pumps, ductless and central air
  • Gas, propane and all-electric homes
  • Quote before any work begins
Call (425) 491-6784

Heat Not Working? Tell Us What's Going On

Free estimatesRequest online, no obligation
Permit-readyKing County & city permits
LocalCottage Lake & the Eastside
Straight quotesPrice before work

Heating and Cooling Services

Residential only. If it heats, cools or moves air in a Cottage Lake home, we repair it, replace it or keep it running.

Heating and Cooling for Homes Around Cottage Lake

Cottage Lake is unincorporated King County, about six miles northeast of Redmond, and the homes here are spread out: big wooded lots, long private drives, lakefront places, horse properties, and newer houses with bonus rooms, shops and guest suites. That mix means the right fix for a cold house on Avondale Road can be very different from the right fix in a Woodinville subdivision, so every visit starts with finding out what you actually have.

Some streets have Puget Sound Energy natural gas and some don't. Homes off the gas main heat with propane, oil, electric baseboards or a heat pump, and plenty of houses have two of those. A lot of larger homes also run more than one system, like a furnace for the main floor and a ductless unit for a bonus room or shop.

October is when the calls start. The first cold, wet nights show which furnaces skipped their tune-up and which heat pumps are low on refrigerant or iced over. Getting a system checked before the first real freeze is easier than an emergency call in January.

The June 2021 heat dome, when Seattle reached 108°F, changed how Eastside families think about cooling. Many homes built without air conditioning now add a heat pump or ductless mini-split, which heats all winter and cools on the few brutal summer days.

Storms matter too. Wind storms like the November 2024 bomb cyclone knocked out power across the Eastside for days. When the power comes back, it's common to find a furnace or heat pump that won't restart.

PSE offers rebates on some heating upgrades, including electric heat to heat pump conversions and adding a heat pump to a gas furnace. The rebate guide on this site explains which programs fit which homes.

Houses among tall evergreens on the shore of Cottage Lake
Homes on the shore of Cottage LakePhoto: Joe Mabel, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

A Short History of Cottage Lake

People were crossing this ground long before the roads. The Simump people traveled east from today's Hollywood Hills along the south side of the lake, roughly where NE 165th Street runs now, on the way to the Carnation area. The Nielsen family homesteaded in 1876 and built a log house over the west ridge. Around 1886, Redmond pioneer William Perrigo ran an outpost of his trading post at the south end of the lake, and Ezra Jurey built a house on the south shore in 1891.

Logging drove the area in the 1890s, and Cottage Lake School opened in 1899 in the middle of a logging community. Electricity and telephones arrived in 1920 with help from the Cottage Lake Civic Club, and the Seitman family started the Highlander Dairy in 1937.

In 1942 Norm and Georgianna Fragner opened Norm's Resort on the lakeshore. For decades it was where families swam, fished and held company picnics, and its bait shop sign, “Norm's Got Worms,” became a local landmark. King County bought the property in 1991 with open space bond money, opened it as a public park in 1992, and rededicated it on May 28, 1999, after a renovation that added the fishing pier and a boardwalk through the wetland.

Today Cottage Lake is a census-designated place of 22,857 people (2020 census) spread across nearly 23 square miles. Most of it drains to the Sammamish River, and the eastern edge drains to the Snoqualmie.

Students and teachers posing on the steps of Cottage Lake School in 1909
Cottage Lake School, 1909Photo: Pierson & Co. (public domain) via Wikimedia Commons
People swimming off the beach and float at Norm’s Resort on Cottage Lake in 1964
Swimming at Norm’s Resort, 1964Photo: Seattle Municipal Archives, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Children playing on a water slide in Cottage Lake in 1964
The swim area at Norm’s Resort, 1964Photo: Seattle Municipal Archives, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Around Cottage Lake

Cottage Lake Park, at 18831 NE Woodinville-Duvall Road, has the fishing pier, a boardwalk across the marsh, picnic shelters and free summer concerts. Cottage Lake Creek feeds Bear Creek, which runs about 12 miles from Paradise Lake near Maltby to the Sammamish River at Marymoor Park. Nearby are the Tolt Pipeline Trail, the Sammamish River Trail and Kathryn Taylor Equestrian Park for riders.

Cottage Lake under a blue sky with evergreens along the far shore
Cottage Lake in MayPhoto: Steven Pavlov, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Wooden boardwalk crossing the marsh at Cottage Lake Park
The marsh boardwalk at Cottage Lake ParkPhoto: Joe Mabel, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Mallard ducks on the shore of Cottage Lake next to the pier
Mallards by the Cottage Lake pierPhoto: Joe Mabel, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Gravel path and kiosk at Kathryn Taylor Equestrian Park
Kathryn Taylor Equestrian ParkPhoto: Steven Pavlov, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Grassy trail through evergreen forest on the Tolt Pipeline Trail
Tolt Pipeline TrailPhoto: vmenkov, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Paved Sammamish River Trail lined with trees near Little Bear Creek
Sammamish River Trail near Little Bear CreekPhoto: Joe Mabel, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

How a Service Call Works

Call or request

Tell us what the system is doing and when it started.

Diagnosis

A technician tests the system and finds the cause.

Clear quote

You get the price before any work starts.

Fix and follow-up

The repair or install gets done and the system is tested.

Guides for Cottage Lake Homeowners

Questions Cottage Lake Homeowners Ask

Do I need a permit to replace my furnace or heat pump?

Usually, yes. In unincorporated King County, installing, replacing or relocating a furnace or air conditioner needs a residential mechanical permit, applied for through MyBuildingPermit.com. Homes inside Woodinville, Redmond or Bothell city limits go through that city instead. A heat pump or new circuit may also need an electrical permit. Your contractor should handle the permits.

Is a heat pump enough for winters in Cottage Lake?

For most homes, yes. Modern cold-climate heat pumps keep heating well below freezing, and many homes keep a furnace or electric backup for the coldest nights. A load check decides what size you need.

My furnace works but the house won't stay warm. Why?

Common causes are a clogged filter, leaky or disconnected ducts in the crawl space or attic, a failing blower or an undersized system. A technician can find which one.

My house is on propane. Can I switch to a heat pump?

Yes. Many homes off the gas main replace a propane furnace with a heat pump, or keep the furnace as backup for the coldest nights. A load check and a look at the electrical panel come first.

What is a dual-fuel (hybrid) system?

It pairs an outdoor heat pump with a gas furnace on one thermostat. The heat pump heats in milder weather and the furnace takes over in cold snaps. PSE offers a rebate for this setup to its natural gas customers.

Is there still a federal tax credit for a new heat pump?

Not for 2026 installs. The IRS says the energy efficient home improvement credit covers equipment placed in service before December 31, 2025. State and PSE programs are still running.

What does HVAC repair cost in Cottage Lake?

It depends on the system, the part and access, so every job is quoted after a technician sees it. Call (425) 491-6784 for a free estimate.

Where We Work

Cottage Lake and the surrounding north Eastside communities:

  • Cottage Lake
  • Woodinville
  • Redmond
  • Duvall
  • Bothell
  • Kirkland
  • Maltby

Cold house, noisy furnace, or thinking about a heat pump?

Talk to a local HVAC technician today.

Call (425) 491-6784