Furnace Installation in Blanding, UT
A new furnace here will run from October through May every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers San Juan County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Eight months of heat, down to 23 degrees
Blanding needs a working furnace from October through May. That is eight months of the year, with winter nights averaging 23°F. A furnace here does not get much of a break between runs.
Any furnace installed new has to meet 80.0 percent AFUE, the federal minimum for a non-weatherized gas furnace. That is the baseline a new install here has to clear, no matter the brand or size.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 23°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 80% AFUE
- the federal minimum any new unit must meet
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A high-efficiency gas furnace would save about $80 a year to run in San Juan County compared with a gas furnace.
Estimates for a typical San Juan County home, from EIA household energy data, Utah fuel prices and NOAA climate normals. Your home will differ.
Utah requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The Division of Professional Licensing tests and keeps records on the contractor, not on any single job. That license follows the person or company doing the work across every job they take on in Utah. Utah also sets $7,000 as the line under which a job does not need a licensed contractor at all, so on smaller jobs that record does not apply.
A furnace installation runs well past that $7,000 line, so the license is what stands behind the person doing this job. In most cities and counties this kind of job also needs a permit from the local building office, with an inspection once the work is done. In San Juan County, close to a third of homes heat with gas.
Sources: Utah State Legislature · Utah Department of Commerce
- What size furnace does my house need?
- A contractor works this out from a load calculation, not from your square footage alone. That calculation looks at your insulation, your windows, your ceiling height, and how much air leaks in and out, since two homes the same size can need different amounts of heat. A furnace that's too big will short cycle, turning on and off before it warms the house evenly. One that's too small will run constantly and still leave you cold on the coldest nights, and nights here average 23°F in December through February. Ask the contractor to walk through the calculation with you rather than quote a size off the square footage.
- How do I know it's time to replace my furnace?
- Age is one sign, alongside how the furnace has been running. Watch for uneven heat between rooms, a furnace that cycles on and off more than it used to, or a rise in your gas bill with no other explanation. If a repair bill starts to approach what a new furnace would cost, or if the furnace needs a repair every heating season, replacing it makes more sense than patching it again. Homes here need heat from October through May, eight months of the year, so a furnace that's struggling has a lot of months left to prove it.
- Is a high-efficiency furnace worth it?
- It depends on how many months your furnace runs and what you're replacing. Every non-weatherized gas furnace made since November 19, 2015 has to reach at least 80 percent AFUE, so even a standard furnace today is more efficient than an older one it might replace. High-efficiency furnaces go higher than that minimum, meaning less of the gas you burn is lost up the vent. In a place where heat runs eight months of the year, that difference gets more use than it would somewhere with a short winter. A contractor can price out both options for your house and let you compare them directly.