Furnace Installation in Park City, UT
A new furnace here will run from August through June every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Summit County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Park City asks a furnace to run almost all year
Winter nights here average 12°F, and homes need heat from August through June. That is 11 months a year the burner is doing real work, not a short season with a few cold snaps.
A furnace installed here has to be sized for that low a night and built to run that many months without a break. Most homes in the area heat with gas, and any new gas furnace made today has to reach at least 80 percent AFUE. That is the federal minimum, not a special upgrade.
- 11 months
- August through June, your furnace is on duty
- 12°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 84%
- of homes here heat with gas, so most furnaces here burn gas
- 80% AFUE
- the federal minimum any new unit must meet
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A high-efficiency gas furnace would save about $140 a year to run in Summit County compared with a gas furnace.
Estimates for a typical Summit 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 license comes from the Division of Professional Licensing. It covers the contractor, not each separate job. Utah also sets a line at $7,000. Work under that amount does not need a licensed contractor. A furnace installation runs well past that line, so the contractor on this job is expected to hold the license.
A permit and inspection from the local building office are the other piece of this, in most cities and counties, for a job like a furnace replacement. Almost all homes in Summit County heat with gas, and a bad gas connection is the dangerous part of an install like this. The inspection is where that gets checked, separate from whatever the state license already covers.
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 the place is laid out, since two homes the same size can need different furnaces. With winter lows here averaging 12°F, undersizing leaves you cold on the coldest nights, and oversizing makes the furnace cycle on and off more than it should. Ask the contractor to run the calculation rather than quote a size off the square footage.
- How do I know it's time to replace my furnace?
- Age is one sign, but how the furnace is running matters more. Homes here need heat 11 months out of the year, so a furnace nearing the end of its life gets less rest than it would somewhere else. Rising repair bills, uneven heat between rooms, and a furnace that runs longer to hold the same temperature all point toward replacement. If a repair would cost a large share of what a new furnace costs, replacing it is usually the better move, and a contractor can walk you through that comparison for your unit.
- Is a high-efficiency furnace worth it?
- It depends on how much you heat and how long you plan to stay in the house. Homes here need heat from August through June, so a more efficient furnace has more months of the year to make up the difference in what it costs to run. Furnaces made since November 2015 already have to reach 80 percent AFUE, so the question is whether stepping up further makes sense for your house and your budget. A contractor can lay out the efficiency options for the specific furnace you are replacing.