Furnace Installation in Tooele, UT
A new furnace here will run from October through May every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Tooele County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Eight months of heat, and nights that drop to 20°F
Tooele County needs a furnace running from October through May. That's eight months of the year, and on winter nights the temperature averages 20°F, so the furnace you install has to hold up to a long, cold season, not just take the edge off a few cold snaps.
Most homes here heat with gas. Any non-weatherized gas furnace built since November 2015 has to reach at least 80 percent AFUE. That's the floor, not a feature, so the real question when you install is whether to meet that minimum or go higher for a season this long.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 20°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 77%
- 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 $90 a year to run in Tooele County compared with a gas furnace.
Estimates for a typical Tooele 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 state license is tested and tied to the contractor, not to this one job, so it tells you the person or business behind the work has met Utah's standard and is on record with the Division of Professional Licensing. Work under $7,000 falls outside that requirement, but a furnace installation runs well past that mark, so this is a job the state expects a licensed contractor to hold.
The license covers who is doing the work. The permit covers whether the work itself gets checked. Furnace installation involves a gas connection, and a bad one is the dangerous part of the job, which is why most cities and counties in Utah require a permit and an inspection once the furnace is in. With 77% of homes in Tooele County heating with gas, that inspection is doing real work here, not just paperwork.
Sources: Utah State Legislature · Utah Department of Commerce
- What size furnace does my house need?
- The right size depends on your square footage, your insulation, your windows, and your ceiling height, so a contractor works this out room by room rather than guessing from house size alone. This matters more here because winter nights average 20°F, and a furnace that is too small will run constantly and still fall behind on the coldest nights. One that is too big will short cycle, turning on and off often, which wears out parts faster and leaves rooms feeling uneven. Ask for a load calculation, not just a number based on your last furnace.
- How do I know it's time to replace my furnace?
- Rising repair bills, a furnace that struggles to keep up, or a needed repair every winter are the usual signs. Homes here need heat from October through May, eight months of the year, so a furnace that is failing gets tested hard for most of the year rather than a few weeks. If yours is short cycling or making new noises, replacing it before it fails outright means you are not without heat during a cold stretch. A contractor can tell you whether what you are seeing is normal wear or the furnace nearing the end.
- Is a high-efficiency furnace worth it?
- It depends on how long you plan to stay in the house and how much you run the furnace. Non-weatherized gas furnaces sold since November 2015 have had to reach at least 80 percent AFUE, so even a standard new furnace is not inefficient. A high-efficiency model burns less gas to make the same heat, and with heat needed eight months a year here, that difference adds up over a season. A contractor can walk you through the models available and price the job for your house.