Furnace Installation in Economy, PA
A new furnace here will run from October through May every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Beaver County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Economy asks a furnace to run eight months of the year
Winter nights here average 23°F, and homes need heat from October through May. That is eight months of the burner cycling on and off, most of it in temperatures cold enough that a furnace can't take a night off.
Most homes in Economy heat with gas, and any non-weatherized gas furnace built since November 2015 has to reach at least 80 percent AFUE. That is the floor a new installation has to clear, not a target. With storms and wind events on record here often enough to knock out power, a furnace that starts back up reliably on its own once power returns matters too.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 23°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 70%
- 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 $130 a year to run in Beaver County compared with a gas furnace.
Estimates for a typical Beaver County home, from EIA household energy data, Pennsylvania fuel prices and NOAA climate normals. Your home will differ.
Pennsylvania requires contractors to register with the state.
That registration puts the business on file with the state and gives you a name to check if something goes wrong. It does not mean anyone tested the contractor's furnace work. Pennsylvania also does not let Beaver County or its towns layer on their own HVAC license, so this registration is the only state-level record that exists here.
What protects you on a furnace install in Beaver County is the permit. Most local building offices require one for a furnace replacement, along with an inspection once the work is done, and that inspection is what checks the gas connection and venting, the part of this job that can actually hurt someone. Most homes in Beaver County heat with gas, so that inspection is doing real work here, not a formality.
Source: Pennsylvania General Assembly
- What size furnace does my house need?
- It depends on your square footage, your insulation, your ceiling height, and how many windows you have facing north. A contractor works this out room by room, not off a chart, because a furnace that's too big will short cycle and one that's too small won't keep up when it's 23°F outside. With winters this cold running from October through May, getting the size right matters more here than in a milder place. Ask for a load calculation, not just a guess based on your old unit.
- How do I know it's time to replace my furnace?
- If it's more than 15 years old, or it's struggling to keep the house warm on the coldest nights, or you're calling for repairs every winter, it's time to start looking. A furnace that shuts off and won't restart, or one that's cracked its heat exchanger, needs replacing, not fixing. Rising gas bills with no other explanation are also a sign the furnace is losing efficiency as it ages. Since this area needs heat 8 months a year, a furnace on its way out gets more chances to fail here than somewhere with a short winter.
- Is a high-efficiency furnace worth it?
- Every non-weatherized gas furnace made since November 2015 has to hit at least 80 percent AFUE, so the real question is whether it's worth paying more to go above that. With 70.2 percent of homes here heating with gas and 8 months of heating season, any gain in efficiency has more months to pay itself back in than it would somewhere warmer. A high-efficiency furnace also vents differently, through a side wall instead of a chimney, which can matter depending on how your house is set up. A contractor can walk through the actual models and what fits your house.