Furnace Installation in Battle Mountain, NV
A new furnace here will run from September through May every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Lander County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Nine months of heat, winters near 20°F
Battle Mountain needs a working furnace from September through May. That is nine months out of the year, not just the deep winter stretch, and winter nights average 20°F. A furnace here is not idling most of the year. It is running close to nine months straight, and it has to hold up through nights cold enough that a failure means a cold house fast.
Almost half of homes in the area heat with gas. Any new gas furnace installed today has to reach at least 80 percent AFUE, the federal minimum for non-weatherized models. Lander County has also seen its share of winter storms and damaging wind over the past ten years, the kind of weather that puts a furnace to the test right when the house needs it most.
- 9 months
- September through May, your furnace is on duty
- 20°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 $130 a year to run in Lander County compared with a gas furnace.
Estimates for a typical Lander County home, from EIA household energy data, Nevada fuel prices and NOAA climate normals. Your home will differ.
Nevada requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
Nevada licenses the contractor, not the job, so this installation is covered by the same license that covers any other work they do. The Nevada State Contractors Board is the one that issues it, and holding one means the board has a record of who this contractor is.
A furnace installation in most cities and counties also needs a permit from the local building office, with an inspection once the work is done. That inspection is what catches a bad gas connection, the part of this job where a mistake actually matters. Close to half the homes in Lander County heat with gas.
Sources: Nevada Legislature · Nevada State Contractors Board
- What size furnace does my house need?
- There is no single size that fits every house, and picking one off the square footage alone usually gets it wrong. A contractor sizes it by working through your insulation, your windows, your ceiling height, and how much cold your walls let in during a 20°F night, since that is what winter lows look like here. Too big a furnace short cycles and wears out early. Too small and it will run constantly from September through May and still not keep up. A load calculation at your house is the only way to get the right number.
- How do I know it's time to replace my furnace?
- Watch for uneven heat between rooms, a furnace that runs longer than it used to, or repairs that keep coming back. Age matters too. Furnaces built after November 2015 have to hit at least 80 percent AFUE, so if yours is older than that and still running on its original burner and heat exchanger, it's working harder than a current model would to do the same job. With heat needed here nine months out of the year, a furnace that's struggling isn't a small inconvenience. If a contractor tells you the repair cost is closing in on what a new furnace would run, that's usually the signal to stop patching it.
- Is a high-efficiency furnace worth it?
- It depends on what you're comparing it to and how long you plan to stay in the house. A high-efficiency furnace burns less gas to make the same heat, which matters here since close to half the homes in Lander County heat with gas and the season runs nine months long. The tradeoff is a more complex furnace with a secondary heat exchanger and a condensate system, which means more that can need service down the road. A contractor can walk through your specific furnace options and what each one means for your house, since a price comparison isn't something to guess at.