Furnace Installation in Fallon, NV
A new furnace here will run from October through May every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Churchill County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Fallon asks a furnace to run eight months a year
Winter nights here average 22°F from December through February, and homes need heat from October through May. That's eight months of runtime, not a few cold snaps to get through.
A new furnace installed here has to be built for that kind of season, and by law it is. Any non-weatherized gas furnace made since November 2015 has to reach at least 80 percent AFUE. Just over half the homes in this area heat with gas, so that minimum is worth knowing when you're comparing units.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 22°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 55%
- 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 $100 a year to run in Churchill County compared with a gas furnace.
Estimates for a typical Churchill 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.
The license belongs to the contractor, not to this furnace install. The Nevada State Contractors Board tests contractors before they're licensed and keeps a record of that license, so what you're checking is the company or person doing the work, not the job itself.
In most cities and counties, a furnace installation also needs a permit from the local building office, with an inspection once the work is done. That is separate from the state license and covers the job rather than the contractor. Churchill County has that same layer on top of the license, and it matters here since 55% of homes heat with gas.
Sources: Nevada Legislature · Nevada State Contractors Board
- What size furnace does my house need?
- There is no size you can figure from square footage alone. A contractor works this out with a load calculation, which weighs your square footage against your insulation, your windows, your ceiling height, and how the place is laid out. A furnace that is too big will short cycle, heating the house in bursts and wearing out sooner. One that is too small will run flat out all winter and still not keep up on the coldest nights, and here those nights average 22°F. Ask whoever quotes the job to walk you through the load calculation, not just a number pulled from the old furnace's nameplate.
- How do I know it's time to replace my furnace?
- An aging furnace is usually the first sign, especially one working harder than it used to and needing parts that are getting harder to find. Watch for rooms that used to heat evenly and now don't, a furnace that cycles on and off more than it used to, or a gas bill that keeps climbing with no other explanation. If a contractor tells you the heat exchanger needs replacing, that is often the point where a new furnace makes more sense than repairing the old one. With heat needed here from October through May, a furnace on its way out is worth replacing before it fails on one of those 22°F nights.
- Is a high-efficiency furnace worth it?
- It depends on how long you plan to stay in the house and what you're replacing. Every furnace built since November 2015 has to reach at least 80 percent AFUE, so even a standard model today is not wasteful the way an old one might be. A high-efficiency furnace burns less gas to make the same heat, and that adds up over the eight months a year homes here need heat. More than half the homes in Churchill County heat with gas, so for a lot of people here that gas bill is worth weighing. A contractor can run the numbers for your specific furnace and house.