Furnace Installation in Reno, NV
A new furnace here will run from October through May every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Washoe County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Reno asks a lot of a furnace
Homes here need heat from October through May, 8 months a year. On winter nights that average 23°F, a furnace is cycling on for most of the year, not just a few cold snaps.
Any gas furnace installed today has to reach at least 80 percent AFUE. That is a federal floor, not a local one. Washoe County has also seen 232 winter storms and 343 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and in 2024, 13% of Nevada households lost power for 24 hours or more. A furnace installed here should account for those stretches without power, not just an average night.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 23°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 61%
- 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 $120 a year to run in Washoe County compared with a gas furnace.
Estimates for a typical Washoe 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 Nevada State Contractors Board issues that license to the contractor, not to the individual job, so the board has tested and keeps a record of the business doing the work, not just a filing on paper.
For a furnace install in Washoe County, the license is what stands behind the person in your house, but the job itself still needs a permit from the local building office, with an inspection once the furnace is in. Most homes here run on gas, and a furnace installation includes a gas connection, which is the part worth having checked by someone other than the installer.
Sources: Nevada Legislature · Nevada State Contractors Board
- What size furnace does my house need?
- The right size depends on your home's square footage, ceiling height, insulation, window count, and layout, so there's no single number that fits every house. A furnace that's too big cycles on and off too often and wears out faster. One that's too small runs constantly and still can't keep up when winter nights drop to 23°F. A contractor works this out with a load calculation, not a chart based on square footage alone.
- How do I know it's time to replace my furnace?
- Watch for rooms that won't heat evenly, a furnace that runs longer than it used to, rising gas bills without a clear reason, or repairs that keep coming back. With heat needed here from October through May, a furnace that struggles in fall is only going to get worse once nights are down around 23°F. If yours is showing more than one of these signs, it's worth having a contractor look at it before you're relying on it every night.
- Is a high-efficiency furnace worth it?
- Every non-weatherized gas furnace sold new since November 2015 has to hit at least 80 percent AFUE, so even a standard replacement today is already fairly efficient. High-efficiency models push past that baseline, which matters more here since homes need heat eight months of the year. The tradeoff is upfront cost against lower gas bills over time, and a contractor can lay out the actual numbers for your specific home.