Furnace Installation in Castle Rock, CO
A new furnace here will run from September through May every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Douglas County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Castle Rock asks a lot of a furnace
Nine months a year, your furnace is what keeps the house livable. Winter nights here average 17°F, and that kind of cold means long burner cycles, night after night, from September through May.
Most homes in Castle Rock heat with gas, and any new furnace installed today has to reach at least 80 percent AFUE by federal rule. Douglas County also sees its share of winter storms and wind events strong enough to knock out power, so a new furnace needs to be one that starts back up on its own when the power comes back.
- 9 months
- September through May, your furnace is on duty
- 17°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 73%
- 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 Douglas County compared with a gas furnace.
Estimates for a typical Douglas County home, from EIA household energy data, Colorado fuel prices and NOAA climate normals. Your home will differ.
- What size furnace does my house need?
- It depends on your square footage, how well your house is insulated, your ceiling height, your windows, and your layout, so there is no number that applies to every home. A contractor works this out with a load calculation, not a chart based on square footage alone. Guessing high and buying a bigger furnace than you need does not make your house warmer. It just means the furnace short cycles, wearing out parts faster and leaving some rooms less even than they should be. With winter lows here averaging 17°F and heat needed September through May, getting this number right matters more than in milder places.
- How do I know it's time to replace my furnace?
- Age and behavior both tell you something. If yours is breaking down more than once a season, if you notice yellow flames instead of blue, or if your energy bills keep climbing without an obvious reason, those are signs the furnace is losing efficiency. A furnace that needs heat nine months of the year here works harder than one in a milder climate, so the wear adds up faster. If a repair quote starts approaching what a new furnace would cost, replacement is usually the better move.
- Is a high-efficiency furnace worth it?
- For a house that needs heat from September through May, a high-efficiency furnace has more months of the year to earn back the difference in cost than it would somewhere with a short winter. Furnaces made since November 2015 are already required to hit at least 80 percent AFUE, and high-efficiency models go higher than that, meaning less fuel burned for the same heat. Whether the jump to a high-efficiency model makes sense for your house depends on your current furnace, your gas rates, and how long you plan to stay in the home. A contractor can walk through the numbers for your specific situation.