Furnace Installation in Elizabeth, CO
A new furnace here will run from September through May every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Elbert County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Nine months of heat a year asks a lot of a furnace
Elizabeth needs a working furnace from September through May. That is nine months, with winter nights averaging 15°F. A new furnace here is not a seasonal appliance. It runs most of the year.
Any non-weatherized gas furnace built now has to reach at least 80 percent AFUE, so that floor is set before you even start comparing units. Elbert County has also seen 46 winter storms and 83 damaging wind events over the past ten years. A furnace depends on electronic ignition and a blower motor, and both need power to run. Statewide, 13 percent of households went at least a day without power in 2024.
- 9 months
- September through May, your furnace is on duty
- 15°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 $90 a year to run in Elbert County compared with a gas furnace.
Estimates for a typical Elbert 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?
- The right size comes from a load calculation, not the square footage alone. A contractor measures your insulation, window area, ceiling height, and how much outside air leaks in, then runs those numbers to find the heat loss for your specific house. Too big and the furnace short cycles, turning on and off before it heats evenly. Too small and it runs constantly on the cold nights here and still falls behind. A contractor will run this calculation for your house and size the unit to match it.
- How do I know it's time to replace my furnace?
- Watch for heat that feels weaker room to room, a furnace that runs longer to hit the same temperature, or repairs that keep coming back. Furnaces here run nine months a year, September through May, so the wear adds up faster than it would somewhere with a short winter. If yours is cycling on and off more than it used to, or the burner flame looks uneven instead of steady blue, those are signs the heat exchanger or gas valve is starting to fail. A furnace that needs a repair every heating season is telling you something, even if each fix is small on its own.
- Is a high-efficiency furnace worth it?
- It depends on how many months your furnace runs and what you're replacing. Homes here need heat nine months of the year, so a furnace gets far more use than it would in a milder climate, and that changes the math on efficiency. Furnaces made after November 2015 already have to hit 80 percent AFUE at minimum, so the real question is whether a high-efficiency model, which condenses exhaust gas to pull out more heat, makes sense against what you're running now. A contractor can compare your current furnace's efficiency to what's available and price out both options for your house.