Furnace Installation in Silverthorne, CO
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Silverthorne asks for heat all year, not just in winter
Winter nights here average 8°F from December through February, and homes in Silverthorne need heat all 12 months of the year. A new furnace has to be sized for that cold and built to run on and off for months without a break, not just a few weeks of hard freeze.
A furnace installed here now has to reach at least 80 percent AFUE if it is a standard non-weatherized gas model, that is the federal minimum. Summit County has also logged 46 winter storms and 42 damaging wind events over the past ten years, the kind of weather that knocks out power. Across Colorado, 13 percent of households lost power for 24 hours or more in 2024, and a furnace with no power does not run no matter how well it was installed.
- 8°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 58%
- 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 $150 a year to run in Summit County compared with a gas furnace.
Estimates for a typical Summit 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 size of the unit you have now. A contractor measures your square footage, your insulation, your windows, and your ceiling height, then works out how much heat your house actually loses on a cold night. Here that matters more than most places, since winter lows average 8°F and the furnace has to keep up with that for months at a stretch. A furnace that's too big cycles on and off and wears out faster. One that's too small runs constantly and still can't keep the house warm.
- How do I know it's time to replace my furnace?
- Watch how often it needs a repair and how well it keeps up with the cold. If a contractor is coming out more than once a season, or telling you parts are getting hard to find, that's a sign the furnace is near the end. Uneven heat between rooms, a furnace that runs longer than it used to, or a gas bill that climbs with no other explanation are all worth asking about. If a contractor tells you the heat exchanger is cracked, that's not a repair, that's a replacement, since a cracked heat exchanger can let carbon monoxide into the air in your house. With heat needed here all 12 months of the year, a furnace that's struggling isn't something to wait out.
- Is a high-efficiency furnace worth it?
- It depends on how much you heat and how long you plan to stay in the house. Every new non-weatherized gas furnace sold today has to hit at least 80 percent AFUE, but high-efficiency models go higher than that, meaning less of the gas you burn is wasted. With homes here needing heat all 12 months of the year and winter nights averaging 8°F, a furnace here runs far more hours than one in a milder climate, so the efficiency difference adds up faster. A contractor can walk through the options and price out what fits your house.