Furnace Installation in Buffalo, NY
A new furnace here will run from October through May every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Erie County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Buffalo asks a lot of a furnace
Your furnace here runs from October through May, eight months of the year. Winter nights average 19°F, so on the coldest ones it needs to hold that line for hours at a stretch, not just take the chill off. Most homes in the area heat with gas, and any new furnace installed today has to reach at least 80 percent AFUE, the federal minimum for a gas furnace built since 2015.
This area also sees its share of winter storms and damaging wind, and power can go out along with them. A new furnace should be installed with that in mind, since the ignition and blower still need electricity to run even when the gas is on.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 19°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 87%
- 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 Erie County compared with a gas furnace.
Estimates for a typical Erie County home, from EIA household energy data, New York 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 of your house alone. A contractor will look at your insulation, your windows, your ceiling height, and how the house is laid out before landing on a number. A furnace that's too big will short cycle and wear out faster. One that's too small will run constantly and still leave rooms cold when it's 19°F outside. Ask whoever quotes the job to walk you through the calculation, not just hand you a number.
- How do I know it's time to replace my furnace?
- Age and repair history are the two biggest signs. A furnace calling for heat eight months a year here works harder than one in most other places, so an older unit has earned some scrutiny. If a technician has told you the heat exchanger is cracked, replacing it is safer than patching it again. Rising bills with no change in how you use the house also point to a furnace losing efficiency. If repairs have stayed minor and infrequent, there's no reason to replace it yet.
- Is a high-efficiency furnace worth it?
- It depends on how long you plan to stay in the house and what furnace you have now. Every non-weatherized gas furnace sold since November 2015 has to reach at least 80 percent AFUE, so even a standard replacement today burns less gas than an older unit. A high-efficiency furnace pushes past that minimum and vents through PVC pipe instead of a metal flue. With heat needed from October through May here, the difference in gas use adds up over a full season more than it would somewhere milder. A contractor can price both options for your house so you're comparing real numbers, not estimates.