Macro photograph of ice crystal formations creating feathery, fern-like patterns on a frost-covered window, with blurred bare trees visible through the glass.

Furnace Installation in Amherst Town, MA

A new furnace here will run from October through May every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Hampshire County will get in touch.

Tell us about the job

It takes about a minute.

Step 1 of 3: Equipment

What kind of equipment?*

An unfinished basement interior featuring a large metal furnace unit, exposed ceiling joists, concrete walls, and scattered boxes and cables on the floor.

Eight months of heat, down to 18 degrees

Amherst Town needs a furnace from October through May. That is eight months of the year the burner has to work, and winter nights average 18°F, so a new furnace has to hold a house steady through real cold, night after night, for most of the year.

Any non-weatherized gas furnace built since November 19, 2015 has to reach at least 80 percent AFUE. That is the floor. With a season this long, the furnace you install is one you will run for most of the year, every year.

8 months: October through May, your furnace is on duty
18°F: the average winter night it heats against
80% AFUE: the federal minimum any new unit must meet

Isometric cutaway illustration of a single-story house showing interior rooms with furniture, a furnace unit with connected ductwork and a tall vertical flue pipe extending above the dark shingled roof.

Your furnace works hardest from November through March.

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NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals

What size furnace does my house need?: It depends on your home's size, how well it's insulated, and how much heat escapes through the windows and walls, so there's no number that fits every house. A contractor works this out with a load calculation, not by measuring square footage alone. With winter lows here averaging 18°F, a furnace that's sized too small will run constantly and still fall short, and one sized too big will cycle on and off without heating evenly. Get the calculation done rather than guess.
How do I know it's time to replace my furnace?: Watch for a furnace that's cycling more often, running longer to reach the same temperature, or needing repairs more than once a season. Rooms that used to heat evenly and now don't are another sign the furnace is losing ground. Since homes here need heat from October through May, eight months of the year, a furnace on its way out gets exposed fast. If a contractor has told you a major part is failing, that's usually the point where replacing makes more sense than repairing again.
Is a high-efficiency furnace worth it?: It depends on how long you plan to stay in the house and what your current furnace is costing you to run. Any gas furnace made since November 2015 already has to reach at least 80 percent AFUE, so the real question is whether a higher-efficiency model is worth the difference over the furnace you have now. With heat needed here eight months a year, that difference gets used a lot. A contractor can look at your current unit and your home's heating needs and tell you whether paying more for a higher-efficiency furnace makes sense in your case.

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