Furnace Installation in Rochester, MN
A new furnace here will run from September through May every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Olmsted County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Nine months of heat, and winter nights near 10 above
Your furnace here runs from September through May. Winter nights average 10°F, and at that temperature the burner is cycling on and off through the night to keep the house warm.
Any furnace installed new has to meet 80.0 percent AFUE, the federal floor for non-weatherized gas furnaces. Most homes in this area heat with gas, so that is the standard your installer is working with. Storms here can knock out power, and a furnace that shuts down in a cold snap needs to start back up on its own once power is restored.
- 9 months
- September through May, your furnace is on duty
- 10°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 72%
- 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 $110 a year to run in Olmsted County compared with a gas furnace.
Estimates for a typical Olmsted County home, from EIA household energy data, Minnesota fuel prices and NOAA climate normals. Your home will differ.
Minnesota has no state license for HVAC contractors.
There is no exam and no state record to check for the contractor doing this work. Anyone can call themselves an HVAC contractor in Minnesota, so whatever stands between you and a bad job comes from somewhere other than a license.
For a furnace installation, that is usually the permit and inspection the local building office requires, though the rule depends on the city or county rather than the state. The building office checks the work once it is done, including the gas connection, which is the part of a furnace install where a mistake is dangerous. With most homes in Olmsted County heating with gas, that inspection matters on nearly every furnace job here.
Source: Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes
- What size furnace does my house need?
- A contractor has to work that out for your house. It comes down to a load calculation, which weighs your square footage against your insulation, your windows, and how the place is laid out, not square footage alone. Rochester winters push furnaces hard, with nights averaging 10°F from December through February, so an undersized furnace here will run constantly and still fall behind. Too big a furnace is its own problem, cycling on and off before it heats the house evenly. Ask the contractor to show you the load calculation rather than a guess based on your old unit.
- How do I know it's time to replace my furnace?
- Age is the first thing to look at. Furnaces installed new today are built to reach 80 percent AFUE at minimum. If yours is old enough to predate that standard, it's working harder than it has to. Watch for other signs too. Heat that's uneven room to room, a furnace that short-cycles, a burner that won't stay lit, or repair calls that keep coming back for the same problem all point the same way. Homes here need heat from September through May, nine months of the year, so a furnace on its way out doesn't get much of a break to show you it's failing before you need it hard.
- Is a high-efficiency furnace worth it?
- It depends on how long you plan to stay in the house and what you're paying now to heat it. A contractor can walk you through that math for your situation. What's true everywhere is that a high-efficiency furnace burns less gas to make the same heat, and that matters here since 71.5 percent of homes in Olmsted County heat with gas. With nine months of heating season, from September through May, and winter lows averaging 10°F, a furnace here runs more hours than in most places, so the difference between a standard and high-efficiency unit adds up over more of the year.