Furnace Installation in Claremont, NH
A new furnace here will run from September through May every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Sullivan County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Nine months of heat, in a place that loses power
Claremont needs a furnace from September through May, nine months of the year. Winter nights here average 13°F, and a furnace that size has to be sized right to keep up on the coldest ones.
Close to half the homes in this area heat with fuel oil, so a new furnace has to match the fuel already running to the house. Power is worth planning for too. Close to a quarter of New Hampshire households went at least a day without power last year, and the region has logged 37 winter storms and 58 damaging wind events over the past decade. Any new gas furnace also has to meet the federal minimum of 80 percent AFUE, so that much is settled before you start comparing models.
- 9 months
- September through May, your furnace is on duty
- 13°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 80% AFUE
- the federal minimum any new unit must meet
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
New Hampshire has no state license for HVAC contractors.
New Hampshire does not test HVAC contractors, register them, or keep a state record of who does this work. There is no license behind this job and no state file on the contractor doing it. Whatever protection exists here comes from somewhere other than a state license.
For a furnace installation, that protection is the local permit and inspection. Most cities and counties require a permit from the local building office before a furnace gets replaced, and an inspection once the work is done. That inspection, not a license, is what checks the job here, including the gas connection, since New Hampshire has no license to stand behind it.
Source: New Hampshire General Court
- What size furnace does my house need?
- The right size depends on your house, not a chart based on square footage alone. A contractor sizes it with a load calculation that accounts for your insulation, your windows, your ceiling height, and how the place holds heat through a winter where nights average 13°F. Too big and it short cycles, wearing out parts faster and leaving rooms uneven. Too small and it runs constantly all through the nine months a year you need heat here and still falls behind. Ask whoever quotes the job to walk you through the calculation, not just give you a number.
- How do I know it's time to replace my furnace?
- Watch for uneven heat between rooms, a furnace that cycles on and off more than it used to, or a rise in your heating bills without a reason. Age matters too. Furnaces built to today's standard have to hit 80 percent AFUE, so an older unit running well below that is burning more fuel than a new one would for the same heat. If yours is also needing repairs more than once a season, that is worth weighing against the cost of a new system, especially with heat needed here from September through May.
- Is a high-efficiency furnace worth it?
- It depends on how much fuel you burn and how long you plan to stay in the house. High-efficiency furnaces cost more upfront but use less fuel to make the same heat, and that difference adds up over nine months of heating a year. Almost half the households here heat with fuel oil, where price swings can be sharp, so the fuel savings matter more here than somewhere with a short, mild winter. A contractor can walk through the numbers for your specific furnace and usage before you decide.