Furnace Installation in Show Low, AZ
A new furnace here will run from October through May every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Navajo County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Show Low asks a lot of a furnace
Winter nights here average 21°F, and homes need heat from October through May. That's eight months of the year your furnace has to work, not just a few cold nights here and there.
A lot of homes in the area heat with wood, but if you're installing a gas furnace, federal rules set the floor at 80 percent AFUE for units built since late 2015. Whatever gets installed has to clear that mark, and given how long the season runs here, it's worth asking what the unit does above that minimum.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 21°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 80% AFUE
- the federal minimum any new unit must meet
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Arizona requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The license is tied to the contractor, not to this one job. It covers the business doing the work, so the same license applies whether they are installing your furnace or working on someone else's.
For this installation, that license is what stands behind the person doing the work. Most cities and counties also require a permit from the local building office before a furnace replacement starts, with an inspection once it is done. That inspection is what confirms the new furnace was connected and vented the way it should be.
Sources: Arizona State Legislature · Arizona Registrar of Contractors
- What size furnace does my house need?
- The right size comes from a load calculation, not the square footage alone. A contractor works out how much heat your house loses on a cold night, accounting for your insulation, windows, and layout, then matches a furnace to that number. With winter lows here averaging 21°F, undersizing leaves you cold on the worst nights, and oversizing means the furnace short cycles instead of running steady. Ask whoever quotes the job to show you the calculation, not just a guess based on the last furnace.
- How do I know it's time to replace my furnace?
- Age is the first sign. Furnaces built to last generally start breaking down in their late teens, and repairs get more frequent and less worth it as they get older. Watch for rooms that won't heat evenly, a furnace that runs longer than it used to, or a yellow flame instead of blue. Homes here need heat from October through May, eight months of the year, so a furnace on its way out gets tested a lot before spring gives it a break. If a technician is recommending repairs more than once a season, replacement is worth pricing 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 since November 2015 has to hit at least 80 percent AFUE, and a high-efficiency model is built to beat that baseline. With heat needed eight months a year here, a more efficient furnace has a lot of runtime to make that difference count. A contractor can walk through the options for your specific house and heating habits.