Furnace Installation in Centralia, WA
A new furnace here will run from September through June every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Lewis County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Ten months of heating a year in Centralia
Furnaces here run from September through June. That's ten months of the year, with only a short stretch of summer off. Winter nights average 31°F from December through February, so the furnace you install is doing most of its work in cold, not mild, conditions.
Most homes in the county heat with electricity, and any new gas furnace built now has to meet a federal minimum of 80 percent AFUE. Washington saw a lot of power outages last year, so if your new furnace runs on electricity, it's worth asking what happens to your heat when the power goes out and how it comes back on.
- 10 months
- September through June, your furnace is on duty
- 31°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 80% AFUE
- the federal minimum any new unit must meet
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Washington requires contractors to register with the state.
That registration puts the contractor's business on file with Washington's Department of Labor and Industries. There is no trade exam behind it. Registration means the business is on record, not that anyone checked how this contractor installs a furnace.
For this job, the protection that reaches the work is the permit. In most cities and counties in Washington, replacing a furnace needs a permit from the local building office, and an inspection follows once the work is done. That inspection is the check Washington's registration does not provide.
Source: Washington State Legislature
- What size furnace does my house need?
- The right size comes from a load calculation, not a chart based on square footage alone. A contractor measures your insulation, your windows, your ceiling height, and how much wall faces north, then runs those numbers to find the heat loss for your specific house. A furnace that is too big will short cycle and wear out faster. One that is too small will run constantly and still leave rooms cold on the 31 degree nights you get here from December through February. Homes in this area need heat from September through June, so getting this number right matters more than it would somewhere with a shorter winter.
- How do I know it's time to replace my furnace?
- Age and repair history tell you most of what you need to know. An older furnace that needs a repair is usually a candidate for replacement rather than another fix, since parts get harder to source and efficiency drops as a furnace ages. Watch for signs like uneven heat between rooms, a burner flame that looks yellow instead of blue, or a furnace that cycles on and off more than it used to. Most homes here heat with electricity, and if power interruptions are a concern in your area, that is worth raising with a contractor when you talk about replacement options.
- Is a high-efficiency furnace worth it?
- It depends on how many months a year the furnace runs, and here that is most of the year. Homes in this area need heat from September through June, so a furnace spends more hours working than it would somewhere with a short winter. Any non-weatherized gas furnace built since November 2015 already has to hit at least 80 percent AFUE, so the real question is whether to go higher than that minimum. A contractor can walk through the options for your specific furnace and house, since fuel type and venting both affect which efficiency levels are possible.