Furnace Installation in Moses Lake, WA
A new furnace here will run from October through May every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Grant County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Eight months of heat a year, and winters that test the furnace you pick
Moses Lake homes need the furnace running from October through May. That is eight months, with winter nights averaging 25°F from December through February. Whatever gets installed has to carry the house through most of the year, not just the coldest stretch.
Most homes here heat with electricity, and the power does not always stay on. Grant County has seen 93 winter storms and 30 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and in 2024 nearly a quarter of Washington households lost power for at least 24 hours. That is worth asking about when you are choosing a furnace and how it is installed. Any new gas furnace also has to meet the federal minimum of 80 percent AFUE, so the installer will be working from that floor no matter which unit you pick.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 25°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 means the contractor's business is on file with the state and carries the bond and insurance Washington requires. It is not a trade exam, and the state has not tested the contractor's furnace work to get there.
For a furnace installation in Grant County, the protection comes from the local permit process. Most cities and counties here require a permit before the old furnace comes out, and an inspection once the new one is in, which is what actually checks that the gas connection and venting were done right. That inspection, not the state registration, is what confirms the work on the gas line and flue is safe.
Source: Washington State Legislature
- What size furnace does my house need?
- The right size comes from a load calculation, not the square footage of your house alone. A contractor works out how much heat your house loses through its walls, windows, and roof, then sizes the furnace to match. Too big and it short cycles, heating the house in bursts and wearing out parts faster. Too small and it runs constantly all winter without keeping up, especially on the 25°F nights you get here from December through February.
- How do I know it's time to replace my furnace?
- Watch for a furnace that's needing repairs more often, or one where the heat exchanger has cracked, since that's a safety issue and not something to patch. Rising gas or electric bills with no other explanation are another sign the furnace is losing efficiency. Age matters too. If yours is old enough that parts are getting hard to find, replacing it before it fails in the middle of winter is worth considering, since homes here need working heat from October through May.
- Is a high-efficiency furnace worth it?
- It depends on how long you plan to stay in the house and what you're paying to heat it now. A high-efficiency furnace burns less gas to make the same heat, and with homes here needing heat for 8 months of the year, that adds up over a heating season more than it would somewhere milder. Any new gas furnace sold today already has to meet an 80 percent AFUE minimum, so the real choice is how much higher than that you want to go. A contractor can walk through the options and price them for your house.