Furnace Installation in Beckley, WV
A new furnace here will run from October through May every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Raleigh County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Beckley asks a furnace to run eight months a year
Winter nights here average 25°F, and homes need heat from October through May. That's eight months of the year your furnace has to start reliably and keep running through nights colder than that average.
55.9 percent of homes in this area heat with electricity, and the power doesn't always stay on. Raleigh County has seen 22 winter storms and 105 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and across West Virginia 35 percent of households lost power for at least a day in 2024. If you're installing a gas furnace, federal rules set the minimum efficiency at 80 percent AFUE for units built since late 2015, a baseline worth knowing before you compare options.
- 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
West Virginia requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
West Virginia's license is held by the contractor, not issued for each job. The Commissioner of Labor tests and keeps a record of the company, so the license is tied to who they are, not to this specific furnace.
For the installation itself, the work goes through the local building office. In most cities and counties, replacing a furnace needs a permit before the job starts and an inspection once it is done, and that inspection is what checks the venting, the gas connection and the wiring.
Source: West Virginia Legislature
- What size furnace does my house need?
- The right size comes from a load calculation, not from the square footage of your house alone. A contractor measures your walls, windows, insulation and ceiling height and works out how much heat escapes on a cold night, then matches that to a furnace. With winter lows here averaging 25°F, undersized units run constantly and still fall behind, while oversized ones cycle on and off and wear out faster. Ask the contractor to walk you through the calculation rather than quote a size off the top of their head.
- How do I know it's time to replace my furnace?
- Watch for rooms that stay cold no matter how high you set the thermostat, a furnace that short cycles, or repair bills that keep coming back. Homes here need heat from October through May, eight months of the year, so a furnace that struggles now will only get worse as the nights get colder. Age matters too. A furnace built before 2015 may not meet the 80 percent AFUE minimum required of units made after November 19 of that year, which means it burns more gas to produce the same heat. If a contractor tells you the heat exchanger is cracked or the repair cost rivals a new unit, that is the point to replace it.
- Is a high-efficiency furnace worth it?
- It depends on how long you plan to stay in the house and how much you run the furnace. With eight months of heating season and winter nights averaging 25°F, a furnace here works harder and longer than one in a milder climate, so the efficiency difference adds up over a season. High-efficiency furnaces also vent differently, often through PVC pipe instead of a metal flue, which can affect installation. A contractor can lay out the models available and let you weigh the difference against what fits your house.