Furnace Installation in Morgantown, WV
A new furnace here will run from October through May every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Monongalia County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Eight months of heat, and winters that test the grid
Morgantown asks a furnace to run from October through May. That is eight months out of twelve, with winter nights averaging 24°F. A furnace built for this has to hold up through a long season, not just a few cold snaps.
More than a third of West Virginia households went at least a day without power in 2024, and the region has seen 12 winter storms and 114 damaging wind events over the past ten years. A new furnace needs to come back on its own when the power does. If gas is your fuel, as it is for over half the homes here, any furnace made since November 2015 has to hit at least 80 percent AFUE. That is the floor. What you install can go higher, and on a season this long, the difference shows up every month you run it.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 24°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 52%
- of homes here heat with gas, so most furnaces here burn gas
- 80% AFUE
- the federal minimum any new unit must meet
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A high-efficiency gas furnace would save about $160 a year to run in Monongalia County compared with a gas furnace.
Estimates for a typical Monongalia County home, from EIA household energy data, West Virginia fuel prices and NOAA climate normals. Your home will differ.
West Virginia requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The license is issued to the contractor, not to this specific furnace installation. It tells you the person or company doing the work has met the state's standard, not that this job carries some separate sign-off of its own.
Because West Virginia licenses the contractor, that license is what stands behind the work here. A furnace installation in most cities and counties also needs a permit from the local building office, with an inspection once the work is done. More than half the homes in Monongalia County heat with gas, so a licensed installer working on a gas furnace is the ordinary job here, not the exception.
Source: West Virginia Legislature
- What size furnace does my house need?
- It depends on the size of your house, how it's insulated, and how many windows it has, so there's no single number that fits every home. A contractor works this out with a load calculation, which looks at your square footage, ceiling height, insulation, and window area room by room. Guessing high doesn't help. A furnace that's too big for the house will short cycle, turning on and off more than it should, which wears out parts faster and leaves rooms uneven. With winter lows here averaging 24°F, getting the size right matters more than it would somewhere milder.
- How do I know it's time to replace my furnace?
- If your furnace is struggling to keep up, cycling on and off more than it used to, or needing repairs every winter, it's time to start planning a replacement. Age matters too. Furnaces installed new today have to reach at least 80 percent AFUE, so if yours is much older, it's likely running well below that. Since homes here need heat from October through May, eight months a year, a furnace on its way out doesn't leave much of a season to put off the decision. Uneven heat between rooms, a furnace that runs longer than it used to, or a rise in gas use without a reason are all signs worth having a contractor look at.
- Is a high-efficiency furnace worth it?
- A high-efficiency furnace makes more sense the more months a year it runs, and here that's eight, October through May. The higher the AFUE rating, the more of the gas you burn turns into heat in the house rather than going out the vent. Every new furnace sold today has to reach at least 80 percent AFUE, but high-efficiency models go well above that. Whether the difference is worth it for your house depends on your current furnace, your gas use, and how long you plan to stay in the home, so a contractor can walk through the options with actual numbers for your situation.