Furnace Installation in Covington, KY
A new furnace here will run from October through April every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Kenton County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
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Covington needs a furnace built for a long, cold season
Winter nights in Covington average 26°F from December through February. Homes here run the furnace from October through April, seven months of the year. A new furnace has to hold up over that whole stretch, not just the coldest week.
Kentucky sees its share of winter storms and damaging wind, and power can go out with them. A furnace that starts reliably when the power comes back matters as much as one that runs efficiently once it is on. Federal rules already set a floor for that efficiency. A non-weatherized gas furnace built after November 2015 has to reach at least 80 percent AFUE.
- 7 months
- October through April, your furnace is on duty
- 26°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 51%
- 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 $90 a year to run in Kenton County compared with a gas furnace.
Estimates for a typical Kenton County home, from EIA household energy data, Kentucky fuel prices and NOAA climate normals. Your home will differ.
Kentucky requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
Kentucky tests contractors through the Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction and keeps a record of who passed. That license belongs to the contractor, not to any one job, so the same credential that qualifies them for a furnace install down the street qualifies them for yours.
For the installation itself, the license is what backs the work, but it is not the only check. Most cities and counties require a permit for a furnace replacement and an inspection once the work is done. That inspection is what catches a bad gas connection or venting problem before the furnace runs unattended. Just over half the homes in Kenton County heat with gas, so that check is doing real work here.
Sources: Kentucky Legislative Research Commission · Kentucky Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction
- What size furnace does my house need?
- A contractor works this out from a load calculation, not from your square footage alone. Insulation, window count, ceiling height, and how much air leaks out all change the number. A furnace that is too big cycles on and off fast and never runs long enough to heat evenly. Too small, and it runs constantly during your coldest nights and still falls behind. With winter lows averaging 26°F here, getting this number right matters more than it would somewhere milder.
- How do I know it's time to replace my furnace?
- Age is the first thing to check, along with how often it's needed repair lately. As a furnace gets older, repairs tend to get more frequent and parts get harder to find. Watch for rooms that heat unevenly, a furnace that runs longer than it used to, or a rise in your gas bill with no other explanation. If a repair would cost close to what a new furnace runs, replacement is usually the better call. Your furnace here has to work October through April, 7 months a year, so a failure in the middle of winter is worth avoiding rather than waiting out.
- Is a high-efficiency furnace worth it?
- It depends on how long you plan to stay in the house and what your furnace is doing now. Every furnace sold new today has to hit at least 80 percent AFUE, so even a standard-efficiency model wastes less fuel than older units built before that rule. A high-efficiency furnace burns less gas than that minimum over a heating season that runs 7 months here. More than half the homes in this county heat with gas, so that difference shows up on real bills. A contractor can walk you through the actual models and what each one would cost installed.