Furnace Installation in Richmond, KY
A new furnace here will run from October through April every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Madison County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Richmond asks a furnace to run seven months of the year
From October through April your furnace is the thing standing between your family and nights that average 27°F. That is most of the year spent leaning on one piece of equipment.
Most homes in Madison County heat with electricity, so a storm that knocks out power can knock out heat at the same time. Kentucky saw 13 winter storms and 87 damaging wind events over the last ten years, and in 2024 nearly a quarter of households in the state lost power for 24 hours or more. A new furnace here needs to be installed to hold up through that, not just to run on a mild day. Any non-weatherized gas furnace built since November 2015 has to reach at least 80 percent AFUE, so that is the floor, not the goal, when you are choosing what replaces the one you have.
- 7 months
- October through April, your furnace is on duty
- 27°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 80% AFUE
- the federal minimum any new unit must meet
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Kentucky requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The state license comes from the Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction, and it covers the contractor rather than the job itself. That means the state has tested the business and keeps a record of it, but no separate license gets issued for your furnace install specifically.
For an installation, that license is what stands behind the contractor's work in Kentucky. Beyond that, most cities and counties in the state require a permit for a furnace replacement, along with an inspection once the work is done. The permit and inspection are handled locally, not by the state, and they are what confirms the new furnace was installed correctly and vented the way it needs to be.
Sources: Kentucky Legislative Research Commission · Kentucky Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction
- What size furnace does my house need?
- The right size comes from a load calculation, not a formula based on square footage alone. A contractor works out how fast your house loses heat by looking at your insulation, your windows, your ceiling height, and how the rooms are laid out. Put in a furnace too big and it short cycles, heating fast then shutting off before it evens out the house. Too small and it runs constantly on the 27°F nights you get here and still can't keep up. This is worth getting right before you buy, not after.
- How do I know it's time to replace my furnace?
- Age is the first thing to check. Older furnaces need more frequent repairs, and the risk of a breakdown on a cold night goes up the longer you push it. Watch for uneven heat between rooms, a furnace that runs longer than it used to, or a rise in your gas or electric bill with no other explanation. If a repair is going to cost a large share of what a new furnace costs, replacing it is usually the better move. With heat needed here from October through April, a furnace on its last legs is a bigger risk than in places with a shorter season.
- Is a high-efficiency furnace worth it?
- Every non-weatherized gas furnace made since November 2015 has to hit at least 80 percent AFUE, so even a standard-efficiency furnace today isn't wasteful. High-efficiency models go higher than that, which means less heat is lost out the flue and more of what you pay for ends up warming the house. With about 7 months of the year needing heat here, that difference adds up over more days than it would somewhere with a short winter. Whether the higher upfront cost makes sense for your house is something a contractor can walk through based on your furnace, your ducts, and how you use the house.