Furnace Installation in Scottsbluff, NE
A new furnace here will run from October through May every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Scotts Bluff County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Eight months of heat, and winter nights near 16 degrees
Homes in Scottsbluff County need the furnace running from October through May. That's eight months a year the system has to work, and on winter nights it's working against a low that averages 16°F.
Most homes here heat with gas, and any non-weatherized gas furnace built since November 2015 has to hit at least 80 percent AFUE. That's the floor. The county has also logged 39 winter storms and 144 damaging wind events over the past ten years, the kind of weather that knocks out power along with the heat. A new furnace should be sized and installed to handle both, the cold nights and the storms that come with them.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 16°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 61%
- 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 Scotts Bluff County compared with a gas furnace.
Estimates for a typical Scotts Bluff County home, from EIA household energy data, Nebraska fuel prices and NOAA climate normals. Your home will differ.
Nebraska requires contractors to register with the state.
Registration puts a contractor's business on file with the Department of Labor. It does not mean anyone tested their gas or furnace work, and there is no license standing behind the installation. Nebraska keeps a record that the business exists. That's what registration is.
What protects you on this job is the permit and inspection, not the registration. A furnace installation needs a permit from the local building office in most cities and counties, and an inspector checks the work once it's done, including the gas connections, which are the part that matters most if something is off. In Scotts Bluff County, 60.9% of homes heat with gas, so that inspection is checking the connection that most homes here depend on.
Source: Nebraska Legislature
- What size furnace does my house need?
- The right size depends on your home's square footage, how well it's insulated, your window count and type, and your ceiling height, so it takes a load calculation to get a real answer. A furnace that's too big cycles on and off too fast and never runs long enough to heat evenly. One that's too small runs constantly and still can't keep up on the coldest nights here. A contractor can run this calculation for your house and size the unit to match it.
- How do I know it's time to replace my furnace?
- Watch for rooms that won't reach the temperature you set, a furnace that cycles on and off more than it used to, or repairs that keep coming back. An older furnace working harder to do the same job is usually burning more gas to get there. Heat is needed here from October through May, so a furnace that's struggling early in that stretch is only going to struggle more as winter nights drop toward 16 degrees. If yours is showing these signs, it's worth having a contractor look at it rather than waiting for it to fail on one of those cold nights.
- Is a high-efficiency furnace worth it?
- Any furnace installed new today has to meet a federal minimum of 80 percent AFUE, and high-efficiency models go higher than that, meaning less of the gas you burn goes out the vent unburned. In Scotts Bluff County, most homes already heat with gas, and with 8 months of heating season here, the furnace runs a lot more than it would somewhere warmer. That's the situation where the difference between 80 percent and a higher AFUE rating matters most. A contractor can walk through the options for your house and explain what each one means for your setup.