Furnace Installation in Eau Claire, WI
A new furnace here will run from September through May every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Eau Claire County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
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Nine months of heat, and nights near zero
Furnaces in Eau Claire County run from September through May. That is nine months out of the year, and on winter nights the temperature averages 9°F. A new furnace here has to hold up to that cold for most of the year, not just a few hard weeks.
A furnace built new has to meet a federal minimum of 80 percent AFUE, so the unit you install now will run more efficiently than an old one from the start. Power outages happen here too. Wisconsin saw 18% of households lose power for 24 hours or more in 2024, and the region has logged 27 winter storms over the past ten years. Worth asking your contractor how the new furnace handles a restart once the power comes back.
- 9 months
- September through May, your furnace is on duty
- 9°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 57%
- 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 $100 a year to run in Eau Claire County compared with a gas furnace.
Estimates for a typical Eau Claire County home, from EIA household energy data, Wisconsin fuel prices and NOAA climate normals. Your home will differ.
Wisconsin requires contractors to register with the state.
That registration puts the business on file with the state, its name, its address, who owns it, so there is a record if something goes wrong. It is not a test of the work itself. No state exam stands behind it, and Wisconsin does not let Eau Claire County or its cities layer their own HVAC license on top, so this registration is the only state-level record you get.
For a furnace install, the protection that matters here comes from the local building office. Most cities and counties require a permit for this job and an inspection once it is done, and that inspection is what checks the gas connection, the part of the job where a mistake is dangerous. In Eau Claire County, 57.2% of homes heat with gas, so that inspection is doing real work here, not a formality.
Sources: Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau · Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services
- What size furnace does my house need?
- The right size depends on your home's square footage, how it's insulated, how many windows it has, and its layout, not just a rule of thumb. A contractor works this out with a load calculation that looks at your specific house, not a chart that guesses by square foot alone. Getting this wrong matters here more than in milder places. With lows averaging 9°F from December through February, a furnace that's too small will run constantly and still fall behind, and one that's too big will cycle on and off and wear out faster.
- How do I know it's time to replace my furnace?
- Watch for repairs that keep coming back, a furnace that runs longer to do the same job, or one that's simply old. Furnaces here work hard, with 9 months of the year needing heat, so the wear adds up faster than it would somewhere with a short winter. If yours is heating unevenly, cycling more than it used to, or a contractor has already been out more than once this season, it's worth getting a straight answer on whether to repair or replace. Age alone isn't the deciding factor, but an older unit paired with rising repairs usually means replacement is the better bet.
- Is a high-efficiency furnace worth it?
- It depends on how much your furnace runs and what you're replacing. Since homes here need heat 9 months a year, a furnace gets far more use than it would in a place with a short winter, so efficiency differences show up more over a season. Furnaces built since November 2015 already have to hit at least 80 percent AFUE, so the real question is whether stepping up further makes sense for your house and your current unit. A contractor can walk through what you'd gain against what you have now, since that comparison depends on the furnace you're replacing.