Furnace Installation in Mequon, WI
A new furnace here will run from October through May every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Ozaukee County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Eight months of heat, and nights that drop to 16°F
Mequon needs a furnace from October through May. On winter nights that average 16°F, the furnace runs long stretches just to hold the house steady, and most homes here do that on gas. Whatever goes in has to be sized for that kind of demand.
Any new non-weatherized gas furnace has to reach 80.0 percent AFUE, the federal minimum since November 2015. Power loss is worth planning around too. Statewide, 18 percent of households went at least 24 hours without power in 2024, and a furnace that cannot run without electricity means no heat until it's back, on a night when the outside temperature is well below freezing.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 16°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 75%
- 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 Ozaukee County compared with a gas furnace.
Estimates for a typical Ozaukee 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, but nobody tests the contractor's work before handing it out. Wisconsin also keeps counties and cities from layering their own HVAC license on top, so this registration is the only state-level record that exists anywhere in Wisconsin, including Ozaukee County.
For a furnace installation, the protection that matters comes from the local building office, not the state. Most cities and counties require a permit for a furnace replacement and an inspection once the work is done, and that inspection is what checks the gas connection and venting, the part of the job that can actually hurt someone if it's done wrong. In Ozaukee County, 75% of homes heat with gas, so that inspection is doing real work here.
Sources: Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau · Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services
- What size furnace does my house need?
- There's no single answer without a load calculation, and that's not a step a contractor should skip. Square footage alone doesn't tell you enough. Insulation, window count, ceiling height, and how much sun the house gets all change the number. A contractor will run a Manual J calculation on the actual house and size the furnace to that, not to what was in there before. With winter lows here averaging 16°F, a furnace that's undersized will run constantly and still fall behind, so getting this number right matters.
- How do I know it's time to replace my furnace?
- Age is the first thing to look at, along with how often it's been breaking down. If repairs are getting more frequent, or a repair estimate is starting to look close to what a new furnace would run, replacing it is usually the better move. Watch also for uneven heat between rooms, a furnace that cycles on and off more than it used to, or a gas bill that's climbed without a reason. With heat needed here from October through May, a furnace you can't rely on isn't one to gamble on through the winter.
- Is a high-efficiency furnace worth it?
- It depends on how long you plan to stay in the house and what furnace you have now. Every gas furnace made since November 2015 has to reach at least 80 percent AFUE, but high-efficiency models go beyond that, burning less gas for the same heat. In a place where homes need heat for 8 months of the year, that difference shows up on more bills than it would somewhere with a shorter winter. A contractor can walk through what a specific high-efficiency model would mean for the house, since venting requirements and upfront cost differ by model.