Furnace Installation in Wausau, WI
A new furnace here will run from September through May every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Marathon County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Nine months of heat, and nights near zero
In Wausau, furnaces run September through May. That is nine months of the year, not just the deep cold snaps. Winter nights average 9°F, and a furnace built for milder places will run flat out here just to keep up.
A new furnace has to be sized and installed for that kind of season, not a shorter one. Any non-weatherized gas furnace made today has to hit at least 80 percent AFUE, so the efficiency floor is already set. What matters more in Marathon County is whether the unit and the installation can handle nine months of real work each year, night after night at single digits.
- 9 months
- September through May, your furnace is on duty
- 9°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 56%
- 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 $110 a year to run in Marathon County compared with a gas furnace.
Estimates for a typical Marathon 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 and nothing more. There is no exam behind it and no license to point to, and Marathon County cannot add its own HVAC license to fill that gap since state law does not allow counties or cities to require one.
In most cities and counties, a furnace installation needs a permit from the local building office, with an inspection once the work is done. That inspection is what checks the job here, including the gas connection, since that's the part that can leak or burn wrong if it's not made right. Gas heat runs 56.4% of the homes in Marathon County, so that check matters for most furnaces in this county.
Sources: Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau · Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services
- What size furnace does my house need?
- A contractor needs to run a load calculation on your house to answer that, not just measure square footage. That calculation looks at your insulation, your windows, your ceiling height, and how much wall faces north versus south. A furnace that's too big will short cycle and wear out faster. One that's too small will run constantly and still leave you cold on the coldest nights, and with lows around 9°F here, you'll find out fast if it's undersized.
- How do I know it's time to replace my furnace?
- Watch for repairs that keep coming back, a furnace that can't hold the house at temperature, or one that's old enough that parts are getting hard to find. Furnaces here run September through May, nine months of the year, so a unit that's struggling gets very little rest to reveal problems early. If your gas bills are climbing while the furnace runs more, that's usually the heat exchanger or blower losing efficiency, not just an old thermostat. A contractor can look at the unit's age and condition and tell you honestly whether repair still makes sense.
- Is a high-efficiency furnace worth it?
- It depends on how long you plan to stay in the house and what you're replacing. Any new non-weatherized gas furnace has to hit at least 80 percent AFUE by law, so even a standard unit now wastes less fuel than older furnaces did. A high-efficiency model sends less heat out the flue and keeps more of it in your house, which matters more here with nine months of heating season than it would somewhere with a short winter. A contractor can walk you through the actual models and let you weigh the difference yourself, since cost is going to depend on the specific house.