Furnace Installation in Newark, OH
A new furnace here will run from October through May every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Licking County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Eight months of heat, and nights near 22 degrees
Newark needs a working furnace from October through May. That is eight months a year, with winter nights averaging 22°F. A new furnace here has to hold up through most of the calendar, not just a few cold snaps.
Most homes in the area heat with gas, and any non-weatherized gas furnace built since November 2015 has to reach at least 80 percent AFUE. Power matters too. Over the ten years from 2015 to 2024, the area recorded 8 winter storms and 133 damaging wind events, and in 2024 18 percent of Ohio households lost power for at least 24 hours. When the power drops, a gas furnace with electronic ignition will not run until it comes back on.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 22°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 65%
- 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 $140 a year to run in Licking County compared with a gas furnace.
Estimates for a typical Licking County home, from EIA household energy data, Ohio fuel prices and NOAA climate normals. Your home will differ.
In Ohio, HVAC licensing for homes is left to the counties.
Licking County sets its own rule on who can do HVAC work on houses here, since Ohio leaves that to the counties instead of running a state license. Whatever Licking County requires, it applies because of the address, not because Ohio tested the contractor statewide. Ohio does define a home contractor as someone carrying at least $250,000 in liability insurance, but that is a definition of the term, not a license anyone had to earn.
For a furnace installation, the protection on this job comes from the local building office rather than a state license. Replacing a furnace needs a permit, and the completed work gets inspected before it is signed off. That inspection is what catches a bad gas connection, which is the part of this job that matters most. Most homes in Licking County heat with gas, so a furnace installation here is gas work more often than not.
Source: Ohio Legislative Service Commission
- What size furnace does my house need?
- The right size comes from a load calculation, not the square footage of your house alone. A contractor measures your walls, windows, insulation, and ceiling height, then factors in Newark's winter lows to figure out how much heat your house actually loses on a cold night. A furnace that's too big cycles on and off too often and never runs long enough to heat evenly. Too small, and it runs constantly on the coldest nights and still falls behind.
- How do I know it's time to replace my furnace?
- Age is the first thing to check. If your furnace is old enough that parts are wearing out together instead of one at a time, repairs start costing more than they're worth. Watch for uneven heat between rooms, a furnace that runs longer than it used to, or a rise in your gas bill with no other explanation. Homes here need heat from October through May, so a furnace that's struggling has eight months a year to prove it. If a contractor is recommending repairs more than once a season, replacement is usually the better move.
- Is a high-efficiency furnace worth it?
- It depends on how long you plan to run it and what you're paying for gas, and a contractor can walk through those numbers for your specific house. What's true everywhere is that every non-weatherized gas furnace sold today has to hit at least 80 percent AFUE, so even a standard model wastes less fuel than older units did. A high-efficiency furnace pulls more heat out of the same amount of gas before it vents outside, above that 80 percent baseline. With 65.4 percent of homes here heating with gas and a heating season that runs eight months, that difference in efficiency shows up on the bill.