Furnace Installation in Watertown, SD
A new furnace here will run from September through May every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Codington County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Nine months of heat in Watertown asks a lot of a furnace
Winter nights here average 6°F, and homes in Codington County need heat from September through May. That is nine months of the year your furnace has to work, not just the coldest weeks.
Codington County has logged 46 winter storms and 63 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and a furnace has to keep running through that kind of weather. Any new gas furnace installed here has to reach at least 80.0 percent AFUE, the federal minimum for non-weatherized models.
- 9 months
- September through May, your furnace is on duty
- 6°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 $90 a year to run in Codington County compared with a gas furnace.
Estimates for a typical Codington County home, from EIA household energy data, South Dakota fuel prices and NOAA climate normals. Your home will differ.
In South Dakota, HVAC licensing for homes is left to the cities and towns.
South Dakota does not license HVAC contractors, and Codington County does not run its own license either, so whether a contractor is licensed at all comes down to the city or town where the furnace sits. Some towns require it, some do not, and there is no state list to check against either way.
What covers this job here is the permit. In most cities and counties, replacing a furnace needs a permit from the local building office, with an inspection once the work is done. That inspection is where a bad gas connection gets caught, since that is the dangerous part of a furnace install. In Codington County, 55.7% of homes heat with gas, so that check is not a formality.
Source: South Dakota Legislature
- 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 and runs that through a heat loss calculation to find the number your house actually needs. A furnace that's too big will short cycle and wear out faster. One that's too small will run constantly and still struggle to keep up when it's 6°F outside. Don't let anyone size it off a rule of thumb or what the old unit was rated for.
- How do I know it's time to replace my furnace?
- Age matters, but so does how the furnace has been running. Watch for uneven heat between rooms, a furnace that cycles on and off more than it used to, or a gas bill that's climbing without a clear reason. If a repair estimate starts getting close to what a new furnace would cost, replacement is usually the better move, especially with heat needed here from September through May. A cracked heat exchanger or a furnace that keeps tripping its limit switch means it's time, no question.
- Is a high-efficiency furnace worth it?
- It depends on how long you plan to stay in the house and what your furnace is doing now. Any non-weatherized gas furnace made since November 2015 has to hit at least 80.0 percent AFUE, so even a standard replacement is more efficient than an older unit. High-efficiency models go beyond that minimum, which means less heat lost out the flue and more of your gas bill turned into warmth in the house. With heat needed here nine months of the year, that difference shows up on more bills than it would somewhere with a shorter heating season. A contractor can walk through the options and price out what fits your house.