How Much Does It Cost to Install a Furnace in Portland?

The cost to install a furnace in Oregon can cost anywhere from $2,295-$5,500, with an average cost of $3,250.

However, the only way to know exactly what you’ll pay to install a furnace in your Oregon home is to schedule an appointment with a technician who can assess your home and give you an accurate price.

The reason this is the only way to accurately determine how much it will cost to install a furnace is because there are several factors that will impact the overall price of your installation.

Factors that will affect the cost to install a furnace include:

• Size
• Efficiency
• Fuel type
• Comfort features
• Cost of labor

Below, we’ll walk through each of these cost factors so you can get a better idea of how much your furnace installation will cost.

Want to speak with a professional about the cost to install your furnace? We can help! Learn more about the furnace installation services we offer or…

The bigger the furnace, the more expensive it will be.

Furnace “size” is measured in BTUs (British Thermal Units), and measures how much heat a furnace can produce in an hour. Essentially BTUs measures how powerful a furnace is.

On average, residential furnaces range from 40,000 to 120,000 BTUs.

When it comes to furnace size, it’s easy to think… “I could save some money if I just buy a smaller furnace.” However, you don’t really have a choice when it comes to which size furnace is right for your home.

Why does furnace size matter?

If you buy a furnace that is too small, it won’t heat your home properly. On the other hand, if you buy a furnace that’s too large, it’ll heat your home quickly and shut off, leaving hot and cold spots around your house.

It’s not only uncomfortable to have the wrong-size furnace but it can also cost you a good deal of money in the long run. Having an over- or under-sized furnace can cause a lot of strain on your system, which means it’ll likely wear out quickly, resulting in expensive repairs or replacements. Because of this, it’s extremely important you invest in the right-size furnace.

The only way to determine which furnace is the correct size for your home is to have a professional come assess your home and heating needs, called a load calculation. During this assessment, a professional will take into consideration:

• Climate you live in
• Number of windows and doors
• Type and quality of insulation
• Height of ceilings
• Number of people living in your home
• Type of flooring

This isn’t an exhaustive list. But these are some of the most important factors your HVAC professional will look at.

The higher the efficiency of the furnace, the more expensive it will be.

Furnace efficiency is rated in AFUE (Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency), which measures how much energy is turned into heat.

For example, if you have a high-efficiency gas furnace (95%), it means that 95% of the gas it uses will be turned into heat and 5% will be wasted.

High-efficiency furnaces have AFUE ratings ranging from 90-98.5% and is known as a condensing furnace.

Low/mid-efficiency furnaces have AFUE ratings ranging from 80-84% and are also known as conventional furnaces.

While higher-efficiency furnaces are more expensive up front, they waste less energy over time. That means customers save money in the long-run.

Gas furnaces typically cost more upfront than electric furnaces.

However, gas is a cheaper fuel type compared to electricity, so gas furnaces are usually less expensive to run on a monthly basis.

That being said, the type of fuel you “choose” for your furnace will likely depend on the fuel type you already have access to.

For example, if you have access to natural gas lines and you have other appliances that use natural gas, this is likely the type of furnace you’d choose. However, if your home’s appliances run on electricity, installing an electric furnace is the cheaper option (because installing gas lines can increase the cost of your installation $1,500 to $3,000 on average).

There are a variety of comfort features that will impact the overall cost of installation.

Some comfort features are:

• Smart thermostat- Changes the temperature of your home based on a schedule you’ve set, which can provide a more accurate indoor temperature and lower heating costs
• Variable-speed blower motor- Increases speed to improve comfort and eliminates hot/cold spots in your home
• Modulating burner- Adjusts heat based on the thermostat, providing a more consistent temperature

Before installing a new furnace, you should speak with a professional about which comfort features might be best for your home. While they will increase the overall cost of installation, they may save you money and significantly increase your comfort in your home.

Typically, the more experienced a company or contractor is, the more they charge for installing a furnace.

However, when it comes to a long-term investment like a furnace, the cost of labor is not one you want to cut corners on. You want to ensure the technician who’s installing your furnace is skilled, experienced, and will install your furnace safely and correctly.

When looking for a quality furnace installer, you should look for someone who:

• Is licensed and insured- License and insurance numbers should either be posted on a company’s site or can be verified on the Better Business Bureau’s site. Any company listed on the BBB has a verified license and insurance.
• Has great reviews on sites like the BBB and Google
• Has 10+ years of experience
• Offers guarantees on their work

If you’re ready to install a new furnace, we’re the team to hire. We’ve been helping homeowners in the area install furnaces since 1979, and we’d be happy to provide you with an expert recommendation and installation.

Not quite ready to install a furnace yet? No problem. You can learn more about the furnace installation process here.