Furnace Installation in Bangor, ME
A new furnace here will run from September through May every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Penobscot County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Nine months of heat, and winter nights near 10 degrees
A furnace in Bangor works from September through May. That is nine months of the year carrying the load. Winter nights average 10 degrees, so the furnace you install has to hold a house steady against real cold, night after night, most of the year.
More than half the homes here heat with fuel oil. Whichever fuel yours runs on, a gas furnace built on or after November 19, 2015 has to reach at least 80.0 percent AFUE. Penobscot County has also seen 134 winter storms and 188 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and in 2024 more than half of Maine households lost power for at least 24 hours. Worth asking how the furnace you choose comes back on once the power does.
- 9 months
- September through May, your furnace is on duty
- 10°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 80% AFUE
- the federal minimum any new unit must meet
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
- What size furnace does my house need?
- There's no single number that works for every house. A contractor sizes your furnace with a load calculation that looks at your square footage, ceiling height, insulation, window count, and how the place is laid out. Guessing high seems safe but it isn't. An oversized furnace short cycles, meaning it turns on and off more than it should, which wears out parts faster and leaves rooms uneven. With winter lows here averaging 10°F and heat needed from September through May, getting the size right matters more than it would somewhere milder.
- How do I know it's time to replace my furnace?
- Age is the first thing to look at. If a contractor tells you your furnace is old for its type, repairs start costing more and fixing less. Watch for rooms that won't hold a temperature, a furnace that cycles on and off too often, or a heat exchanger that's cracked, which a contractor checks for during service since it's a safety issue, not a comfort one. If your furnace is old and something breaks in the middle of a stretch of 10°F nights, you're better off replacing it before that happens than after.
- Is a high-efficiency furnace worth it?
- It depends on how long you'll be in the house and what you're replacing. Furnaces built since November 2015 have to hit at least 80 percent AFUE, so even a standard new furnace wastes less fuel than an old one. High-efficiency models go higher than that, and with heat running here nine months a year, the fuel savings add up over more months than they would in a place with a short winter. A contractor can walk you through the actual efficiency ratings and what fits your house.