Furnace Installation in Calais, ME
A new furnace here will run from September through May every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Washington County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Nine months of heat, and winters that don't go easy
Your furnace in Calais runs September through May, nine months a year. Winter nights average 14°F, cold enough that it has to hold a steady heat for hours at a time, night after night.
Most homes here heat with fuel oil. A new furnace has to be sized for those cold nights, not just to take the edge off. If it's a gas furnace, federal rules set the floor at 80 percent AFUE for units built since November 2015, so anything installed now has to clear that mark at minimum. This area has also seen its share of winter storms and damaging wind over the past ten years, and in 2024 more than half of Maine households lost power for at least a day. A furnace installed here should be able to fire back up on its own once the power comes back.
- 9 months
- September through May, your furnace is on duty
- 14°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?
- 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 factors in local winter lows, which around Calais average 14°F. 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. Ask whoever quotes the job to walk you through the calculation, not just hand you a number.
- How do I know it's time to replace my furnace?
- If your furnace needs heat nine months of the year here, from September through May, that's a long stretch to be running on borrowed time. Watch for repairs getting more frequent, a furnace that struggles to keep up on the coldest nights, or one that's simply old and outlasted its expected life. Rising fuel bills without a change in how you live in the house are another sign the furnace is losing efficiency. A contractor can look at the unit and tell you whether another repair makes sense or whether replacement is the better move.
- Is a high-efficiency furnace worth it?
- It depends on what you're heating with now and how long you plan to stay in the house. Most homes here heat with fuel oil, and switching to a high-efficiency gas furnace can change your fuel costs, though a contractor would need to price that comparison for your specific home. Any new non-weatherized gas furnace has to meet at least 80.0 percent AFUE by law, so the question is really whether to go higher than that minimum. With nine months of heating season and winter lows averaging 14°F, a more efficient furnace has more months to earn back the difference than it would somewhere milder.