Furnace Installation in Presque Isle, ME
A new furnace here will run from September through June every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Aroostook County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Ten months of heat a year, and nights that drop to 4 below
Presque Isle needs a furnace from September through June. That's ten months of the year, not just the deep winter stretch most people picture. On the nights it matters most, the average low is 4°F, and the furnace has to keep recovering from that without a break for days at a time.
Most homes here still heat with fuel oil, so a lot of the furnaces running through those ten months are oil units, not gas. Whatever fuel the new one runs on, a gas furnace installed today has to meet 80.0 percent AFUE at minimum, that's set by federal rule, not a local choice. Aroostook County has also logged 179 winter storms and 161 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and more than half of Maine households lost power for at least 24 hours in 2024. A furnace that depends on electricity to run its blower and controls is only as reliable as that power stays on.
- 10 months
- September through June, your furnace is on duty
- 4°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 depends on your home's square footage, how well it's insulated, your window count, and the layout of your ductwork. With winter lows here averaging 4°F, undersizing is a real risk because the furnace will run constantly and still struggle to keep up on the coldest nights. Oversizing causes its own problems, short cycling that wears out parts faster and leaves rooms unevenly heated. A contractor will run a load calculation on your specific house rather than go by square footage alone, since two homes the same size can need very different furnaces.
- How do I know it's time to replace my furnace?
- Watch for rising repair frequency, uneven heat between rooms, and a furnace that runs longer than it used to just to hold the same temperature. Homes here need heat from September through June, so a failing furnace has very little time each year to rest and a lot of time to show its age. Yellow or flickering burner flames and a cracked heat exchanger are both signs worth taking seriously, and an aging furnace tends to show more of these signs the longer it runs each year. If yours runs on fuel oil, which most homes here do, ask about the tank and lines too, since age affects both the furnace and the fuel delivery system.
- Is a high-efficiency furnace worth it?
- It depends on how many months your furnace runs and what you're paying for fuel now. Since homes here need heat for 10 months of the year, a furnace's efficiency rating matters more here than in places with short winters. Every non-weatherized gas furnace built since November 2015 has to reach at least 80 percent AFUE, so even a standard new furnace is already fairly efficient. A contractor can walk you through what a higher AFUE unit would mean for your specific fuel type and usage.