Furnace Installation in Rumford, ME
A new furnace here will run from September through May every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Oxford County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Nine months of heat, and nights near 10 degrees
Rumford asks a lot of a furnace. Heat runs from September through May, nine months of the year, and winter nights average 10°F. That is a long season and a hard cold to hold a house through. The unit you install has to carry real weight most of the year, not just handle a few cold snaps.
Most homes here still heat with fuel oil. Whatever fuel the new furnace runs on, federal rules set a floor. A non-weatherized gas furnace built since November 2015 has to reach at least 80.0 percent AFUE. That is the minimum, and it is worth knowing where the furnace you choose stands against it.
- 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 fits every house here. The right size depends on your square footage, how well the house is insulated, your window count and type, and your ceiling height. A contractor will run a load calculation, called a Manual J, that looks at all of that together. Guessing high doesn't help you either. A furnace too big for the house cycles on and off fast and wears out sooner, while one too small runs constantly and still can't keep up on the coldest nights.
- How do I know it's time to replace my furnace?
- Watch for uneven heat, a furnace that runs longer than it used to, or repair calls that keep coming back. An aging furnace showing these signs is a candidate for replacement rather than another repair. With winter lows here averaging 10°F and heat needed from September through May, a furnace that struggles now will only fall further behind as the season goes on. If yours is older and you're weighing a repair against replacement, have a contractor look at both the unit's condition and its age before you decide.
- Is a high-efficiency furnace worth it?
- It depends on how you heat now and how long you plan to stay in the house. Furnaces built since November 2015 already have to hit 80 percent AFUE at minimum, so even a standard new furnace wastes less fuel than an older one. A high-efficiency furnace goes beyond that minimum and pulls more heat from the same amount of fuel, which matters most in a place like this where heat runs nine months a year. With 58 percent of homes here on fuel oil, that efficiency gain shows up in fuel used over a long heating season. A contractor can price out both options for your house and let you weigh the difference.