HVAC Installation in Skowhegan, ME
Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Somerset County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
A new system here needs to handle ten months of work
Winter nights in Skowhegan average 7°F from December through February. Whatever you put in has to hold a house warm against that, night after night, from September through June. That's ten months of the year your system is running, with no real cooling season on the other side of it. Summer afternoons average just 74°F, so the heating side is what a new system needs to be sized for.
More than half of homes in the area still heat with fuel oil. If you're switching to something else, size it for those 7°F nights, not for a mild afternoon. Power outages are common here too. More than half of Maine households went at least 24 hours without power in 2024, so it's worth asking a contractor what happens to your heat when the power goes out and how the new system comes back on when it returns.
- 10 months
- September through June, your system heats
- 7°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 74°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- When should I replace my HVAC system?
- Once your furnace needs repairs more winters than not, replacement starts making more sense than another repair bill. Age matters here since your furnace runs September through June, ten months a year, and racks up hours other systems never see. Watch for uneven heat between rooms, a furnace that runs longer to hit the same temperature, or a jump in fuel oil use. A contractor can look at the unit's age and condition and tell you whether it's worth fixing again or time to plan the swap.
- Should I replace my furnace and air conditioner at the same time?
- If both are old, yes, it's worth doing together. Homes here barely use cooling, so many houses run a furnace alone or a furnace paired with a smaller AC that sees light duty. If your furnace is failing and the AC still has years left in it, there's no reason to pull a working coil out early. A contractor can check whether your furnace and AC share a coil or blower before deciding whether replacing one forces the other.
- What happens during an HVAC installation?
- A contractor removes the old furnace or air handler, sets the new one, and connects it to the existing ductwork, gas or oil line, and venting. They'll check that the ducts are sized right for the new equipment, since undersized ducts choke airflow no matter how good the furnace is. Electrical and any thermostat wiring gets connected, then the system runs through a startup check, including the igniter and flame sensor on a gas furnace or the burner on an oil furnace. With winter lows here averaging 7°F, a contractor will also confirm the system is sized to keep up on the coldest nights, not just an average one.