Furnace Installation in St. Joseph, MO
A new furnace here will run from October through April every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Buchanan County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Seven months of heat, starting around 21 degrees
St. Joseph homes need the furnace running from October through April. That's seven months of the year, with winter nights averaging 21°F, so the unit you install has to carry most of the calendar, not just a cold snap here and there.
More than half the homes in the area heat with gas, and any non-weatherized gas furnace built since November 2015 has to hit at least 80 percent AFUE by federal rule. The area has also logged 8 winter storms and 72 damaging wind events over the past ten years, the kind of weather that can take out power along with the heat. A furnace that comes back on by itself once power returns is worth asking about when you're choosing what goes in.
- 7 months
- October through April, your furnace is on duty
- 21°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 54%
- of homes here heat with gas, so most furnaces here burn gas
- 80% AFUE
- the federal minimum any new unit must meet
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A high-efficiency gas furnace would save about $180 a year to run in Buchanan County compared with a gas furnace.
Estimates for a typical Buchanan County home, from EIA household energy data, Missouri fuel prices and NOAA climate normals. Your home will differ.
- What size furnace does my house need?
- The right size comes from a load calculation, not the square footage alone. A contractor measures your walls, windows, insulation, and ceiling height, then works out how much heat your house actually loses on a cold night. A furnace that's too big will short cycle and wear out faster. One that's too small will run constantly and still leave rooms cold when it's 21°F outside. Ask whoever quotes the job to walk through the calculation with you, not just quote a number.
- How do I know it's time to replace my furnace?
- An aging furnace is more likely to fail on the coldest night than keep going, so age matters. Rising repair bills are another sign, especially if the same parts keep failing. If your furnace struggles to keep the house warm through a full winter here, from October to April, that's worth having looked at rather than waiting out. A contractor can tell you whether what you're seeing is normal wear or the start of the end.
- Is a high-efficiency furnace worth it?
- It depends on how much you heat and what you're replacing. Every non-weatherized gas furnace made since November 2015 has to hit at least 80 percent AFUE, so even a standard model today isn't wasteful. A high-efficiency furnace goes beyond that minimum, turning more of the gas you burn into heat instead of sending it out the flue. With over half the homes here heating with gas and a heating season that runs seven months, that difference adds up more than it would somewhere with a short winter. A contractor can go over the specific models and what fits your house.