Furnace Installation in Marshalltown, IA
A new furnace here will run from October through May every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Marshall County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
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Marshalltown asks a furnace to work eight months of the year
Winter nights here average 14°F, and homes need heat from October through May. That is eight months of the year your furnace has to be ready to run, not just the deep of winter but the long stretch on either side of it.
Most homes in Marshall County heat with gas, and any non-weatherized gas furnace built since November 2015 has to reach at least 80 percent AFUE by federal rule. That is the floor, not a feature. Winter here also brings weather that cuts power, Iowa saw 15 percent of households lose power for 24 hours or more in 2024, and the county has logged 21 winter storms and 65 damaging wind events over the last ten years. A new furnace going in should be sized and installed for a season that runs long and a grid that does not always hold.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 14°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 58%
- 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 $100 a year to run in Marshall County compared with a gas furnace.
Estimates for a typical Marshall County home, from EIA household energy data, Iowa fuel prices and NOAA climate normals. Your home will differ.
Iowa requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The Iowa Plumbing and Mechanical Systems Board licenses the contractor, not the job. That means the state has tested this contractor and keeps a record of them, and that record applies wherever they work in Iowa, not just to this one furnace install.
For this job, that license is what stands behind the person doing the work. The local building office still has its own part in it. In most cities and counties, a furnace installation needs a permit and an inspection once the work is done, and that inspection is what checks the gas connections and venting were done right. In Marshall County, 57.8% of homes heat with gas, so that inspection is a step a lot of furnace jobs here go through.
Sources: Iowa Legislature · Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing
- What size furnace does my house need?
- The right size comes from a load calculation, not a rule of thumb based on square footage. A contractor measures your windows, insulation, ceiling height, and how much wall faces north, then figures out how much heat your house actually loses on a cold night. With winter lows here averaging 14°F, that number matters more than it would somewhere milder. 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.
- How do I know it's time to replace my furnace?
- Age is one sign, along with repairs that keep coming back. Watch for rooms that won't heat evenly, a furnace that runs longer than it used to, or a rise in your gas bill without a reason. If a repair costs a large share of what a new furnace would, replacing it usually makes more sense than fixing it again next winter. Homes here need heat from October through May, so a furnace on its way out has a long season to fail in.
- Is a high-efficiency furnace worth it?
- It depends on how many months your furnace runs and what you're replacing. Homes here need heat eight months a year, October through May, so a furnace here works harder than one in a milder state. Since November 2015, every new non-weatherized gas furnace sold has to reach at least 80 percent AFUE, so even a standard model burns less fuel than an older one. A high-efficiency furnace sends more of that fuel into your home as heat instead of losing it out the flue. Over eight months of use, that difference adds up more here than it would in a place with a shorter heating season. A contractor can price out both options for your specific house.