Furnace Installation in Waukee, IA
A new furnace here will run from October through May every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Dallas County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Eight months of heat a year in Waukee
Furnaces in Waukee work from October through May. Winter nights average 15°F, and on the coldest ones the furnace runs for hours at a time to keep up. A new furnace here has to be sized for that stretch of cold, not just a mild snap in November.
Over the past ten years, this area has seen 19 winter storms and 96 damaging wind events, and in 2024, 15% of Iowa households lost power for at least a day. A furnace that comes back on by itself once power returns matters here. Any new gas furnace installed today has to reach at least 80.0 percent AFUE, the federal minimum, so the model chosen for your home will meet that mark or better.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 15°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 59%
- 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 $90 a year to run in Dallas County compared with a gas furnace.
Estimates for a typical Dallas 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 issues that license, and it covers the contractor, not the job itself. The board has tested the contractor and keeps a record of who holds the license. That record does not follow each furnace installation the way an inspection does.
For this job, the license tells you the person doing the work has met the state's standard. What checks the work itself is the local building office. A furnace installation needs a permit and an inspection once the work is done, and that inspection is what catches a bad gas connection or a venting mistake, the kind of error that matters most on a furnace. In Dallas County, most homes heat with gas, so that inspection is doing real work here.
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 the square footage of your house. A contractor measures your walls, windows, insulation and layout and runs the numbers to find out how much heat you actually lose on a cold night. Too big and the furnace short cycles, turning on and off without evenly heating the house. Too small and it runs constantly and still can't keep up. With winter nights here averaging 15°F, getting this number right matters more than it would somewhere milder.
- How do I know it's time to replace my furnace?
- Age is the first clue. Most furnaces last 15 years or more, and once yours is in that range, repairs start becoming a losing bet. Watch for rooms that won't heat evenly, a furnace that cycles on and off more than it used to, or a jump in your gas bill with no other explanation. If a repair tech tells you the heat exchanger is cracked, that's a straight replace, not a repair, since a cracked exchanger can leak carbon monoxide into the house. With heat needed here from October through May, a furnace that's struggling in the shoulder months usually won't make it through a full winter.
- Is a high-efficiency furnace worth it?
- It depends on how long you plan to stay in the house and how many months a year the furnace runs. Homes here need heat for 8 months, October through May, so a furnace here works harder over its lifetime than one in a milder climate, which is where higher efficiency pays back faster. Every new non-weatherized gas furnace sold today has to reach at least 80 percent AFUE by law, so the real choice is between that baseline and units rated higher. A contractor can walk through the difference in installed cost against your specific gas usage.