Furnace Installation in Long Branch, NJ
A new furnace here will run from October through April every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Monmouth County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Long Branch asks a lot of a furnace
Winter nights here average 27°F, and that's the low a new furnace has to answer for months at a stretch. Homes in Long Branch need heat from October through April, seven months of the year. That's most of the calendar spent running, cycling on and off, working through nights well below freezing.
Most homes here heat with gas, so the furnace itself carries the load rather than sharing it with another system. Any non-weatherized gas furnace built new has to reach at least 80 percent AFUE, but given how many months this one will run, it's worth asking what a higher rating buys back over seven months of winter. The area has also seen its share of winter storms and damaging wind over the past ten years, and power along with it. A furnace that starts back up on its own once the power returns matters here, because the cold doesn't wait for the lights to come on.
- 7 months
- October through April, your furnace is on duty
- 27°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 81%
- 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 $120 a year to run in Monmouth County compared with a gas furnace.
Estimates for a typical Monmouth County home, from EIA household energy data, New Jersey fuel prices and NOAA climate normals. Your home will differ.
New Jersey requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The license is issued to the contractor by the state board, not to each job, so the same license covers this installation and every other one that contractor takes on. Monmouth County and every other town in New Jersey can't layer on their own HVAC license requirement on top of that, so the state board is the one record that follows the contractor wherever the work is.
For a furnace install, the part that matters most is the gas connection, and that gets checked by the local building office, not the state board. Most cities and counties require a permit for a furnace replacement and an inspection once it's done, and that inspection is what confirms the gas line and venting were done right. With most Monmouth County homes heating with gas, that inspection is the step that catches a bad connection before it becomes a problem.
Sources: New Jersey Legislature · New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs
- What size furnace does my house need?
- It depends on a load calculation, not on the square footage alone. A contractor works out the right size by looking at your home's insulation, windows, ceiling height, and how much air leaks in and out, then runs that through a Manual J calculation. A furnace that's too big will short cycle and wear out faster. One that's too small will run constantly and still leave you cold on the nights that drop toward 27°F. Getting this number right matters more here than somewhere with milder winters.
- How do I know it's time to replace my furnace?
- If your furnace is struggling to keep up, cycling on and off more than it used to, or needing repairs every winter, it's time to start planning a replacement. Age matters too. Furnaces installed before November 2015 don't have to meet the 80 percent AFUE minimum that's required now, so an older unit is likely burning more gas than a new one would for the same heat. Since homes here need heat from October through April, a furnace that's failing going into that stretch is worth replacing before it quits on a cold night rather than after.
- Is a high-efficiency furnace worth it?
- A high-efficiency furnace makes the most sense in a house that runs its heat for a long stretch of the year, and homes here need heat for 7 months of it. The higher the AFUE rating, the less gas it takes to produce the same heat, and with 81.1% of homes in Monmouth County heating with gas, that difference shows up on a lot of bills here. A contractor can walk through the specific models and price the job for your house, but the length of the heating season here is the reason the higher-efficiency option is worth asking about.