Furnace Installation in Grand Rapids, MI
A new furnace here will run from October through May every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Kent County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Grand Rapids winters ask a lot of a furnace
Your furnace has to work here from October through May. That's eight months a year, with winter nights averaging 19°F. A new furnace has to be sized and installed to handle that stretch without strain.
Most homes in the area heat with gas, and any non-weatherized gas furnace built since November 2015 has to reach at least 80 percent AFUE. That's the floor, not a feature, so ask what your installer is putting in above it. Power is worth planning around too. Kent County has seen 15 winter storms and 56 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and across Michigan more than a third of households lost power for at least a day in 2024. A furnace that runs on electricity to ignite and circulate air needs that power to work.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 19°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 82%
- 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 $130 a year to run in Kent County compared with a gas furnace.
Estimates for a typical Kent County home, from EIA household energy data, Michigan fuel prices and NOAA climate normals. Your home will differ.
Michigan requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The license is issued to the contractor, not to the job itself, so it covers the business doing the work rather than any single furnace install. That business is the one on record with the state's Board of Mechanical Rules.
For a furnace installation, that license is the main protection here. On top of it, most cities and counties require a permit from the local building office and an inspection once the work is done, and that inspection is what catches a bad gas connection, the dangerous part of putting in a new furnace. In Kent County, where 81.7% of homes heat with gas, that permit and inspection step is part of getting a furnace replaced correctly.
Sources: Michigan Legislature · Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs
- What size furnace does my house need?
- There's no single number that fits every house. It comes down to a load calculation, a room by room look at square footage, insulation, window count and orientation, ceiling height, and how much air leaks in and out. A furnace that's too big cycles on and off fast and never runs long enough to heat evenly. One that's too small runs constantly and still can't keep up on the coldest nights, and here that means nights averaging 19°F. A contractor will run the calculation for your house and size the equipment to it.
- How do I know it's time to replace my furnace?
- Age is one sign. Furnaces wear out over time, and parts get harder to find the older the unit gets. Rising repair bills are another, especially if you're calling for service more than once a season. Watch for uneven heat between rooms, a furnace that runs longer than it used to, or a yellow flame instead of blue. Homes here need heat from October through May, eight months of the year, so a furnace that's struggling has a lot of months left to prove it can't keep up.
- Is a high-efficiency furnace worth it?
- It depends on how much heating your house actually needs, and here that's a lot. With eight months of heating season and winter nights averaging 19°F, a furnace runs often enough that efficiency differences show up. Every furnace made since November 2015 has to hit at least 80 percent AFUE, but high-efficiency models go well above that, meaning less fuel burned for the same heat. A contractor can walk through the options and what each one means for your specific house.