Furnace Installation in The Dalles, OR
A new furnace here will run from September through June every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Wasco County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Ten months of heat a year in The Dalles
Furnaces here run September through June, ten months of the year, with winter nights averaging 27°F. A new furnace has to carry most of the year, not just a few cold weeks.
Most homes in this area heat with electricity. If you're installing a gas furnace, federal rules set the floor at 80 percent AFUE for units built since late 2015. The region has also logged 86 winter storms and 43 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and in 2024 a fifth of Oregon households lost power for at least a day. Whatever furnace goes in should be one that starts back up on its own once the power does.
- 10 months
- September through June, your furnace is on duty
- 27°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 80% AFUE
- the federal minimum any new unit must meet
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Oregon requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The state license is held by the contractor, tested and put on record with the Construction Contractors Board, and it covers them, not the specific job at your house. Work under $1,000 falls outside that requirement, but a furnace installation runs well past that mark, so whoever does this job needs to hold the license.
The license tells you the contractor was tested and is on file with the state. It does not inspect the furnace once it is in. In most cities and counties, a furnace installation needs a permit from the local building office, with an inspection once the work is done.
Source: Oregon Legislative Assembly
- What size furnace does my house need?
- It depends on your home's square footage, insulation, window count, and layout, not just one number you can look up. A furnace that's too big will short cycle and wear out early. One that's too small will run constantly and still leave rooms cold on a 27°F night. A contractor will run a load calculation on your actual house before recommending a size, and that's the only way to get it right.
- How do I know it's time to replace my furnace?
- Watch for rooms that won't heat evenly, a furnace that cycles on and off more than it used to, or repair calls that keep coming back. Age matters too. If your furnace is old enough that parts are getting harder to find, that's worth weighing against another repair. With heat needed here from September through June, a furnace that's struggling in fall is a bad sign for what winter will bring. A contractor can tell you whether what you're seeing is normal wear or the start of a bigger problem.
- Is a high-efficiency furnace worth it?
- Every furnace made since November 2015 already has to hit at least 80 percent AFUE, so the question is really whether it's worth going higher than that baseline. Homes here need heat for 10 months a year, which is more run time than most places see, and that changes the math on efficiency more than it would somewhere with a short winter. A contractor can walk you through the efficiency tiers available and what fits your furnace's venting and your home, since higher-efficiency units often need different venting than standard ones.