Furnace Installation in Billings, MT
A new furnace here will run from September through May every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Yellowstone County will get in touch.
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Nine months of heat, and winters that test the furnace you pick
Furnaces in Yellowstone County work September through May. Winter nights average 16°F, and a furnace sized and installed right has to keep up night after night for most of the year, not just on the coldest ones.
Most homes here heat with gas, and any new non-weatherized gas furnace has to reach at least 80 percent AFUE by federal rule. That is the floor, not a target, and it applies no matter who installs it. Montana also sees real winter weather, with 17 winter storms and 154 damaging wind events recorded over the last ten years, and 18% of households in the state lost power for at least 24 hours in 2024. A furnace installed to handle this county's winters is worth getting right the first time.
- 9 months
- September through May, your furnace is on duty
- 16°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 68%
- 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 $70 a year to run in Yellowstone County compared with a gas furnace.
Estimates for a typical Yellowstone County home, from EIA household energy data, Montana fuel prices and NOAA climate normals. Your home will differ.
Montana requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The Department of Labor and Industry tests and records the contractor before that license is issued, and it covers the contractor rather than any single job. Work under $2,500 falls outside this requirement, but a furnace installation runs well past that, so the contractor doing this job needs to hold the license.
Beyond the state license, a furnace installation in most cities and counties in Montana needs a permit from the local building office, with an inspection once the work is done. In Yellowstone County, 67.9% of homes heat with gas, so a furnace installation is a job a lot of houses here go through.
Source: Montana Legislature
- What size furnace does my house need?
- There is no single answer without looking at your house. A contractor sizes a furnace by working out how much heat your home loses on the coldest nights, which depends on square footage, insulation, window area, and ceiling height. Putting in a furnace too big for the house wastes fuel and cycles on and off more than it should. Too small, and it will run constantly through the cold months and still not keep up. Ask the contractor for the load calculation, not just a number based on the size of the old unit.
- How do I know it's time to replace my furnace?
- Age is one thing to check, along with how often it breaks down. An older furnace gets harder to find parts for, and if you're calling for a repair more than once a season, replacement usually makes more sense than another patch. Watch also for rising gas bills that aren't explained by colder weather, rooms that heat unevenly, or a furnace that short cycles or runs long stretches without warming the house. Homes here need heat from September through May, so a furnace that's struggling early is worth replacing before the coldest nights, which average 16°F, arrive.
- Is a high-efficiency furnace worth it?
- Every furnace sold now has to meet at least 80 percent AFUE, so even a standard model wastes less fuel than an older one. A high-efficiency furnace goes further by pulling more heat out of the exhaust before it leaves the house. Whether the higher price is worth it depends on how long you plan to stay in the house and how much you run the furnace. With heat needed here from September through May, a more efficient furnace has more months of the year to earn back the difference than it would somewhere with a short winter. A contractor can walk through the actual models and price the job for your house.