Oil costs more here to begin with
Fuel oil ran $25.15 per million Btu in Pennsylvania in 2024. If your furnace burns oil, that price is the starting point for every bill, before you even get to how efficient the unit is.
Furnace Installation in Palmerton, PA
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Step 1 of 3: Equipment
Efficiency decides what you pay on top of that
Two furnaces using the same oil at the same price can still leave you with different bills, because one wastes more of what it burns. Ask what AFUE rating the new unit carries before you sign off on it.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 19°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 80% AFUE
- the federal minimum any new unit must meet
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NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Oil heats 40.5% of homes in Carbon County, more than any other fuel.
If your old furnace burns oil, replacing it with another oil furnace is usually the straightforward path.
Eight months of heat, nights near 19, and a storm most winters
Heat comes on in October here and runs through May. That gives you September to get a new furnace in before you need it. Wait until the first cold night and you're choosing from whatever unit a contractor has on the truck, not the one that fits your house. A furnace running eight months a year is working most of the time it sits in your basement, so it pays to have the right size and the right AFUE rating from the start, not whatever was on hand in a rush.
Carbon County sets a minimum AFUE for new furnaces
Palmerton falls in climate zone 5A, where heating carries the bigger share of the load. Any new non-weatherized gas furnace installed here has to reach at least 80 percent AFUE, a minimum that climbs to 95 percent in a few years. A federal tax credit is available for units that clear the higher bar now. Worth asking which models on the truck qualify before you decide.
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Built in 1972 or earlier, half these homes
Half the homes in Carbon County were built in 1972 or earlier. A furnace going into one of those houses has to match ductwork and venting that were sized for whatever ran there before. Not for a generic living room on a spec sheet. If your system came with the house, there's a decent chance it was swapped in once already to fit those same bones. Worth asking before install day whether this unit matches what's already there, or whether something else has to change to make it fit.
A furnace too big doesn't heat better
An oversized furnace reaches set temperature fast, then shuts off, then fires again a few minutes later. That short cycling wears the igniter and blower motor faster than a furnace that runs a long, steady stretch. It also leaves rooms farther from the thermostat colder than they should be, because the air never runs long enough to push all the way through the ducts.
Sizing comes from the house, not the old furnace
The right size gets worked out room by room, looking at window area, wall and ceiling insulation, and how the ductwork is laid out, not by matching whatever unit is already in the basement. A contractor who sizes it right will walk the house and run those numbers before quoting a unit, rather than quoting the same tonnage that's already there.
AFUE is the percentage of fuel that actually turns into heat for the house. The rest goes out the flue. A furnace with a low AFUE wastes more of every bit of fuel it burns than one with a high AFUE, and it does that every single time it fires. A higher-rated furnace usually costs more up front, and it may need different venting, since the exhaust runs cooler. That can mean a plastic pipe through the wall instead of a metal one up through the chimney. Ask what venting a higher-rated unit needs before you compare it against a cheaper one, since that changes what the install actually involves, not just the price tag on the furnace itself.
Install day starts with the old furnace coming out, and that alone can take a while if it's wedged into a tight mechanical closet or the ductwork around it has to come apart to get it clear. The new unit gets set, leveled, and connected to the gas line, the vent, and the ductwork, and every one of those connections gets checked for leaks before anything runs. Electrical and the thermostat wiring come next. Then the crew runs the furnace through a full cycle, checking gas pressure, flame, and temperature rise against what the manufacturer specifies for that model, not just whether warm air comes out of the vents. If venting changed with the new unit, that gets inspected too, since a mistake there is a safety issue, not just a comfort one. A straightforward swap where the ducts and venting already fit goes faster than one where something has to be modified to make the new furnace work with what's already in the house.
