Furnace Installation in Dundalk, MD
A new furnace here will run from October through April every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Baltimore County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Dundalk asks a lot of a furnace
From October through April, seven months of the year, your furnace is what keeps the house livable. Winter nights average 26°F here, cold enough that a furnace runs long hours night after night with little rest. Anything installed here has to be sized and set up for that stretch of real use, not just the coldest week.
Over half of 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 by federal rule. That is the floor, not a feature. The other thing worth planning for is the power. Maryland has seen 33 winter storms and 314 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and in 2024 eleven percent of households in the state lost power for 24 hours or more. A furnace that starts back up on its own once the power returns matters here.
- 7 months
- October through April, your furnace is on duty
- 26°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 52%
- 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 $110 a year to run in Baltimore County compared with a gas furnace.
Estimates for a typical Baltimore County home, from EIA household energy data, Maryland fuel prices and NOAA climate normals. Your home will differ.
Maryland requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The license covers the contractor, not this particular furnace installation. It is issued by the Maryland Board of HVACR Contractors, and it stays with the company across every job they do, not just this one.
Most cities and counties also require a permit for a furnace installation, along with an inspection once the work is done. That covers what the state license does not reach on this specific job. Gas heat is common in Baltimore County, where just over half of homes run on it, and a furnace installation is exactly the kind of job that inspection exists for.
Sources: Maryland General Assembly · Maryland Department of Labor
- What size furnace does my house need?
- The right size comes from a load calculation, not from the square footage alone. A contractor works out how much heat your house loses on a cold night by looking at your insulation, your windows, your ceiling height, and how the place is laid out. Two homes the same size can need different furnaces if one has more window area or a bigger attic. With winter lows here averaging 26°F, a furnace that's sized wrong will either run constantly and still fall short, or short cycle and wear out early. Ask the contractor to walk through the calculation with you rather than quote a size off the square footage.
- How do I know it's time to replace my furnace?
- Watch how the furnace behaves, not just how old it is. Rooms that won't hold heat, a furnace that cycles on and off more than it used to, or a gas bill that's climbed without a change in how you use the house are all signs. Homes here need heat from October through April, seven months of the year, so a furnace that's struggling gets tested hard and often. If a repair keeps coming back, or a technician tells you a major part like the heat exchanger has failed, that's usually the point to replace rather than fix again.
- Is a high-efficiency furnace worth it?
- It depends on how long you plan to stay in the house and what furnace you have now. Any non-weatherized gas furnace made since November 2015 has to reach at least 80 percent AFUE, so even a standard model sold today wastes less gas than an older one might have. A high-efficiency furnace pushes that number higher, which matters more in a place where the furnace runs seven months a year. Just over half the homes in Baltimore County heat with gas, so that efficiency difference shows up on a real number of bills here. A contractor can lay out the options for your house and price each one.