Furnace Installation in Russellville, AR
A new furnace here will run from October through April every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Pope County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Seven months of heat, most of it on electricity
Your furnace runs October through April here, seven months of the year. Winter nights average 30°F, cold enough that a furnace is doing real work most nights it runs, not just taking the edge off.
Most homes in Pope County heat with electricity, and the grid has had trouble holding up under storms. Nearly a quarter of Arkansas households lost power for 24 hours or more in 2024, and the last ten years brought 80 damaging wind events. If you're choosing a new furnace, that history is worth weighing alongside the unit itself. Any new gas furnace installed today has to reach at least 80 percent AFUE, so it turns most of the fuel it burns into heat for your home rather than losing it up the flue.
- 7 months
- October through April, your furnace is on duty
- 30°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 80% AFUE
- the federal minimum any new unit must meet
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Arkansas requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
Arkansas issues that license to the contractor, not to the furnace going in. It covers the person or company doing the work, and it applies the same way everywhere in the state, since cities and counties here are not allowed to add an HVAC license of their own on top of it.
For this job, that license is what stands behind the person installing the furnace. It does not cover the inspection at the end. In most cities and counties, a furnace replacement needs a permit from the local building office, and someone comes out afterward to check the work, including the gas connection and venting. That is where a bad hookup gets caught, separate from the license itself.
Source: Arkansas Department of Labor and Licensing
- What size furnace does my house need?
- A contractor needs to run a load calculation on your house to answer that, not just measure square footage. That calculation looks at your insulation, your windows, your ceiling height, and how the walls are built, because two houses the same size can need different sized furnaces. A furnace that is too big cycles on and off too fast and never runs long enough to heat evenly. One that is too small runs constantly and still can't keep up on the coldest nights, and here that means nights down around 30°F. Ask the contractor to show you the calculation instead of a guess based on square footage alone.
- How do I know it's time to replace my furnace?
- Age is the first thing to look at, along with how often it's been breaking down. Furnaces installed new today run 80% AFUE or higher by law, so if yours is old enough to predate that standard, it's likely burning more gas than it needs to for the same heat. Rising repair calls are another sign, especially if a technician has told you a major part, like the heat exchanger, is failing. Homes here need heat from October through April, seven months a year, so a furnace on its way out gets tested hard and often. If yours is struggling now, waiting until it fails partway through that stretch leaves you without heat when you need it most.
- Is a high-efficiency furnace worth it?
- It depends on how long you plan to stay in the house and what you're paying for fuel now. A high-efficiency furnace burns less gas to produce the same heat, and with seven months of heating season here, that difference shows up on more bills than it would somewhere milder. The upfront cost is higher, so the payoff comes over years, not months. A contractor can look at your current furnace, your usage, and your house to tell you whether the upgrade makes sense for your situation.