How We Size a Furnace for Your Home
The commonest mistake we see is a replacement ordered from the label on the old furnace rather than from the house itself. So we measure instead. A technician counts your rooms and your windows, allows for any addition built on later, and checks what the ductwork can actually move. We size the furnace against the cold the Building Code works to around this township. A furnace sized above that figure fires in short bursts, wears its igniter out early, and still leaves the far bedroom cold.
Then we confirm the fuel, because here it changes the machine. In the villages a furnace burns natural gas billed by Enbridge. Further out, a house with no main at the road runs on propane, oil, wood or electricity, and the township's own senior staff have said that not many areas here have natural gas. The cabinet is the same, but the burner parts, the venting and the price are not, so we check your address rather than assume.
A quote is only useful if the number holds, so we close the open questions before we issue it. The permit is one of them. The township's building permit list and its own permit guide give different answers on a straight furnace replacement, so we ask the building department and put their answer in writing on your quote.
What a Wellesley Furnace Quote Covers
This is the whole job, written down before you agree to it. Nothing here turns into an extra later.
- A technician measures your rooms one at a time, and we take the size from those measurements rather than from the old nameplate.
- We quote the furnace that burns your fuel, with the make, the model and the output on the page.
- We take the permit question to the building department and show you their answer, whichever way it goes.
- We check what else uses the chimney, because a modern furnace stops using it and the hot water tank may not.
- We remove the old furnace, cap the gas line or disconnect the propane line safely, and take the old metal away on our truck.
- We size and run the new vent out through the wall, and we plan that route before installation day rather than on it.
- We measure the return air side and rebuild the metal where it starves the new blower.
- We run a full heating cycle with you there, set your thermostat, and register the warranty in your name.
Please tell us about the lane on your first call. Carrying the old furnace up the stairs and the new one back down belongs in the quote, not in a conversation on the morning of the installation.
Choosing Between a Single Stage, Two Stage and Modulating Furnace
Most of the furnaces we install here are two stage, because the houses are large and the duct runs are long. Our furnace installation page lists the Lennox range, and the way we arrive at a furnace size explains the arithmetic behind our recommendation.
| How the furnace runs | What you notice through the winter | The house it suits |
|---|---|---|
| Single stage, one fixed output | It reaches your setting quickly, shuts down, and the house drifts before it fires again. | A newer home with short duct runs, where price is the deciding factor. |
| Two stage, which runs mostly on the lower output | It runs on the lower output through most of the winter and moves to the higher one when the temperature drops. | This is what most homes here need, and our first recommendation for a house with one cold end. |
| Modulating, which changes its output as it runs | It eases up and down by small amounts, so a room holds within a degree of your setting. | A farmhouse with an addition on the end and ducts that were never drawn for it. |
The equipment is the easy half of this decision. The vent route, the capacity of your ductwork and a careful commissioning are what you notice in February.
Who Carries Out the Installation
The owner, Sina, still runs most of these installations himself. A furnace job is a series of judgement calls: the vent route, what the return air can carry, and whether the gas or propane line has the capacity for the furnace you want. Those calls are better made by one person who answers for all of them.
He brings more than 10 years of heating work in this part of the region, an Authorized Lennox Dealer agreement that puts factory training and genuine parts behind the equipment, and five HomeStars Best of Award wins, which the homeowners whose houses we have worked in vote for.
Needed a new furnace in the middle of winter. Received quotes from a half dozen HVAC companies, his was reasonably priced with a high quality furnace, and able to complete the job quickly. The workmanship and attention to detail was high quality and I'll definitely be utilizing him in the future when I need other work done. Thank you
Jeanclaude TremblayGoogle reviewWhat Sets the Price of Your Furnace Installation
We build your price after a technician has been through the basement, because the furnace itself is rarely the largest line on it. The table below sets out everything else that affects the number.
Our financing options page explains the monthly payment choices if you would rather spread the cost.
| What the site visit finds | What it does to your price |
|---|---|
| The size your rooms call for | Measured properly, the answer is often below the unit coming out, and a smaller furnace costs less to run. |
| Which fuel the house burns | Gas, propane and oil each change the furnace, the burner parts and the venting, so we confirm the fuel before anything else. |
| How gently it can run | A two stage furnace costs more than a single stage one, and a modulating furnace costs more again. |
| Where the new vent leaves the house | On a deep basement or a thick old wall the run out to fresh air becomes long, and that extra pipe and labour sit on your price. |
| What else uses the chimney | Something else may still vent into the flue the new furnace stops using, and putting that right is work on the day. |
| The ductwork above the furnace | Where the old box restricts the new blower, we cut and rebuild it, and cutting metal on site takes hours. |
| The permit, if the township requires one | The township's fee schedule has no line for a furnace, so the chief building official classifies the job. We get that answer and the fee before you read our price. |
How the Job Runs, Start to Finish
We order no equipment until you have the written price and have chosen your installation date.
Tell us what the winter is like
Call us or complete the form, and tell us how old the furnace is, the fuel it burns, and which rooms never come up to temperature.
We measure, and we get the permit answer
A technician measures room by room, walks the vent route and the lane, then puts the question to the building department while we are still quoting.
You get the number in writing
Your quote names the fuel, the make and model, the output, the vent route, the ductwork and the permit line, so you can read it without ringing us back.
Installation day, and the proof before we leave
We take the old furnace away, then set, vent and connect the new one. We run a full heating cycle with you in the room, then hand over the paperwork.
The parts of this township we cover
A house in the village and a farmhouse a few concessions out ask different things of the same furnace, and we have worked on both. Tell us the road when you ring and we will send a technician who has driven it.
- Wellesley
- St. Clements
- Linwood
- Hawkesville
- Heidelberg
- Crosshill
- Wallenstein
- Bamberg
- Dorking
- Kingwood
- Paradise Lake
- Macton
- Lobsinger Line
- William Hastings Line
- Gerber Road
We also cover the rest of the township: rural heat pump installation and air conditioner installation. Our Wellesley HVAC page covers every service we run here.
