While you may not need central air in Seattle, few homeowners would think about going without formidable home heating. Most heating systems use gas furnaces as their heating source and for good reason. These units are reliable, relatively inexpensive, easy to install, and provide sufficient heating for Seattle winters. As you probably know, the weather and the seasons can be dramatically different 50 or even 25 miles outside of the city, but any Puget Sound home will need some type of heating unit. Recently, we've processed gas furnace installations in Bellevue, Everett, Kent, Kirkland, and throughout the city proper and greater Seattle area.

Seattle Gas Furnace: Repair vs. Replace
One of the most common and most important decisions homeowners need to make during the lifetime of a gas furnace in Seattle is when to have the unit fixed and when to have it replaced. Simple problems may occur that require low-cost, minimal repairs that represent problems that don't reflect a gas furnace that is about to completely fail. Other problems can be larger, more expensive, and dicier about the correct solution. This alone, more than the repair itself, can be reason to talk to multiple contractors. Ask them not only what they recommend, but why they're making that recommendation. You may very well get more than one suggestion, and there may not be one clear-cut answer. Do you make a $1,000 repair on a gas furnace that may last another five years? Or, do you replace it with a unit that will cost $7,500 with a 20-year manufacturer warranty?

Seattle Gas Furnaces and Energy Efficiency
When it does come time to have your gas furnace replaced, you'll be rewarded not just with a reliable furnace and a manufacturer's warranty, more than likely you'll also have a more energy-efficient unit. This should come as no surprise, as energy independence is at the forefront of American minds, culture, politics, and, of course, the economic reality. Energy-efficient standards are vastly improved. It's quite possible that your old gas furnace doesn't even meet the current local, state, and federal building codes for new furnace installation.

Of course, as improved as newer gas furnaces have become, they can't compete with new, albeit expensive energy-efficient technology. One step up from a gas furnace is a standard heat pump, but if you want to truly help out the Emerald City as one of the greenest cities in the land, you should look into a geothermal heat pump or solar panels.

Cost of Seattle Gas Furnaces
Just how energy efficient your unit is will certainly influence the cost, but it's not the only factor. The heating capacity, generally determined by the size of your home, is also a key factor, along with various safety standards, warranties, and the manufacturer itself. Though the average cost of a new gas furnace in Seattle is about $5,000, we rarely see this actual price in our data. Many Seattle homeowners, given the relatively mild temperatures in winter, often opt for a more basic unit that generally costs $3,000 or $4,000. A few Seattle homeowners, however, do it up right with a state-of-the-art gas furnace that can cost 10 or even 15 thousand dollars. Something in the middle will run about six to eight thousand.

Seattle Gas Furnace Contractors
A good idea with any home improvement project, you simply must get at least three estimates when choosing a contractor to install your Seattle gas furnace. There are no shortage of HVAC contractors in the Emerald City, and without these estimates, there's simply no way to ensure you're getting quality work for the best possible price. More than this, you'll want to get estimates only from quality contractors in the first place. ServiceMagic puts each and every contractor in our database through a rigorous 10-step screening process, while providing homeowners with online customer feedback so you can feel confident about your final hiring decision.