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A contractor sizing a furnace for this area has to price the load the burner and heat exchanger will actually carry, not a national average. Homes in Montgomery County, KS run heat about seven months a year, from October through April. Cycling through that much of the calendar stresses the ignition system and the heat exchanger in ways that a loose install or an undersized unit cannot hide. A furnace that is slightly undersized runs longer cycles to meet the thermostat, and the heat exchanger takes that strain directly. A contractor doing the load calculation here earns what they charge for it.
Ductwork in much of this county was laid out for equipment that no longer exists in these houses. Half the homes in Montgomery County, Kansas were built in 1958 or earlier (2020-2024 ACS 5-year). That gap matters on an installation job because a duct system dimensioned for an older furnace carries air at different volumes and pressures than a modern unit is built to move. A contractor installing a new furnace has to assess whether the existing distribution will actually deliver what the new system produces, and in houses from this part of the stock, the answer frequently sends the job into the walls before anything else gets priced.
What Gets Installed With a New Furnace
The furnace itself sits inside the home, almost always in a basement, utility room, or closet. It houses the burner, the heat exchanger, and the blower, which together pull air across a heated surface and push it into the rest of the house. That cabinet is what a contractor sets in place first.
The flue pipe runs from the furnace to an exterior wall or up through the roof, carrying combustion gases out of the living space. Alongside it, the contractor connects the gas line and the thermostat wiring, the thermostat itself mounting on an interior wall where it reads the air temperature of the home.
The drawing shows a typical layout, and a licensed contractor determines what the configuration looks like in your specific house.
Get matched in Montgomery CountyMontgomery County, Kansas, by the numbers
174 severe weather events were recorded in Montgomery County, Kansas between 2015 and 2024.
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, bulk CSV export, events 2015-01-01 through 2024-12-31.Half the homes in Montgomery County, Kansas were built in 1958 or earlier (2020-2024 ACS 5-year).
U.S. Census Bureau, 2020-2024 American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesMontgomery County, Kansas holds 15,538 housing units (2020-2024 ACS 5-year).
U.S. Census Bureau, 2020-2024 American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesOwners occupy 72.9% of the occupied homes in Montgomery County, Kansas (2020-2024 ACS 5-year).
U.S. Census Bureau, 2020-2024 American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesFurnace Installation Rules on the Books for Montgomery County, Kansas4 codes, standards & laws
What the installation looks like from your side
Non-weatherized gas furnaces manufactured on or after November 19, 2015 must reach 80.0 percent AFUE.
Non-weatherized oil-fired furnaces manufactured on or after November 19, 2015 must reach 83.0 percent AFUE.
Mobile home gas furnaces manufactured on or after November 19, 2015 must reach 80.0 percent AFUE.
Non-weatherized gas furnaces manufactured on or after December 18, 2028 must reach 95.0 percent AFUE, up from the 80.0 percent minimum that applies to units manufactured before that date.
Severe Weather History in Montgomery County
Heating equipment works hardest when the weather outside puts the most stress on a home. How often that stress arrives in Montgomery County shapes what a furnace here needs to handle over its lifetime.
174 severe weather events, 2015–2024. Source: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database.