Takes about a minute. No obligation.
Most houses in Jefferson County run on utility gas, 72.2% of them. Electricity covers most of the rest, with a small share on bottled or LP gas. If your home already has a gas line run to a furnace, installing another gas furnace is usually the straightforward choice, since the venting and gas supply are already in place. Switching fuel types means more than swapping equipment. It can mean new venting, new gas lines or new electrical circuits, so check what your home already has before you decide.
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A standard gas furnace sized to your home is the right call here.
Natural gas ran $10.09 per million Btu in Colorado in 2024, and nothing about Lakewood changes that math toward going bigger or fancier.
A standard size and efficiency fit fine here. There's no local reason to go bigger or pricier.
Find a contractorThe size of the furnace matters more than anything else on the invoice. A unit sized to the house runs long, steady cycles that wear evenly. One that's oversized short-cycles, kicking on and off, and that stop-start pattern is hard on the ignition system and the blower motor. Getting the size right means a contractor has to measure the house and do a load calculation rather than just matching what was there before. Venting is the other big variable. A high-efficiency furnace vents through PVC pipe out a sidewall, while an older style vents through metal flue up through the roof. If you're switching from one venting style to the other, that's new pipe, new wall or roof penetrations, and sometimes new ductwork to match the new furnace's blower. None of that shows up in the price of the furnace itself, but it shows up in the job.
A contractor measures square footage, window area, insulation and ceiling height room by room, then runs that through a load calculation. The number that comes out is what the furnace needs to put out, not what the old unit happened to be rated for. Houses built differently need different sized furnaces even when they look alike from the street.
An oversized furnace heats the house fast, hits the thermostat setting, and shuts off, then does it again soon after. Each start puts a load on the igniter and the blower motor. A properly sized furnace runs longer cycles that wear evenly and hold a steadier temperature room to room.
Estimates for a typical Jefferson County home, from EIA household energy data, Colorado fuel prices and NOAA climate normals. Your home will differ.
Installation day starts with the old furnace coming out. That part takes longer when it's tucked in a closet or crawlspace with tight clearances around it. Once it's out, the installer sets the new unit, connects the gas line, hooks up the return and supply ducts, and wires the electrical. New venting goes in if the fuel type or efficiency rating calls for it. Before the job is called done, a tech checks gas pressure, measures the temperature rise across the heat exchanger, and confirms the flue is drafting properly. That testing is what tells you the furnace is burning clean and venting safely, not just that it turns on. Expect the house to be without heat for stretches while this happens.
