Methods, sources and corrections
We provide independent US residential research and planning estimates. We are not a manufacturer, contractor or installer. A range is not a quote.
Cost formula v2.1
Low total = sum of priced component low allowances. High total = sum of priced component high allowances. An installed bundle includes equipment and labor once. Separate mode adds the equipment allowance and separate installation allowance. Additional cooling is counted once, either in the bundle or as a separate documented scope.
Included or not-required work adds no second charge. Unknown work remains unpriced beside the subtotal. There is no location multiplier, guessed hourly rate, contingency, tax, financing, incentive or savings deduction. Endpoints are allowance sums, not statistical confidence limits.
Every cost tool starts with editable national guide amounts. Low and high span the cited planning ranges. Typical is the median of their range midpoints, rounded to a whole dollar. It is a calculated allowance, not an observed median project price. Sources with related underlying data are not claimed to be independent surveys. Broad fuel ranges can coexist with a narrower efficiency band; those scopes remain labelled.
National planning allowances and source limits
US dollars, checked October 14, 2026. These defaults include equipment and installation once. The typical column is a calculated allowance, not a measured national median. Each value is editable in the tool.
| Scenario | Low | Typical allowance | High guide endpoint | Efficiency and scope |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gas, standard efficiency | $3,800 | $6,900 | $12,000 | 80-89% AFUE. Furnace equipment and installation; broad national gas envelope plus the named efficiency band. Ducts, vent changes, permits and other unconfirmed work stay unpriced. Sources: HomeGuide gas furnace cost guide; Angi national furnace cost guide; Carrier furnace cost guide |
| Gas, moderate efficiency | $3,800 | $7,000 | $12,000 | 90-95% AFUE. Furnace equipment and installation; broad gas envelope retained. Condensate, vent changes and unconfirmed site work remain unpriced. Sources: HomeGuide gas furnace cost guide; Angi national furnace cost guide; Carrier furnace cost guide |
| Gas, high efficiency | $3,800 | $7,900 | $12,000 | 96%+ AFUE. Furnace equipment and installation; broad gas ranges are not efficiency-specific. No claim that every high-efficiency bid starts at the envelope low. Venting and site work remain unresolved. Sources: HomeGuide gas furnace cost guide; Angi national furnace cost guide; Carrier furnace cost guide |
| Gas, efficiency unknown | $3,800 | $7,400 | $12,000 | Efficiency not stated. Broad installed gas furnace ranges; no capacity, AFUE or model inferred. Ducts and unconfirmed site work excluded. Sources: Angi national furnace cost guide; Carrier furnace cost guide |
| Electric resistance furnace | $1,900 | $4,500 | $8,100 | Resistance heat; no artificial tier. Installed resistance furnace. Panel work and new circuits remain unknown. Supply upgrades and ducts need prices too. High conversion efficiency is not low running cost. Sources: HomeGuide electric furnace cost guide; Angi national furnace cost guide; Carrier furnace cost guide |
| Propane, standard efficiency | $2,200 | $6,450 | $14,200 | 80-89% AFUE. Installed propane furnace; Angi's broad fuel range retained alongside HomeGuide's standard band. Tank, fuel delivery and conversion not automatically included. Sources: HomeGuide propane furnace cost guide; Angi national furnace cost guide |
| Propane, high efficiency | $3,500 | $7,200 | $14,200 | 90%+ AFUE. Installed propane furnace; broad and efficiency-specific guide ranges. Tank, vent changes and site work remain unknown. Sources: HomeGuide propane furnace cost guide; Angi national furnace cost guide |
| Oil, standard efficiency | $2,500 | $5,500 | $10,000 | Standard oil; full model AFUE needed. Furnace/burner installation. Tank replacement, chimney repair, contamination and unconfirmed disposal remain unpriced. Sources: HomeGuide oil furnace cost guide; Angi national furnace cost guide; Today's Homeowner oil furnace guide |
| Oil, high efficiency | $6,000 | $8,375 | $10,000 | High-efficiency oil; full model needed. Equipment and installation included once. Today's Homeowner supplies the high-efficiency band; Angi and Carrier supply broad oil installed ranges, not exact-tier prices. Carrier marks $10,000+ as open-ended. Tank, chimney, permits and other unconfirmed site work stay unpriced. Sources: Today's Homeowner oil furnace guide; Angi national furnace cost guide; Carrier furnace cost guide |
Low and high span the cited guide ranges. Typical is the median of the range midpoints, rounded to a whole dollar. It is a planning amount, not a measured project median. Gas tiers keep broad fuel ranges alongside a named narrower band.
Related Angi, HomeAdvisor and Carrier records are not claimed to be independent surveys. This is not one controlled set of equal-scope jobs. Unknown capacity stays unknown. No size, weather or location price multiplier is used.
- HomeGuide gas furnace cost guide. Published/revised: 2025-12-31. Checked: 2026-10-14. Installed gas by AFUE: 80-89% $3,800-$6,200; 90-95% $5,200-$8,800; 96%+ $7,500-$12,000. Duct modifications excluded.
- Angi national furnace cost guide. Published/revised: 2026-09-08. Checked: 2026-10-15. Installed fuel ranges: gas $3,800-$10,000; electric $2,000-$7,000; oil $6,750-$10,000; propane $3,700-$14,200. National project data, not the localized ZIP widget.
- Carrier furnace cost guide. Published/revised: No publication date shown. Checked: 2026-10-15. Broad installed fuel ranges; gas $3,800-$12,000 cites HomeAdvisor. Electric $2,000-$8,100; oil $6,750-$10,000+. Not a model price list.
- HomeGuide electric furnace cost guide. Published/revised: See source for revision date. Checked: 2026-10-14. Installed resistance furnace $1,900-$5,600. No separate high-efficiency technology tier.
- HomeGuide propane furnace cost guide. Published/revised: 2025-12-30. Checked: 2026-10-14. Standard installed furnace $2,200-$5,700; high-efficiency $3,500-$7,400. Tank, new ducts and conversion require separate scope.
- HomeGuide oil furnace cost guide. Published/revised: See source for revision date. Checked: 2026-10-14. Installed replacement $2,500-$6,000, used only for the standard oil scenario. Its $3,000-$10,000 high-efficiency table excludes installation and is excluded from installed presets.
- Today's Homeowner oil furnace guide. Published/revised: 2025-09-03. Checked: 2026-10-15. Installed costs include unit, labor and demolition if applicable: standard efficiency $3,500-$7,500; high efficiency $6,000-$9,175. Extra thermostat, ductwork and air-quality systems cost more.
Oil, high efficiency: installed source ranges
Rechecked October 15, 2026. Low is the lowest included endpoint; high is the highest published endpoint. Typical is the rounded median of the three midpoints: $7,587.50, $8,375 and $8,375. The result is $6,000 / $8,375 / $10,000, with no price ceiling implied.
- Today's Homeowner oil furnace guide: $6,000 to $9,175. High-efficiency oil, installed.
- Angi national furnace cost guide: $6,750 to $10,000. Broad oil, installed; not efficiency-specific.
- Carrier furnace cost guide: $6,750 to $10,000. Broad oil, installed; upper endpoint open-ended, not efficiency-specific.
HomeGuide's $3,000 to $10,000 high-efficiency table excludes installation. It contributes no endpoint or midpoint to this installed allowance.
Published scopes differ. A broad fuel range does not prove an exact efficiency-tier price. Upper endpoints marked “+” in a source are open-ended. Taxes, incentives, financing and unresolved site work are outside the subtotal. Read the method and correction history.
National planning allowances and source limits
US dollars, checked October 14, 2026. These defaults include equipment and installation once. The typical column is a calculated allowance, not a measured national median. Each value is editable in the tool.
| Scenario | Low | Typical allowance | High guide endpoint | Efficiency and scope |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Central AC, retained ducts | $3,000 | $7,425 | $15,000 | SEER2 not stated. Central AC guide envelope with equipment and installation. Confirm matched coil, line set and electrical scope. New ducts and unconfirmed work are unpriced; do not add a second labor charge. Sources: Angi central AC buying guide; Bryant HVAC pricing guide |
Low and high span the cited guide ranges. Typical is the median of the range midpoints, rounded to a whole dollar. It is a planning amount, not a measured project median.
Related source records are not claimed to be independent surveys. This is not one controlled set of equal-scope jobs. Unknown capacity stays unknown. No size, weather or location price multiplier is used.
- Angi central AC buying guide. Published/revised: See source for revision date. Checked: 2026-10-14. Installed central AC $3,800-$7,900. Reusable ducts assumed; no new duct network priced.
- Bryant HVAC pricing guide. Published/revised: 2026 guide; exact revision date not shown. Checked: 2026-10-14. Central AC $3,000-$15,000; complete HVAC $5,000-$28,000. Broad guide scope, not a matched-system quote.
Published scopes differ. Upper endpoints marked “+” in a source are open-ended. Taxes, incentives, financing and unresolved site work are outside the subtotal. Read the method and correction history.
National planning allowances and source limits
US dollars, checked October 14, 2026. These defaults include equipment and installation once. The typical column is a calculated allowance, not a measured national median. Each value is editable in the tool.
| Scenario | Low | Typical allowance | High guide endpoint | Efficiency and scope |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Air-source heat pump installation | $6,000 | $16,500 | $25,000 | Exact efficiency not stated. Residential air-source installed envelope. HomeGuide includes air handler; exact Carrier indoor scope must be checked. Backup heat, new ducts and panel work remain unconfirmed. The guide upper endpoint is not a price ceiling. Sources: Carrier heat pump cost guide; HomeGuide heat pump cost guide |
Low and high span the cited guide ranges. Typical is the median of the range midpoints, rounded to a whole dollar. It is a planning amount, not a measured project median.
Related source records are not claimed to be independent surveys. This is not one controlled set of equal-scope jobs. Unknown capacity stays unknown. No size, weather or location price multiplier is used.
- Carrier heat pump cost guide. Published/revised: 2026 guide; exact revision date not shown. Checked: 2026-10-14. Heat pump installed $6,000-$25,000; premium/complex work can exceed this. Indoor and backup scope must be checked.
- HomeGuide heat pump cost guide. Published/revised: 2025-10-30. Checked: 2026-10-14. Air-source installed $10,000-$25,000+, including air handler. No arbitrary premium for a cold-climate label.
Published scopes differ. Upper endpoints marked “+” in a source are open-ended. Taxes, incentives, financing and unresolved site work are outside the subtotal. Read the method and correction history.
No capacity, climate or location price multiplier is used. Unknown capacity stays unknown. The old Furnace Direct seller example remains in the Goodman guide as a labelled equipment-plus-installation observation; it is no longer the calculator default or a national estimate.
Technical evidence and model selection
The brand comparison uses official Carrier 59TP6, Lennox EL297V, Goodman GR9T96, Rheem R962V and Trane S9V2-family records. It compares published features, not failure rates or hands-on test scores. Family efficiency ceilings are labelled as such. Exact supplied models need their current rating and warranty records.
Some current Goodman warranty summaries differ from older brochures. We retain this limit and make no blanket lifetime or labor-coverage claim. Carrier's broad guide is not a model price list. Goodman and Lennox state that home-specific prices need a dealer quote. Published third-party brand ranges are labelled as general context, with scope and dates. Relative price symbols are not converted into dollars.
Sizing and safety limits
Sizing method v1.0: known-load mode preserves supplied low/high output values. Area mode multiplies conditioned area by a user-declared heat-rate intensity and requires a source plus climate/envelope assumptions. It supplies no default whole-house load multiplier. Cooling tons equal BTU/h divided by 12,000; resistance heat kW equal BTU/h divided by approximately 3,412. AFUE input-equivalent equals output divided by the AFUE fraction, with the seasonal-rating limit stated. No automatic stock-size rounding chooses equipment.
Room method v1.0 uses the ENERGY STAR room chart for 100 to 2,500 ft² and an 8 ft ceiling. Bands are lower-inclusive and upper-exclusive, with the final upper endpoint included. Sun adjustment applies to the base, then extra occupants and kitchen are added. Other ceilings, unusual/open-plan layouts and outside-chart areas stop without extrapolation. The source's mismatched CADR sentence is not used.
Running cost and simple payback v1.0
EIA units: approximately 3,412 BTU/kWh, 100,000 BTU/therm and 1,036 BTU/ft³ natural gas reference. Heat-pump demand mode converts delivered heat to kWh, divides the pump share by COP and adds declared resistance backup. Low cost uses low demand/high COP/low rate; high cost uses high demand/low COP/high rate. Known-metered-kWh mode multiplies input kWh by rate without another COP division. Fixed charges, cooling and unknown auxiliary use are excluded.
Editable historical national rate references, checked October 14, 2026: EIA's historical 2025 US residential electricity reference 17.30 cents/kWh, and EIA residential natural gas $15.34 per thousand cubic feet, released September 30, 2026. Gas converts to about $1.4807/therm using the approximate heat-content reference. These are not current local marginal tariffs. Use a bill for a home-specific comparison. Rate precision is retained in rate units; money totals display whole dollars.
Gas fuel units equal delivered heat divided by AFUE fraction and heat content per unit. Payback compares equal annual heat. Savings equal old annual cost minus new annual cost and declared extra annual costs. Positive saving permits premium/saving; non-positive saving yields no positive simple payback. A range crossing zero has no assured finite upper bound. The default premium is explicitly an unpaired HomeGuide high-minus-standard band calculation, not a measured same-home upgrade quote. No financing, discounting, rebate or future rate escalation is assumed.
ACCA Manual J is the heating-load reference. This calculator does no load calculation or equipment selection. Input and output capacity are recorded separately. DOE direct-vent guidance informs scope questions, not installation instructions.
We give no gas, combustion, electrical or refrigerant work instructions. For a CO alarm, follow CPSC emergency guidance: go outside and call emergency services. Do not use this site for emergency diagnosis.
Checks and corrections
October 15, 2026, v2.1: removed HomeGuide's equipment-only high-efficiency oil band from the installed preset. Rechecked Today's Homeowner (revised September 3, 2025), Angi (revised September 8, 2026) and Carrier (no publication date shown). The installed ranges are $6,000 to $9,175, $6,750 to $10,000 and $6,750 to $10,000+ respectively. Only the first is efficiency-specific. The revised low / typical / high allowance is $6,000 / $8,375 / $10,000. No exact model or AFUE is inferred.
October 14, 2026, v2.0: replaced the single-seller default with national fuel/efficiency guide envelopes and derived typical allowances. Added AC and heat-pump budgets, room/whole-house unit worksheets, running-cost and payback methods. Source dates identify actual checks and do not imply a controlled national price survey. No current live referral number or retail affiliate offer operates on this site.
Report a factual correction with the page, full model if relevant, and supporting source. Return to the furnace replacement cost calculator to use the worksheet.