Furnace Installation & Replacement in the Fox Valley
A furnace is a 15 to 20 year decision, and the install quality matters more than the brand on the box. We size equipment to your actual house, fit the sheet metal properly, and leave you with a system that runs quiet and drinks less gas.
Common Signs You Need Furnace Installation & Replacement
⚠️ Repairs are stacking up
When each season brings another bill on a unit past 15 years, the math starts favoring replacement.
⚠️ Cracked heat exchanger
The one failure that usually ends the conversation. Repair rarely makes sense, and safety is on the line.
⚠️ Cold rooms at the end of runs
Sometimes ductwork, sometimes an oversized furnace short-cycling before the far rooms warm. A quote visit sorts out which.
⚠️ Gas bills climbing every winter
An aging 80 percent furnace against a modern high-efficiency unit is a real monthly difference in our climate.
⚠️ It's original to the house
Furnaces from the 90s owed you nothing years ago. Planning the replacement beats an emergency one in January.
⚠️ Loud operation you've learned to live with
Booming ignition, whistling ducts, a blower you hear upstairs. A proper install is quieter than people expect.
When It Is Urgent
Replacement itself is rarely an emergency, but a condemned heat exchanger or a dead furnace in a cold snap makes it one. In those cases we get temporary heat sorted and move the install to the front of the line. Otherwise, the best replacements are planned ones, quoted in shoulder season without a frozen house forcing the decision.
Sizing is the whole game
An oversized furnace short-cycles, wears itself out, and leaves cold rooms at the end of long duct runs. Plenty of Valley homes got a "bigger is safer" furnace decades ago and have paid for it every winter since. We measure the house, look at insulation and windows, and account for how Wisconsin homes actually lose heat before we quote a size. Sometimes the right answer is smaller and cheaper than what you have now.
The sheet metal advantage
Most installers order transition pieces and adapt around whatever arrives. We came up as a sheet metal shop, so plenums, transitions, and returns get fitted to your basement's real dimensions, not forced from catalog parts. Tight metal means quieter airflow, better efficiency, and none of the whistling and booming that comes from forced fits.
What a quote from us includes
Equipment options at more than one price point, the install labor, the sheet metal work, code items like venting and condensate handling, and removal of the old unit. We also walk you through current Focus on Energy rebates for qualifying high-efficiency equipment. The number on the quote is the number on the invoice.
How We Diagnose
- 1Measure the house: envelope, insulation, windows, and how it actually loses heat, not square footage guesses
- 2Evaluate the existing ductwork and static pressure, because the new furnace inherits it
- 3Check venting and condensate options, which decide how easy high-efficiency is in your basement
- 4Review your fuel usage history where available to sanity-check the sizing
- 5Quote more than one equipment tier with the honest tradeoffs of each
Our Process
- 1In-home evaluation and a written quote with equipment options, not a phone-guess price
- 2Fit plenums and transitions to your basement's real dimensions
- 3Install with code-compliant venting, gas, condensate, and electrical
- 4Commission the system: gas pressure, temperature rise, static pressure, safeties, thermostat
- 5Haul away the old unit, register the warranty, and walk you through current Focus on Energy rebates
💰 Pricing Guide
- •Equipment tier: 80 percent versus high-efficiency, single-stage versus modulating
- •Venting changes, since high-efficiency units vent differently than the chimney your old furnace used
- •Sheet metal work: plenums and transitions fitted properly, not forced from catalog parts
- •Duct corrections if the existing system is starving airflow
- •Rebate eligibility, which we walk you through for qualifying equipment
Quotes include equipment options at more than one price point, all labor, sheet metal, code items, and haul-away. The number on the quote is the number on the invoice.
📋 From the Field
- The job we see constantly:
- A Valley home with a furnace one or two sizes too big, installed decades ago on the theory that bigger is safer.
- What that costs:
- Short cycling, cold rooms at the end of long duct runs, more gas burned for less comfort, and parts wearing out early.
- What we do differently:
- Measure the house before quoting a size. Sometimes the right answer is smaller and cheaper than what is there now, and we say so.
- The sheet metal difference:
- Plenums and transitions get fitted to the real dimensions of your mechanical room, not forced from catalog parts. Tight metal is quieter and delivers the efficiency you paid for.
Why Palisades for Furnace Installation & Replacement
- ✓Sizing based on measurement, because an oversized furnace is a 20 year mistake
- ✓Sheet metal know-how from a company that opened as a metal shop
- ✓Multiple equipment tiers quoted with honest tradeoffs, never one take-it-or-leave-it number
- ✓Focus on Energy rebate guidance on qualifying high-efficiency equipment
- ✓A Menasha shop that has installed heat in Valley homes since 1977 and answers its own phone after the sale
📍 Local Perspective
Wisconsin design temperature sits around 11 below zero, and furnaces here run heavy for six months straight. That makes sizing and install quality matter more than brand. It also makes high-efficiency equipment pay back faster than in milder states, when the venting logistics of your specific basement make it practical.
Furnace Installation & Replacement FAQs
How long does a furnace replacement take?›
A straightforward changeout is one day. Add ductwork corrections or venting changes and it can run into a second day. We tell you which kind of job yours is before we start.
80 percent or high-efficiency?›
In our climate, high-efficiency usually pays for itself, but venting logistics and your basement layout matter. Some homes make a 96 percent unit easy, others make it expensive. We quote what fits your house.
Do you take the old furnace away?›
Yes. Haul-away and cleanup are part of the job, not a line-item surprise.