Written October 2026, with our price book, each county’s permit page and Washington Gas’s rebate terms read the same week.
Pick the heat first, then the install. A heating installation in Northern Virginia comes down to five systems: a gas furnace, a heat pump, dual fuel (a heat pump and a furnace sharing the work), a ductless mini split or a hot water boiler. Your house narrows that list before you do, mostly on two questions: is there gas, and are there ducts? The most common answer, a new gas furnace, runs $4,285 to $14,040 installed. From about $71 a month at 0% APR for 60 months, the whole price financed, on approved credit. Every system is priced on our HVAC replacement page, and the table below puts all five side by side.
If the old system still runs, you have time to choose, and this page is how. If it quit tonight, call (703) 997-9757. We run 24/7 emergency service, and a dead furnace in January is a repair-or-replace call to make with a technician standing in front of it, not off a web page. What breaks, and what each fix costs, is in our heating repair guide.
Which heating system fits your house
Start with the house, not the equipment. Is there natural gas at the street, or a propane tank in the yard? Are there ducts, or radiators and baseboard? Here’s how the answers sort out, with our installed price for each.
| System | Fits a house with | Installed | Monthly, from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gas furnace, keeping your AC | Gas or propane and ducts, and an air conditioner with years left | $4,285 to $14,040 | $71/mo at 0% APR for 60 months |
| Gas furnace and AC together | Gas or propane and ducts, and an air conditioner as old as the furnace | $8,898 to $23,000 | $148/mo at 0% APR for 60 months |
| Heat pump system | Ducts and no gas, or a wish to go all electric | $8,499 to $21,650 | $142/mo at 0% APR for 60 months |
| Dual fuel | Gas or propane, ducts, and a furnace worth keeping (or a new one) | Priced at your house | Priced at your house |
| Ductless mini split, one zone | No ducts where you need the heat: an addition, a finished basement, a room over the garage | $7,000 to $10,000 | $117/mo at 0% APR for 60 months |
| Hot water boiler | Radiators or baseboard already, on gas or propane | $9,900 to $16,500 | $165/mo at 0% APR for 60 months |
Monthly figures: 60mo @ 0% APR on each starting price, the whole price financed, on approved credit. Longer plans lower the payment and cost more in total. The lender sets the final terms.
Most of the real deciding happens in a house that has both gas and ducts, because it can go any of the first four ways. For that house we’d price a furnace with AC and a dual fuel system side by side. ENERGY STAR’s own line is that a heat pump in place of a new air conditioner makes dual fuel “for a modest extra cost over an AC system,” so it deserves a look before anyone signs. More of our installs are heat pumps than any other system, with gas furnace and AC a close second, so neither one is the odd choice here.
Heating with oil today? We don’t install or service oil equipment, but switching away from it is ours to price: a heat pump, or a gas or propane furnace.
Heating installation, system by system: what actually goes in
The equipment is half of any heating installation. The other half is everything that ties it to the house: the venting, the gas line, the refrigerant lines, the wiring, the drain. That second half is where two quotes for the same furnace differ, and it’s most of why the ranges above are as wide as they are. One system at a time.
A gas furnace: the vent and the drain are the job
Swapping an 80 percent furnace for another 80 is the simple version. It sends its exhaust up the same metal flue or chimney the old one used, and Carrier puts it plainly: an 80 percent furnace turns about 80 percent of the fuel into heat, “with the remainder lost primarily through exhaust.” A 95 percent furnace is a different install. Its second heat exchanger pulls so much heat out of the exhaust that the water vapor in it condenses, so, in Carrier’s words, these furnaces “typically require appropriate venting and a condensate drain.” In a Northern Virginia basement that means white PVC pipe out a side wall or the roof, a drain line, and where no floor drain is close by, a small pump to carry the water away. That drain matters more than it looks: when it clogs or freezes, the furnace shuts itself off.
Two more things ride along with a vent change. If a gas water heater shared the chimney with the old furnace, it can be left alone in a flue sized for two, and the chimney may need a liner. That’s the vent nobody checks, and it belongs in the quote, not a phone call later. Then the gas side. Fairfax County says a gas furnace needs a permit “even if it is a like-for-like replacement,” and if the job adds new gas pipe, the county moves it from an appliance permit to a plumbing permit. Propane furnaces go in the same way; the fuel comes from a tank instead of the street.
Install day itself, hour by hour, is its own post: furnace installation day, what actually happens. What moves a furnace from the low end of our range to the high end is in what a new furnace costs, sizing is in what size furnace do I need, and the brands are ranked in the best furnace brands. The furnace page that books it: furnace installation and replacement.
A heat pump: the line set, the wiring and the backup heat
A ducted heat pump system is two pieces. Outside, a unit that looks like an air conditioner and does both jobs. Inside, an air handler where a furnace would sit. A line set, the pair of copper refrigerant lines, and a control wire run between them. If the house had central air, the old line set can sometimes stay when it’s the right size and in good shape; often it’s replaced. ENERGY STAR makes the point that in most places a heat pump “can be installed as a drop-in replacement when either a central air conditioner or a furnace needs replacement.”
The wiring is where an all-electric install differs most from a gas one. The outdoor unit needs its own circuit, and so do the electric heat strips in the air handler, the backup heat for the coldest hours. In a house that’s always been on gas, the electrical panel has to have room for both, and checking that is part of the estimate, not a surprise on install day. A new split heat pump also has to meet the federal floor of 14.3 SEER2 for cooling and 7.5 HSPF2 for heating.
Our heat pump system runs $8,499 to $21,650 installed. From about $142 a month at 0% APR for 60 months, the whole price financed, on approved credit. The brands are compared in the best heat pump brands, the two backup settings on the thermostat are explained in aux heat vs. emergency heat, and if you’re replacing an air conditioner and wondering about a heat pump in its place, read heat pump vs. air conditioner. The page that books it: heat pump installation and replacement.
Dual fuel: a heat pump in front of a furnace
Dual fuel is a heat pump where the air conditioner sat, paired with a gas or propane furnace, and set so the heat pump heats on mild days and the furnace takes over when it gets cold enough. The install is a heat pump install plus the controls that make the handoff, and the furnace has to work with the new indoor coil that sits on top of it. That’s why it’s priced at your house: it depends on the furnace you have. If yours is young, it stays. If it’s as old as the air conditioner, the quote shows it both ways.
Where the switch from heat pump to furnace belongs on Northern Virginia gas and electric rates is the whole subject of our dual fuel guide, and the running costs side by side are in heat pump vs. gas furnace.
Ductless: a head, a line set and a drain for each room
A ductless mini split is a heat pump without ducts: a head high on the wall (or in the ceiling) for each room or zone, and an outdoor unit that can run several of them. Each head gets a small hole through the wall for its refrigerant lines, its drain and its control wire, and the outdoor unit gets its own circuit. One zone runs $7,000 to $10,000 installed. From about $117 a month at 0% APR for 60 months, the whole price financed, on approved credit. Two to six zones run $11,000 to $30,000, by the number of rooms. From about $183 a month at 0% APR for 60 months, the whole price financed, on approved credit.
It’s the answer for the room the ducts never reached, and in a boiler house it’s how you add cooling without opening walls for ductwork. The breakdown by zones is in what a ductless mini split costs, the page that books it is ductless mini splits, and if you’re tempted to put one in yourself, here’s our straight answer on DIY mini splits.
A hot water boiler: the radiators stay, the boiler changes
A house heated by a boiler usually stays a boiler house, because the radiators or baseboard and the pipes feeding them are already there and working. Replacing the boiler means the boiler, its flue, an expansion tank and the copper piping around it, which is most of the labor, on gas or propane. Our boiler replacements run $9,900 to $16,500 installed. From about $165 a month at 0% APR for 60 months, the whole price financed, on approved credit. A high-efficiency condensing boiler, or a combi that makes your hot water too, sits toward the top of that range and vents through the wall in plastic pipe, the same idea as a 95 percent furnace.
We install hot water boilers, not steam. If yours has a glass tube on the side showing a water level, it’s steam, and we’ll say so on the phone before anyone drives out. The details are on our boiler page and in what a boiler replacement costs.
Will a heat pump keep up in a Northern Virginia winter?
Usually, when it’s sized for the cold night and not just the July afternoon. Heating gets sized to a design temperature, the outdoor temperature a place is colder than only about 1 percent of the hours in a typical year. By the county figures the RESNET standard publishes (from ASHRAE and Manual J), that’s 14 degrees in Loudoun, 16 in Prince William, 18 in Fairfax, and 20 in Arlington and Alexandria.
A heat pump makes less heat the colder it gets outside, so it’s sized to make enough at your county’s number, with backup behind it for the hours below. ENERGY STAR’s cold-climate rating tests heat pumps down to 5 degrees, and for colder hours than that its advice is pairing one “with a back-up energy source.” Here that backup is the heat strips in the air handler or, with dual fuel, the furnace. Both ENERGY STAR and Fairfax County want the sizing done with a Manual J load calculation, and Fairfax’s HVAC certification form asks for one “for all HVAC installations.” A furnace gets sized the same way, which is why nobody should be copying the old nameplate.
The longer read: does a heat pump actually work in a Virginia winter.
Permits and inspections: what each county says
Virginia’s building code is the same everywhere in the state: a permit comes before “installations or alterations involving” mechanical systems, fuel supply systems or electric wiring. Each county words it its own way, and here’s what their pages say today:
- Fairfax County lists “New, Replacement, Repair or Conversion of HVAC Systems” as mechanical permit work. Its household appliance permit page adds a chimney vent certification for any fuel-burning appliance and an A2L refrigeration system certification for heat pumps and air conditioners on the newer A2L refrigerants. In the towns of Clifton and Vienna, the town has to approve it too.
- Loudoun County issues electrical, gas, mechanical and plumbing permits as separate trade permits (“each requires separate applications and permits”), and since October 1, 2025 some residential gas permits need plans review.
- Prince William County says a permit is always required for replacing a gas furnace, for new appliances in a new location, and for upgrades that touch the electrical, plumbing or mechanical systems. Swapping an electric furnace, heat pump or air conditioner for the same type in the same spot is on its no-permit list, though the county adds that the work still has to meet code.
Then the inspection. Fairfax’s page says that once the permit is issued, “you are required to obtain inspections from the county,” and its HVAC form has to be on site for every mechanical inspection. The county lets owners pull permits but “strongly recommended a properly licensed contractor pull the permits as the responsible party,” and we’d tell you the same: the name on the permit should be whoever installs it. One more line from the state code, for a January breakdown: emergency equipment replacement can start first, with the permit application due “by the end of the first working day that follows the day such work commences.”
Rebates on a new heating system this winter
One that’s real, and one that’s gone. Washington Gas pays back $500 on a new furnace rated 95.1 to 96.9 percent AFUE and $700 at 97 percent and up, for its Virginia customers, through a contractor in its network. We’re in Washington Gas’s contractor network for furnaces. Its terms want the application and paperwork “within thirty (30) days of equipment installation.” It’s for Washington Gas customers, so a house on Columbia Gas, as some in Chantilly and Herndon are, doesn’t qualify.
The federal tax credit ended for heat pumps and furnaces put in after 2025. The IRS says it “will not be allowed for any property placed in service after December 31, 2025.” Some older pages still say otherwise, so nobody should be pricing it into a 2026 install. Whatever we’re running this month is on our offers page, and here’s how financing works.
Before install day
Three things worth knowing before the crew shows up. Your price is in writing before anything is ordered. Two years of our labor come with the install, and five or ten years is an option. And the quote should name the equipment, the efficiency and everything around it, the venting, the drain, the gas and the electrical; how to read an HVAC replacement quote walks through one line by line. Holding someone else’s? We’ll give you a free second opinion on it.
Heating installation questions, answered straight
How much does furnace installation cost?
From us, a new gas furnace runs $4,285 to $14,040 installed in Northern Virginia, keeping your air conditioner. From about $71 a month at 0% APR for 60 months, the whole price financed, on approved credit. The size, 80 or 95 percent, single-stage or variable-speed, and the venting decide where yours lands. A furnace and AC together run $8,898 to $23,000. From about $148 a month at 0% APR for 60 months, the whole price financed, on approved credit.
How much does heat pump installation cost?
A heat pump system, the outdoor unit and the air handler, runs $8,499 to $21,650 installed from us. From about $142 a month at 0% APR for 60 months, the whole price financed, on approved credit. Dual fuel is priced at your house, because it depends on the furnace you keep.
Do I need a permit to replace a furnace in Virginia?
Yes for a gas furnace, even like for like. Virginia’s code exempts replacing some appliances, but not ones fueled by gas, and Fairfax and Prince William both say so on their own pages. The permit brings an inspection, and that inspection is the point.
Will a heat pump work in a Northern Virginia winter?
Yes, when it’s sized for the cold night. Heat here gets sized to 14 to 20 degrees, depending on the county, and a heat pump has heat strips or, with dual fuel, a furnace behind it for the hours below that.
Should I get a heat pump or a gas furnace?
No gas at the house? A heat pump. Gas and ducts? Either works, and dual fuel gives you both. Our heat pump vs. gas furnace post works out the running costs on local rates, and we’ll price both at your house.
Is there a rebate for a new furnace in Virginia?
Washington Gas pays $500 back on a furnace rated 95.1 to 96.9 percent AFUE and $700 at 97 percent and up, for its Virginia customers, through a network contractor, with the paperwork in within 30 days. We’re in its network for furnaces. The federal tax credit ended for anything put in after 2025.
What heating system is best for a house without ductwork?
Ductless mini splits for the rooms, or, if the house already has radiators or baseboard, a hot water boiler. One zone of ductless runs $7,000 to $10,000 installed. From about $117 a month at 0% APR for 60 months, the whole price financed, on approved credit.
Do you install propane furnaces?
Yes, propane and natural gas furnaces both, and propane boilers too.
Do you install oil furnaces?
No, we don’t work on oil equipment. If you’re switching away from oil, a heat pump or a gas or propane furnace is ours to price.
How long does it take to install a furnace?
A straight furnace swap is usually most of a day. Changing the venting, correcting ductwork or lining a chimney takes longer, and you should hear that before the day, not during it. The full walk-through: furnace installation day.
Get your heating system priced
The HVAC estimator asks a few questions about your house and shows an installed range for it, and boilers have their own estimator. Every system’s price sits on our HVAC replacement page, and each one has its own page: furnaces, heat pumps, ductless and boilers.
Call (703) 997-9757 or book online.
SwiftPro Heating, Cooling & Plumbing installs gas and propane furnaces, heat pumps, dual fuel systems, ductless mini splits and hot water boilers across Northern Virginia, from Chantilly and Ashburn. We’re a Trane Comfort Specialist, a Rheem Pro Partner, Carrier experts and a Mitsubishi Electric Diamond Contractor. Family owned, BBB Accredited with an A rating, 24/7 emergency service, Virginia Class A contractor license 2705192276, and rated 5.0 stars across 1,131 reviews on Google, Angi, Yelp, the BBB and Facebook. Read the reviews.
