A furnace replacement in Calgary costs $4,500 to $9,600 installed with us, as of September 2026. That's the same range in Calgary and Airdrie.
It's a wide range, and we'd rather explain it than shrink it. The bottom is a single-stage furnace going into the same spot, on venting, gas and ductwork that can take it. The top is a modulating furnace where the vent has to be rerouted, the gas line upsized, or the return air fixed. The equipment is part of the difference. Most of the rest is what your mechanical room already has, or doesn't.
Here's what moves the number, and what a quote should spell out before you sign it.
Where the money goes
A replacement quote is roughly five things. Equipment is one of them.
The furnace itself. Three tiers, and the tier drives the equipment cost more than the brand does:
- Single-stage. The burner is on at full fire or it's off. Cheapest, simplest, and perfectly reasonable in a well-sized house.
- Two-stage. A low fire for most days and a high fire for the cold ones. Longer, quieter run cycles and steadier temperatures. Most Calgary homes are well served here.
- Modulating. The burner adjusts in small steps to match the heat the house is losing. The most even comfort, and the top of the range.
We're an authorized AirEase dealer, and the AirEase line covers all three (A93 single-stage, A96 two-stage, A97 modulating). We install other brands too. What we recommend depends on the house, not on a sales target.
Venting. Every new gas furnace sold in Canada has been a high-efficiency condensing unit for over fifteen years. Those vent through sealed plastic pipe, normally out a side wall, not up the old metal flue. If your current furnace is already a condensing unit, the vent is often reusable. If you're coming off an older mid-efficiency furnace on a chimney, a new vent route is part of the job, and so is a drain for the condensate the new furnace produces.
Gas. The existing line has to carry the new furnace's input. Usually it does. Sometimes it's undersized, or the shut-off needs bringing up to current code, and that's work our Alberta-licensed gas fitters do as part of the install.
Ductwork. Calgary houses commonly have too little return air. An older furnace limps along with it. A modern variable-speed blower moves more air, and on a starved return it gets loud, runs hot, and doesn't heat the far rooms. We measure static pressure before we quote. If the ducts are fine, they stay as they are.
Permit and inspection. A furnace replacement in Calgary needs a gas permit. We pull it and book the inspection.
What puts you at the low end
- A newer condensing furnace coming out, so the venting and condensate drain are already in place
- A gas line already sized for it
- Ductwork that measures fine
- A single-stage or two-stage furnace sized off a proper heat-loss calculation
- Clear access: open mechanical room, a straight path to the door
That's a one-day changeover and you have heat that evening.
What pushes you to the high end
- A modulating furnace
- An older furnace on a chimney, so a new side-wall vent and drain have to go in
- A gas line that needs upsizing
- Return air that has to be added or enlarged
- A tight or finished mechanical room that has to be partly opened up
Any one of these is ordinary. Three or four together is what a quote near $9,600 looks like.
The water heater question
This one catches people, and it's a safety issue, not a cost line.
An older furnace and an atmospheric water heater often share one chimney. The furnace's hot exhaust does most of the work keeping that chimney drafting. Take the furnace off it, which a condensing replacement does, and the water heater is left alone on a flue sized for two appliances. A small, cool flow of exhaust in a big flue may not draft properly.
The fix depends on what's there. Sometimes it's a liner sized for the water heater. Sometimes a water heater near the end of its life makes more sense to replace at the same time. Either way, it should be assessed on the furnace quote, not discovered after. If a quote for a mid-efficiency-to-condensing changeover doesn't mention the water heater at all, ask about it.
Sizing: the reason not to just match the old one
The quickest way to quote a furnace is to read the rating off the old one and match it. It's also the most common reason a new furnace disappoints.
Many of the furnaces we take out in Calgary were oversized when they went in, and the house has usually been tightened up since: new windows, more attic insulation, a finished basement. An oversized furnace heats in short bursts, swings the temperature, and wears its igniter and blower out faster. We size every replacement off a heat-loss calculation for the house as it is now. That often lands on a smaller furnace than the one coming out, which also brings the price down.
Furnace only, or add a heat pump
If your air conditioner is also near the end, or you were going to add cooling anyway, replacement is the time to look at a cold-climate heat pump paired with the new furnace. The heat pump handles heating and cooling through most of the year, and the furnace takes over in the deep cold.
That's a second piece of equipment, so it's priced on top. On its own, a heat pump install runs $6,200 to $8,800 with us as of September 2026. It isn't the right call for every house. Natural gas is cheap in Alberta, and if you don't want cooling and the budget is tight, a furnace on its own is a sensible answer. We go through both in heat pump vs furnace in Calgary.
Rebates
Plan as if there aren't any. Both federal Canada Greener Homes programs are closed to new applicants: the Loan stopped taking applications on 1 October 2025 and the Grant on 20 January 2026. Provincial and utility offers come and go. We check what's actually open when we quote, and we won't price a job around a rebate you might not get.
Financeit monthly payments are available if the timing isn't yours.
What a good quote shows
Whoever you get prices from, a replacement quote should name:
- The make and model, not "high-efficiency furnace"
- The stage: single, two-stage or modulating
- The output, and how it was sized
- Venting: reused or new, and where it exits
- Condensate drain and where it goes
- Gas line work, if any
- Ductwork changes, if any
- What happens to the water heater if it shared the chimney
- The permit
- Removal of the old furnace
- The warranty, and what you have to do to keep it. The AirEase 12-year parts-and-labour coverage on qualifying models, for example, needs registering within 60 days of install and annual professional maintenance.
Two quotes that differ by a few thousand dollars are often quoting different jobs. Lay them side by side against that list and the gap usually explains itself.
Questions we get
Repair or replace? A single failed part on a furnace under about twelve years old is usually a repair. A major failure on one approaching twenty is usually a replacement. A cracked heat exchanger is a replacement at any age: it can put carbon monoxide into the air you breathe, and we won't patch one. In between, we price both and you decide. Furnace repair has more on where that line sits.
How long does it take? A straight changeover is one day. A new vent route, gas work or ductwork makes it one to two. You'll know which before we start.
When's the best time to replace? Before it fails. A furnace that dies in a January cold snap gets replaced on the busiest weeks of the year. If yours is getting on and has started needing attention, early fall is the calm window.
Can you give me a price over the phone? A range, yes. That's the range at the top of this page. A firm number needs us to see the venting, the gas line, the ducts and the space. The visit and the written quote are free.
The short version
$4,500 to $9,600 installed, as of September 2026, for Calgary and Airdrie. The furnace tier sets part of it. Venting, gas, ductwork and access set the rest. Get the water heater assessed if it shares the chimney, insist on a heat-loss calculation instead of a matched badge, and read every quote for what it leaves out.
For a firm, written number for your house, call 587-834-3668 or see furnace replacement in Calgary for how the job runs.
