HVAC Installation in Naperville, IL
A new system here will heat from October through May and cool from June through August every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers DuPage County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
DuPage County asks a lot of a heating and cooling system
Your furnace here runs October through May, eight months a year, with winter nights averaging 19°F from December through February. A new system has to be sized to hold the house steady on those cold nights, not just get by on the mild ones.
Summer is shorter, just June through August, but afternoons averaging 82°F still put real load on a new air conditioner for three months straight. Between the two seasons, this house needs heat or cooling 11 months a year, so both sides of a new system matter. Illinois saw 16% of households lose power for 24 hours or more in 2024, and this area has had 15 winter storms and 180 damaging wind events over the past ten years, so it is worth asking a contractor how a new system holds up when the power goes out.
- 8 months
- October through May, your system heats
- 3 months
- June through August, it cools
- 19°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 82°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
In Illinois, HVAC licensing for homes is left to the cities and towns.
In DuPage County, whether your installer needs a local license depends on the township or city, not the state. Illinois leaves that decision to each municipality, so one town may license HVAC contractors and keep records on them, and the next may not require anything at all. There is no state list to check here. Whatever record exists, if any, sits with that local building office.
For this job, the check that reaches most of DuPage County is the permit. Replacing a furnace, air conditioner or heat pump typically needs a permit from the local building office, and the finished work gets inspected before it is signed off. That inspection is what catches a bad gas connection or a refrigerant line that was not done right. It is not a license and it does not test the contractor ahead of time, but where it applies, it is the check that follows the work itself rather than the address.
Source: Illinois General Assembly
- When should I replace my HVAC system?
- Once your furnace or air conditioner is past 15 years old and starting to need repairs, replacing it is usually the smarter move. A unit that age is working harder to do the same job, and repairs get more expensive as parts become harder to find. If your system is heating or cooling unevenly, running longer than it used to, or needs a repair call more often than it used to, that is your sign. Homes here need heat eight months of the year and cooling three, so a system that struggles in either direction is going to keep bothering you until it is dealt with.
- Should I replace my furnace and air conditioner at the same time?
- If both are old, replacing them together makes sense, since a furnace and air conditioner installed at the same time are matched to work as one system. A furnace and coil that were not designed for each other can run less efficiently and wear out sooner. If one is much newer than the other, it is reasonable to wait and replace just the one that failed. A contractor can look at the age and condition of both and tell you whether pairing them makes sense for your house.
- What happens during an HVAC installation?
- A contractor first removes the old furnace, air conditioner, or both, along with any parts that will not be reused. The new equipment goes in, then gets connected to your ductwork, gas line, electrical, and, for an air conditioner, the refrigerant line set. Once everything is connected, the contractor tests the system, checks refrigerant charge and airflow, and sets the thermostat. The length of the job depends on the equipment and your home, so a contractor can tell you what to expect once they see the setup.