Propane heats the largest share of ZIP 20106: about four owner homes in ten, against a bit over a third on electricity, about one in eight on oil and about two in a hundred on utility gas. A new furnace here is usually a propane one, which means it has to be set up for that fuel, and its gas connection leak tested, before it lights.
In ZIP 20106 the median owner home is a 1993 build. A furnace original to a house from 1980 through 1999, about a third of the ZIP, has been through three decades of winters. The heat exchanger decides it: a crack there can’t be repaired. A diagnostic visit is $99, and the tech prices the replacement beside any repair, so you see both numbers before you choose.
Swapping a gas or propane furnace is permit work on all three sides of the ZIP, because the state building code’s exemption stops at appliances that burn gas or oil. Rappahannock County’s Building Office, at 311 North Gay Street in Washington, takes the application on that side. Culpeper County’s Building Department, at 302 North Main Street in Culpeper, takes it online or in person. Fauquier County asks for one on any fuel-fired appliance, even in the same spot.
About one owner home in eight heats with oil. We don’t work on oil burners, so a house on oil is a switch: a propane furnace, a furnace and AC pair at $8,898 to $23,000, or a heat pump system. The new equipment has to meet real cold, 4,836 heating degree days a year at the Boston station and 3 degrees at Sperryville on January 27, 30 and 31 of 2026. The heating page lays out the options.