Centennial, CO 80016 · Family-owned since 2004
Antelope is 118 custom homes on 2.3-acre lots south of Arapahoe Road — septic on every property, wells on many, horses at one per acre, and an architectural committee with a 30-day review on anything you change outside. It also has the most electric baseboard heat and the most homes with no air conditioning at all of anywhere we work in Centennial.
The original 1977 to 1980 core along Gibraltar was built with electric baseboard heat and no cooling system. Five verified homes on S Gibraltar Ct, S Gibraltar St and S Gibraltar Way list baseboard electric heating with no cooling field at all.
Every property is on a septic system per the covenants, and wells are common — municipal ACWWA water has only been an option since July 2006. Some parcels only have natural gas available rather than connected, and propane is present on at least one property.
Electric service here is CORE Electric Cooperative territory, not Xcel. That matters directly: Xcel’s electric-side rebates on heat pumps do not apply if CORE is your electric provider. Xcel is still the gas provider citywide.
The architectural committee requires approval for any exterior change with a 30-day review, and propane tanks must be screened. Condenser placement is not a decision to make on install day.
This is not generic copy. Below is what is actually documented in Antelope home listings and public records — the equipment people have installed, replaced and worked around in these specific houses.
A gas furnace does not deliver its nameplate rating in Centennial. Standard practice, following NFPA 54, is to derate input by 4% for every 1,000 feet above 2,000 feet. At roughly 5,800 feet that is about a 15% reduction in input BTU before you have burned a single therm. Ron Thingvold at Comfort Air Distributing — a supply house right here in Centennial — puts it plainly: one of the most common errors they see is elevation derate being done incorrectly or not at all, which results in poor comfort at design conditions.
For a home the size of a typical Antelope house, here is what that looks like on a 120,000 BTU nameplate furnace:
| At sea level | In Centennial at ~5,800 ft |
|---|---|
| 120,000 BTU/hr input (nameplate) | about 101,800 BTU/hr input after a 15.2% derate |
| Output at 80% AFUE | about 81,400 BTU/hr |
| Output at 96% AFUE | about 97,700 BTU/hr |
Centennial’s 99% winter design temperature is 4°F and the 1% summer design temperature is 90°F, per ACCA Manual J Table 1A for Denver/Centennial Airport. We run 6,059 heating degree days and 769 cooling degree days a year against a 65°F base, and our daily temperature range is classified high — over a 25-degree swing. That combination is why a system sized off a rule of thumb misses here and a system sized off an actual Manual J calculation does not.
The kit myth. You will hear that every furnace in Colorado needs a high-altitude conversion kit. That is not true at 5,800 feet. Many modern condensing furnaces are factory-certified to 7,000 feet or higher with no orifice or pressure-switch change — Goodman, for example, is installable to 7,000 ft in the U.S. without modification. What always applies is the input derate for sizing. Venting is the other one people miss: a 2-inch PVC vent good for 50 feet and four elbows at sea level often has to be upsized to 3 inches at Front Range altitude.
Nobody plans a furnace failure. In Centennial they happen on the first hard cold snap in October and during the January stretch when we sit below 10°F for days — the same week every furnace in the neighborhood is running at maximum, which is exactly when the weak ones quit. Air conditioners fail in the first 90°F stretch of July, for the same reason.
We are based at 14883 E Hinsdale Ave, Unit H in Centennial, CO 80112 — not a call center in another state. When you call (303) 627-3395 you reach us. Antelope is a short drive, and same-day service is typical for no-heat and no-cool calls.
Carbon monoxide is the one that matters. Older furnaces and orphaned water heaters sharing a masonry chimney are the two most common CO risks we find in Centennial homes. If your CO alarm sounds, get everyone outside and call 911 first. If you do not have a CO alarm on every level of the house, that is the cheapest safety upgrade you will ever buy. Arapahoe County is also an EPA Radon Zone 1 county — nearly half of home radon tests here come back above the 4.0 pCi/L action level, and the county offers free test kits.
| Service | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Furnace repair | $150 – $1,200+ |
| Furnace replacement | $3,500 – $8,500 installed |
| AC repair | $150 – $900+ |
| AC installation | $3,800 – $10,000 installed |
| Furnace tune-up | $89 – $149 |
| AC tune-up | $79 – $129 |
| Duct cleaning | $299 – $599 |
The City of Centennial requires a permit for HVAC replacement. The city lists “Air Conditioner (AC)/Furnace/Water Heater — the replacement of existing HVAC units or water heaters like for like” as a one-stop permit, and it requires that any contractor or subcontractor doing the work be licensed in the City of Centennial. Permits are issued by the City of Centennial Building Division at the Civic Center, 13133 E Arapahoe Rd, and filed online through the city portal. Centennial has adopted the 2021 I-Codes — IBC, IRC, IMC, IFGC and IPC. We are licensed here and we pull the permit as part of the job.
Local design criteria worth knowing: Centennial requires a 30 psf non-reducible roof snow load, a 115 mph wind speed and a 0.30 U-factor on residential windows. That last one matters more than people think — window performance is a direct input to the load calculation that sizes your equipment.
Read this before anyone quotes you a rebate. Three things changed for 2026 and a lot of HVAC websites have not caught up. The federal 25C Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit expired for equipment placed in service after December 31, 2025 — there is no federal 25C credit on a 2026 installation. Xcel Energy removed gas furnace and boiler rebates effective January 1, 2026. And there is no standalone Xcel rebate for central air conditioning — the “$400 AC rebate” you may see quoted online is stale.
Here is what is real right now:
| Incentive | 2026 amount |
|---|---|
| Xcel — air-source heat pump | Up to $900 per cooling ton when replacing a fuel-burning system ($300/ton otherwise) |
| Xcel — cold-climate heat pump | Up to $2,250 per heating ton at 5°F when replacing a fuel-burning system ($750/ton otherwise) |
| Xcel — ground-source heat pump | Up to $3,300 per heating ton |
| Xcel — heat pump water heater | Up to $2,250 |
| Xcel — evaporative cooler | $300 standard / $675 premium / $1,200 multi-ducted premium |
| Xcel — smart thermostat | $50, or $100 bill credit plus $25/yr with AC Rewards enrollment |
| Xcel — attic insulation / air sealing | Up to $500 / up to $400, with a 1.5× multiplier if you heat with gas |
| Colorado Heat Pump Tax Credit | $1,000 air-source, $2,000 ground-source, $250 heat pump water heater — passed through to you as a line-item discount of at least $333, $667 and $83 respectively |
| Federal 25C credit | Expired. Not available for 2026 installations. |
| Xcel gas furnace / boiler rebate | Removed effective January 1, 2026. |
The Colorado credit is claimed by the contractor, not by you — it has to be a contractor registered with the Colorado Energy Office, and at least 33% of it must appear on your invoice as a line item labeled “State of Colorado Heat Pump Discount.” You file nothing. Xcel rebates are first-come, first-served and funding-limited, and they require Xcel service — which is why the Xcel-versus-CORE question above matters on the east side of Centennial.
Boundaries: South of E Arapahoe Rd, with entries at S Gibraltar St and S Himalaya Way. Landmarks and anchors nearby: The Antelope community arena and bridle trails, Saddle Rock Golf Course about two miles out, E-470, the shopping on Parker and Arapahoe Roads, Saddle Rock Village and Southlands.
Streets we work in Antelope include:
We also serve every other Centennial ZIP — 80015, 80016, 80111, 80112, 80121 and 80122 — plus Aurora, Parker, Englewood, Lone Tree, Littleton, Greenwood Village and Highlands Ranch. See our main Centennial HVAC page for citywide service.
This is the defining Antelope situation and there is a good answer for it. Electric baseboard is the most expensive heat you can run and it gives you nothing in summer. A ducted or ductless heat pump replaces both problems with one system — it heats far more efficiently than resistance baseboard and it cools. One home on S Gibraltar Way already made this move and runs a high-efficiency heat pump for heat and A/C in the main house. The important caveat for Antelope specifically: check your electric bill. If CORE Electric Cooperative serves you rather than Xcel, Xcel’s electric-side heat pump rebates do not apply. Colorado’s $1,000 state heat pump tax credit still does, passed through as a line-item discount by a registered contractor.
Yes, and plan for it. The covenants require architectural committee approval for any exterior change with a 30-day review period, and they specifically require propane tanks to be screened. A condenser on a 2.3-acre lot is a visible exterior addition. We plan the location and, if needed, the screening as part of the quote so nothing stalls waiting on a committee after equipment is already ordered.
Directly, in two ways. Septic is universal here per the covenants, and municipal ACWWA water has only been an option since 2006, so many properties are on wells. Well water hardness is why water softeners show up so often in Antelope listings — and hard water is hard on a tankless water heater and on a humidifier. If you are adding a whole-house humidifier on well water, water quality is part of that conversation. The second issue is that some parcels only have natural gas available rather than connected, and at least one runs propane. That changes which equipment is even on the table.
Yes. A home on S Himalaya Way here already runs a detached six-car garage on its own separate heating and A/C. On 2.3-acre lots with outbuildings, the right answer is virtually always a dedicated ductless system for the structure rather than trying to extend the house system across a gap. Independent thermostat, no duct through outdoor air, and it does not steal capacity from the house.
No. Estimates on furnace, AC and heat pump replacement are free, and we quote before we start and stick to it. Diagnostic visits on a broken system are a separate, upfront-priced service — we tell you the number before we drive out, not after.
Yes. Carrier, Lennox, Trane, Rheem, York, Goodman, Amana, Bryant, American Standard and most other residential brands. We install Carrier, Lennox and Trane on replacement projects.
Family-owned in Centennial since 2004. Licensed in the City of Centennial, we pull the permit, and you reach us directly — not a national dispatch center. Same-day service available.
Sources for the facts on this page: City of Centennial Building Division (permits, adopted codes, local design criteria); ACCA Manual J Table 1A (design temperatures, elevation); NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 Climate Normals (degree days, humidity, freeze dates); NFPA 54 (altitude derate); Xcel Energy Colorado 2025–2026 Rebate Summary; Colorado Energy Office Heat Pump Tax Credit; IRS (25C expiration); Arapahoe County Public Health (radon); REcolorado listing records and HOA publications for neighborhood housing stock. Rebate amounts and code editions change — verify current figures with Xcel Energy and the City of Centennial before relying on them.
Don't wait 'til it's too late. When the first cold snap hits, everybody calls at once — and a dead furnace on a Sunday night costs a whole lot more than a tune-up. We're booking September furnace checkups now, while the calendar is still wide open.
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