Heating and Cooling in Erie County, NY

Wikipedia describes the northern half of Erie County, the Northtowns, as relatively flat, and the southern half, the Southtowns, as much hillier, with the northwestern foothills of the Appalachians. Lake Erie and the lake-effect snow it throws across the Southtowns make the winters feel different depending on where you live. Buffalo averages about 6,466 heating degree days a year, per NOAA’s 1991-2020 normals, and every town in the county puts a furnace through most of that.

Housing follows the map. In the City of Buffalo, about 83,498 of 136,850 housing units, roughly 61 percent, were built in 1939 or earlier, according to Census data reported by Point2Homes. That means boilers, radiators and old ductwork. Suburbs such as Cheektowaga and Tonawanda grew after the war, and the newest subdivisions sit farther out. A good recommendation starts with the age of the house, not the zip code.

The range in elevation is wider than most people expect. Wikipedia puts the lowest point in the county at about 560 feet, on Grand Island at the Niagara River, and the highest at about 1,940 feet, on a hill in the Town of Sardinia. That is a climb of roughly 1,380 feet inside one county, and higher ground runs colder on a still night. A furnace in Sardinia works from a different weather file than a furnace on Grand Island.

The National Weather Service in Buffalo describes the November 17 to 19, 2014 lake-effect event as a band 15 to 20 miles wide, centered on a line from Lackawanna and Hamburg east-northeast across West Seneca, Lancaster and Alden. Its northern edge was so sharp that many described it as a wall of snow. Lancaster picked up 63 inches, Elma 51 and Hamburg 48, while Buffalo airport measured 6.2.

That is the practical lesson for a county this size. A forecast for the airport tells you little about your own street, so check your vent pipes and outdoor unit after every storm rather than trusting the number on the news.

Our Google profile lists Orchard Park, Elma, Lackawanna, East Amherst, Blasdell, Hamburg, Depew, West Seneca, East Aurora, Amherst, Clarence and Williamsville. You can read about Orchard Park, West Seneca, Lackawanna, Hamburg and Amherst on their own pages.

We also take calls in Cheektowaga, Tonawanda and Kenmore, which sit a little farther north. For those, call first and we will tell you honestly about timing. The full list is on our service areas page.

The New York Department of Public Service lists two electric utilities for Erie County, National Grid and NYSEG, plus municipal electric systems for Akron and Springville. Gas comes from National Fuel Gas Distribution or Reserve Gas Company. Your electric utility matters if you are pricing a heat pump, because state Clean Heat rebates run through it. Check the current program page for your utility before you decide.

If you are a National Fuel customer and smell gas, leave the house, then call National Fuel’s emergency line at 1-800-444-3130 from outside, or call 911.

New York has no statewide HVAC contractor license, so the rules are local. Erie County Consumer Protection keeps a list of what each municipality requires: Cheektowaga licenses HVAC contractors, Amherst licenses home improvement contractors, and the Town and City of Tonawanda and the Village of Kenmore require contractor licensing. The City of Buffalo requires a Heating Contractor license through its Fuel Devices office. Confirm with your own municipality before you hire anyone.