Get Ready for a Warm(er) Winter

Winters in Upstate New York and Vermont are not warm, but your home can be. Seal drafts, service your heat source, balance rooms and consider a cold-climate heat pump to stay comfortable while using less fuel.

Winter here is long, so small leaks add up

From the Capital Region to the Adirondacks and Vermont, a heating season runs from about October to April, and overnight lows of -10°F to -20°F are not unusual. In that kind of cold, every gap and every underperforming component costs you real fuel.

The good news is that the first steps to a warmer house are inexpensive, and you can do many of them in one weekend before the cold sets in.

Stop the drafts first

• Add weatherstripping to exterior doors and replace worn door sweeps
• Caulk around window frames and where pipes or wires enter the house
• Use window film or storm windows on older single-pane glass
• Seal the attic hatch and basement rim joists, which are often the biggest leaks
• Close the damper on a fireplace you rarely use

On a windy day, hold a lit stick of incense near suspect spots. If the smoke wavers, air is moving. Older farmhouses and two-family homes in places like Cambridge, Glens Falls and Troy usually have plenty of these.

Service your heating equipment

Equipment that has not been touched in years burns more fuel and fails at the worst time. Replace filters, bleed radiators, and book a tune-up before the season starts. Superior CO-OP HVAC services oil, propane and gas furnaces and boilers of all brands; tune-ups start at $198.89. Our maintenance programs keep the visits on the calendar.

Check your fuel supply and schedule deliveries early. Oil and propane prices tend to climb when the weather turns.

Fix the cold rooms

If one room is always cold, it is usually an airflow, insulation or distribution problem rather than a thermostat setting. Closed or blocked vents, leaky ducts running through cold spaces, a bonus room over a garage, and an under-insulated attic are all common causes. Our Home Comfort Diagnostic helps you narrow it down, and the ductwork team can correct duct problems.

Where ducts are not practical, a ductless heat pump head is a clean way to warm one room or one floor.

Use the sun and your shades

On sunny winter days, open curtains on south-facing windows to let free heat in, and close them at dusk to hold it. Heavy or insulated drapes help on cold nights. Keep furniture off registers and baseboards, and run ceiling fans in reverse at low speed to push warm air down.

A heat pump that really works in our cold

Modern cold-climate heat pumps are not the models people remember from decades ago. Mitsubishi Hyper-Heat outdoor units deliver 100% Capacity to -13°F and operate down to -35°F, with indoor units as quiet as 19 dB. They provide heat and air conditioning in one system, and the Mitsubishi Comfort App comes with every new install.

A 2,000 sq ft Upstate NY home typically runs a Mitsubishi system for roughly $900 to $1,600 per heating season, compared with $2,000 to $3,500+ for oil. These are estimates, and your home will vary. See what it costs to run Hyper-Heat.

Check what you can save

The two-minute Heating Cost Calculator compares your current oil, propane or gas costs with Mitsubishi options, and completing it before your estimate appointment earns you $250 off. We confirm exactly what rebates you qualify for at the free estimate and handle the entire application. Rebates are expected to shrink or end in 2027, so it will never cost less than it does today.

Frequently asked questions