Onondaga County
New Heating and Cooling Systems in Syracuse, NY
Inside the city line two things decide what you are actually buying before a price is written down: the class of mechanical license the installer holds, which caps the size of equipment they may put in, and the outdoor temperature the sizing was done against. The city publishes both, and with a median city house finished in 1948 the chimney usually belongs on the quote as well.
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The license class is a ceiling on the size of system that can go in
The city runs a Board of Mechanical Examiners, and the class of license a contractor holds is not a badge, it is a ceiling: the Class C residential class covers furnaces up to 200 MBH input and cooling up to 5 tons, and the Class B class covers larger residential and medium commercial equipment. Ask which class is pulling the permit for your job, then check the name against the List of HVAC Contractors that Code Enforcement publishes; the copy on the city site is dated 2022, so a missing name is a reason to telephone the licensing department on (315) 448-8773 rather than a conclusion. The HVAC permit is a separate trade permit in the city, so a residential construction permit taken out for a remodel does not cover the heating work, and the Central Permit Office is at One Park Place, 300 South State Street. One more city rule is worth reading before the basement gets finished: section 27-54(h) of the Property Conservation Code requires combustion air for the appliance and for the space it sits in, which is a question to settle while the equipment is being specified rather than after the drywall is up.
Areas within Syracuse: Eastwood, Strathmore, Tipperary Hill, Valley, Near Westside, University Hill, Sedgwick, Northside
Ask which license class is pulling your permit
Send the address and we will put that question to a contractor who can answer it.
System work we arrange inside the city line
Furnace Replacement and Installation
Put a new gas furnace in with the size worked out from your house and the venting work priced before you sign, not discovered when the crew is already in the basement.
Furnace Replacement in Syracuse →Boiler Replacement and Hydronic Heating
Replace the boiler that feeds your radiators or baseboard, sized against the house and the rooms it actually has to heat.
Boiler Replacement in Syracuse →Central Air Conditioning Installation
Add central air to a Syracuse house, or replace the system you have, sized so that it runs long enough to take the humidity out rather than just dropping the temperature.
Central Air Installation in Syracuse →Heat Pump Installation and Conversion
Find out what a heat pump would really do in your house on the coldest nights of a Syracuse winter, and what covers the load when it cannot.
Heat Pump Installation in Syracuse →Ductwork and Air Distribution
Get the air to the rooms that never get it: new ducts, corrected ducts, or ductless equipment where there is nowhere to run a duct at all.
Ductwork in Syracuse →What the city publishes about installers, and about minus ten degrees
The City of Syracuse operates a Board of Mechanical Examiners that issues mechanical licenses, and the application defines what each class permits. A Class A Master HVAC Mechanical License entitles the holder to engage in the business of, and to secure permits for, the installation, alteration, maintenance and repair of any heating, ventilating or air conditioning systems and equipment. A Class B Limited HVAC Mechanical License covers the same work in new or existing residential structures including one and two family and multiple dwellings, and medium sized commercial buildings using a maximum of 30 ton air conditioning units, boilers up to 2,000 MBH input, furnaces up to 500 MBH input, and chillers, cooling towers or evaporative coolers up to 100 tons, with maintenance and repair of larger equipment also permitted. A Class C Residential HVAC Mechanical License covers structures used only as the home of not more than two distinct families, and small commercial buildings up to 2,500 square feet, with air conditioning up to a maximum of 5 tons, furnaces up to 200 MBH input and boilers up to 399 MBH input.
Source: City of Syracuse, Board of Mechanical Examiners, Mechanical License Application, published by the City of Syracuse Division of Code Enforcement, accessed 2026-09-14
The City of Syracuse Central Permit Office lists its residential construction permit categories as addition or conversion, change of occupancy, deck, porch, gazebo and pergola for new work and for repairs, driveway, fence, fenestration, interior remodel and renovation, miscellaneous residential project, new build, pool and hot tub, ramp, retaining wall, roof, shed and garage, sheetrock and temporary structure. The page states that all trade and fire prevention permits, giving HVAC, electrical, fire alarm and sprinkler as its examples, must be obtained separately. The office is at One Park Place, 300 South State Street, 1st Floor, Syracuse, NY 13202.
Source: City of Syracuse, Central Permit Office, Residential Construction Permits, accessed 2026-09-14
Section 27-54(a)(2) of the City of Syracuse Property Conservation Code states that the capability of the heating equipment to maintain the required indoor temperatures shall be based on an outside temperature of minus ten degrees Fahrenheit.
Source: City of Syracuse Property Conservation Code, section 27-54(a)(2), Heating, general requirements, 2020 compilation published by the City of Syracuse, accessed 2026-09-14
The American Community Survey 2020-2024 five-year estimates put the median year structure built in the city of Syracuse at 1948, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 years. Of the city's 67,601 housing units, 29,152 were built in 1939 or earlier, which is 43.1 percent, 34,780 were built in 1949 or earlier, 51.4 percent, and 57,777 were built before 1980, 85.5 percent. Only 4,333 units, 6.4 percent, were built in 2000 or later. Of 59,816 occupied units, 24,889 are owner occupied, 41.6 percent.
Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates, tables B25034, B25035 and B25003, Syracuse city, New York, accessed 2026-09-14
Tell us what is in the city basement now
Describe the system you have and we will line up people who measure before they price.