What is the Cheapest Way to Heat a House In New York?

New York winters are getting colder every year. This means finding less expensive ways to heat a house is a top priority for homeowners. Below, discover cost-effective heating options and learn how the qualified heating experts at Jones Services can help you.

Wood Heat 

Wood can be an effective and affordable way to heat your home, especially if you live in an area with an abundance of firewood outside. Exactly how much it costs depends on a lot of different factors though, like how efficient your heater is and whether you collected firewood outside or bought it from the grocery store. But you can generally expect to pay less than if you were heating your home with central HVAC or a gas furnace.

The downsides of this heating method is that your air quality takes a big hit when you’re burning wood inside your home. Combustion byproducts like carbon monoxide are released into your air, along with soot and ash. Good ventilation can help, but this can definitely be an issue for people with asthma or other breathing problems.

The Verdict: Pretty cheap if you have access to firewood 👍 but tough on your air quality 👎

Central HVAC 

Central HVAC is one of the most common ways to heat a home during the winter, but also one of the least efficient. That’s because ductwork usually has small cracks or openings that allow warm air to escape. When this happens, rooms that are furthest from the furnace are typically too cold, while rooms that are closest to it are uncomfortably hot. This also causes air quality problems when air gets pushed through dirty ducts and into your house.

Central HVAC is also costly, since you’re paying to heat air that will eventually escape.

The Verdict: Expensive and wasteful ❌, also lowers your air quality but not as much as wood 👎

Gas Furnace

Natural gas lands in the middle of cost-efficacy. It’s cheaper than electric and oil per kilowatt hour but more expensive than ductless. Many people like gas furnaces because they create heat quickly, giving you noticeable warmth when you need it.

Unfortunately, these systems are a lot more dangerous than mini splits, central HVAC, or baseboard heat. Gas heat can put you at a higher risk of home fires and carbon monoxide poisoning and it’s hard to know there’s a problem until it’s too late.

The Verdict: Expensive and dangerous ❌ Consider switching to a different kind of heating soon ❌

Oil Heat 

The price of oil heat is hard to predict since the cost per barrel is mostly determined by global oil prices. And those prices change daily as the political climate fluctuates. This makes it hard to budget for practical things like home heating expenses. 

As far as how well oil will heat a house, there are both benefits and drawbacks. While heating is even and consistent throughout your home with this type of heating system, it takes a long time to warm up after being off. They also don’t push contaminants through the air like a central system or gas furnace would.

The Verdict: Costs less than gas ✔️  but is slow to heat 👎

Ductless Heating

Ductless mini split systems are the cheapest and most efficient way to heat a house over time. Installation costs are higher than buying a space heater but a lot cheaper than installing ductwork or building a chimney. Ductless units are also highly reliable and offer precise heating control with minimal energy use.

Ductless is also the only heating system that’s optimized for extreme cold. The rumors about being ill-suited to frigid temperatures aren’t true — mini splits are designed to heat a house comfortably down to -13 degrees Fahrenheit.

You can also customize your comfort with precise controls and variable fan speeds. And three-speed settings are a thing of the past when you can have a choice of 70 individual settings based on your preferences.

The Verdict: Cheapest to run ✔️ and offers the best air quality ✔️

Get Cheaper Heating With the Help of Jones Services Today

Cold weather is coming — are you ready? At Jones Services, our team of NATE-certified ductless contractors can help you get comfortable and cost-effective heating this season. Contact us today to learn more about cheap ways to heat a house or to set up a time for one of our technicians to come to you. Call now at (845) 295-1776.