NOAA's station at Binghamton/Broome County
NOAA's engineering weather data lists a station named Binghamton/Broome County, about 8 miles north of the city, at an elevation of 1,631 feet. NOAA names it as the nearest station to Binghamton. For that station it gives a 99% winter design temperature of 3°F and a 1% summer design temperature of 83°F, with a mean coincident wet-bulb temperature of 69°F. In an average year at Binghamton/Broome County, NOAA counts about 44 hours with the wet-bulb temperature above 73°F and about 502 hours above 67°F. These are readings for the station, not for any street in the city.
Population, from Census QuickFacts
U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts gives Binghamton a population estimate of 46,418 on July 1, 2025. The Census count on April 1, 2020 was 47,969.
The county seat
The City of Binghamton is the county seat of Broome County, and Broome County has a land area of approximately 710 square miles in the Southern Tier.
Put your system's story on paper
Heating and cooling bids are only as good as what the estimator learns in a short visit. You can fill in the gaps yourself. Before calling anyone, write a page covering:
- the age of the furnace, boiler, heat pump or air conditioner, if a label or an old invoice shows it;
- every repair you remember, with the rough date and what the technician replaced;
- rooms that run cold, warm or drafty, and the hours when you notice it;
- any rooms added, closed off or finished since the equipment went in;
- noises, odors or water you have seen near the equipment;
- photos of each nameplate, showing model and serial numbers.
Hand the identical page to each company. Their answers then speak to one house rather than to whatever each visitor happened to notice.
What a thorough walk-through looks like
Watch how an estimator spends the visit. One may measure rooms and windows, look into the attic, open the return, check the duct runs in the basement and ask how you use the house. Another may glance at the old unit and quote a replacement of the same size. Neither approach proves anything by itself, but you are entitled to ask what each one looked at and why.
Questions about the load
- Will you size the equipment from a room-by-room heat loss and heat gain calculation, such as a Manual J, and may I keep a copy?
- Which outdoor design figures did you enter, and where did they come from?
- Did you measure insulation and window area, or estimate them?
- How close is the proposed capacity to the calculated load, and why?
- Would sealing air leaks or adding attic insulation first change the size you recommend?
Picking a heat source
Ask each company to price every option it is willing to install, as separate lines, so the choice is yours:
- A gas furnace paired with central air. Ask for the AFUE rating, whether the burner is single-stage, two-stage or modulating, and what kind of blower motor it uses.
- A cold-climate heat pump. Ask for the maker's published heating output at low outdoor temperatures for the exact model, what backup heat comes with it, and what triggers that backup.
- A dual-fuel pairing. Ask at what outdoor temperature the system hands heating from the heat pump to the furnace, and who can change that setting later.
- Keeping an existing boiler. If the house heats with hot water, ask whether cooling can be added with ductless heads or a separate air handler, and what each would mean for the walls and ceilings.
For any option, ask for a yearly operating estimate based on your own utility rates, with the math shown.
Indoor moisture
An air conditioner removes water as well as heat, and how much depends on how long the coil runs cold. Ask whether variable-speed or two-stage equipment is offered, whether the thermostat can show indoor humidity, and where condensate will drain. In winter the question turns around: if a humidifier is proposed, ask what type it is, how it gets water, where it drains and how it is controlled as the weather gets colder.
Ductwork belongs in the bid
New equipment pushes air through the ducts that are already there. Ask each bidder to take a static pressure reading on the existing system and write it on the proposal. Ask whether duct joints in an unheated attic, crawlspace or garage will be sealed and insulated, whether the return side can handle the airflow of the new blower, and what repairs would cost as a separate line from the equipment.
Controls
Ask which thermostat is included, whether it is built to run the equipment being quoted, and whether new wiring is needed. If one floor stays warmer than another, ask whether zoning with dampers is worth considering and how the system protects itself when only one small zone calls for air.
Venting and combustion
For a gas appliance, ask where the vent will exit, how far it will sit from windows, doors and grade, and how it will stay clear in snow. If a water heater shares a chimney with the old furnace, ask what happens to its venting afterward. Ask for a combustion and carbon monoxide test at start-up, with the readings written down, and where alarms would be useful in your house.
Paperwork questions
- What state license or registration, if any, covers this work, and what is the number?
- Does this installation call for any city permits, and if so, who files for them and when does the inspector come?
- Would you send a certificate showing liability coverage and workers' compensation? A call to your own insurer can help you make sense of it.
- Will the people doing the work be your employees, or a subcontracted crew?
- What happens to the refrigerant in the equipment coming out?
Contract terms worth reading twice
Before signing, look for the deposit amount and when the balance is due, the expected start date, how long the heat or cooling will be off during the swap, who hauls away the old equipment, and what happens if the crew finds damage behind a wall. Ask for the equipment warranty and the labor warranty as separate written terms, and ask who registers the equipment with the maker.
The start-up visit
On the last day, ask the installer to walk you through the new system: where the filter goes and what size it takes, how to read the thermostat, where the shutoffs are, and what each start-up reading means. Keep that sheet with the manuals. It gives the next technician a baseline to compare against.