Furnace, Boiler and AC Repair in Rensselaer, NY

The River City Across From Albany

Rensselaer sits on the east bank of the Hudson facing Albany. The Dutch called the area Greyn Bos, which became Greenbush in English. Greenbush was chartered as a city in 1897 and renamed Rensselaer, and in 1902 it took in the village of Bath and the western part of East Greenbush. The 2020 census counted 9,210 people.

Its oldest landmark is Crailo, the Van Rensselaer family's fortified brick manor house, built in 1707 and enlarged in 1762. It is a National Historic Landmark and a state historic site. The city was also an early center of the American dye industry and home to the country's first aspirin factory.

Rensselaer Housing

For the City of Rensselaer as a whole, about 41 percent of homes were built in 1939 or earlier, roughly 37 percent of units sit in two- to four-family buildings, and about 43 percent are owner-occupied. About 72 percent heat mainly with gas and about 22 percent with electricity.

The old village of Bath, along Forbes Avenue and Partition Street, is the oldest part: its census tract is about 69 percent pre-1940. Up on the north hills around Washington Avenue, the tract median build year is 1991, with about a third of homes built after 2000.

History shows up in the heating, too. At the Patroon Agent's House on Forbes Avenue, an 1839 Greek Revival house, central heating later replaced eight marble fireplaces and two cellar kitchen hearths.

Heating and Cooling in Rensselaer

The older blocks in Bath and downtown have the same mix as old Troy: gas boilers with radiators, furnaces added later, and multi-family houses with a system per unit. The newer north-side homes are mostly forced air with central air or heat pumps. We work on both.

Low-lying parts of the city are in the floodplain. The city's building department FAQ describes the 100-year floodplain as the land between the Hudson and South Street and Broadway north of Partition Street, plus areas near the Quackenderry Creek. In those basements, where the furnace, boiler and water heater sit matters, and it is worth asking the city about rules for equipment below flood level.

Streets We Cover

We work on Broadway, Washington Street, Washington Avenue, Columbia Street, Riverside Avenue, Forbes Avenue, East Street, Third Avenue, Partition Street and Aiken Avenue. The Albany-Rensselaer rail station opened its current building in 2002, and the Dunn Memorial Bridge carries US 9 and 20 over to Albany above Riverfront Park. The Rensselaer building department at City Hall on Washington Street handles permits, with HVAC listed on its application.

Rensselaer Questions