Your heating system is the single largest energy consumer in your home — and in New England, it earns that title every winter. When it’s working correctly, you don’t think about it. When it isn’t, nothing else matters. Lawrence Air Systems has been designing, installing, and servicing heating systems across Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts since 1973. This page covers what we install, how we approach system selection, and why our customers trust us to get it right.
Call (401) 213-1516) to schedule a complimentary consultation with a Lawrence Air Systems comfort consultant.
Heating Systems We Install
Lawrence Air Systems installs the full range of residential heating equipment — matched to your home, your fuel source, and your comfort goals.
High-Efficiency Gas Furnaces
Modern high-efficiency gas furnaces operate at 90–98.5% AFUE (Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency), compared to 56–70% in older low-efficiency systems. That means a home spending $2,000 per year on gas heat with an aging 65% AFUE furnace can expect to cut that cost by 30–40% or more with a properly sized high-efficiency replacement.
The efficiency gain comes from what happens to combustion gases: older furnaces exhaust warm combustion products up the flue, wasting fuel energy in the process. High-efficiency models extract heat from those gases before they’re vented, recovering energy that would otherwise be lost.
Lawrence Air Systems is a Trane Comfort Specialist Premier Dealer — the highest Trane contractor designation, requiring ongoing factory training and verified installation quality standards. Trane furnaces installed by Lawrence Air Systems carry a 10-year parts warranty and our 2-year labor warranty on all installations.
Boilers
Boilers are common throughout the older housing stock of Rhode Island and the East Bay — particularly in homes built before the 1970s with cast-iron baseboard radiation, radiant floor heating, or steam distribution. Lawrence Air Systems installs and services high-efficiency condensing boilers from Viessmann, one of Europe’s leading boiler manufacturers.
As a Viessmann ViPRO dealer, we install Vitodens and Vitocrossal boiler systems — equipment known for exceptional reliability, precise modulation, and efficiency ratings that match or exceed comparable condensing gas furnaces. Viessmann systems installed by Lawrence Air Systems carry a 10-year warranty, compared to the 5-year industry standard.
For homes converting from oil to gas, or evaluating a boiler replacement, we provide written on-site estimates with clear options — no pressure to decide on the spot.
Cold-Climate Heat Pumps
Heat pump technology has advanced significantly over the last decade. Cold-climate models now maintain full rated heating capacity at outdoor temperatures as low as 5°F, and continue operating down to -13°F — performance that makes them a legitimate primary heating and cooling source for Rhode Island’s climate, not just a supplement.
Heat pumps are particularly effective as:
- Whole-home replacement systems for homes converting from oil or electric baseboard heat
- Hybrid systems paired with an existing furnace or boiler, automatically switching to whichever source is more efficient at any given outdoor temperature
- Zone-specific additions via ductless mini-split systems for spaces without existing ductwork
Lawrence Air Systems is a Mitsubishi Electric Diamond Contractor Elite — Mitsubishi’s highest contractor designation. Mitsubishi systems we install carry a 12-year parts and labor warranty, compared to the 5-year industry standard. We also carry LG heat pump systems as an LG Pro Dealer Silver.
Ductless Mini-Split Systems
For homes without ductwork, rooms that need independent temperature control, or spaces where extending existing ductwork isn’t practical — a ductless heat pump provides both heating and cooling from a single system. See our ductless heat pumps page for a full overview.
How We Design the Right System
There are hundreds of furnace and boiler models on the market. Finding the right one requires more than a catalog comparison — it requires an honest evaluation of your home.
When a Lawrence Air Systems comfort consultant visits your home, we assess:
Your existing system. Age, condition, fuel type, distribution infrastructure. Is it repairable, or is replacement the smarter investment?
Your home’s heat load. Proper system sizing requires load calculations — not rules of thumb or matching the tonnage on the nameplate of the existing system. An oversized system short-cycles, reducing comfort and efficiency. An undersized system runs continuously in cold weather. We size it correctly the first time.
Your distribution system. Forced-air ductwork, hydronic baseboard, radiant floors, or steam — the right heating equipment depends on what’s already in the home. We evaluate condition, sizing, and any modifications needed.
Your comfort goals. Cold spots, uneven temperatures, or specific rooms that never reach the thermostat setting often have solutions that go beyond simply replacing the equipment. Duct zoning, variable-speed equipment, and distribution improvements can transform comfort in ways that straight equipment replacement can’t.
Your energy goals. Whether you’re focused on reducing monthly bills, eliminating oil dependence, or maximizing long-term efficiency, the answer looks different for each home. We help you understand the options — and the tradeoffs — clearly.
The LAS Warranty Difference
Lawrence Air Systems provides a 2-year labor warranty on all heating system installations — regardless of brand or system type. Most competitors offer no labor warranty at all.
Combined with extended manufacturer warranties on the brands we carry:
| Brand | System Type | LAS Customer Warranty |
| Trane | Furnaces, heat pumps | 10 years |
| Viessmann | Boilers | 10 years |
| Mitsubishi Electric | Ductless heat pumps | 12 years |
| LG | Heat pumps | 10 years |
Industry standard for most brands through most contractors is 5 years. Our extended coverage is a function of our factory-trained installation quality and our contractor designation status with each brand.
Incentives and Financing
The largest number of heating and cooling incentives are available in winter — not spring or summer. If you’re evaluating a heating system replacement, fall and winter are when equipment availability is best, scheduling is most flexible before peak season demand, and state and utility rebate programs are most active.
Available incentives depending on your home and system type may include:
- Rhode Island Energy rebates for qualifying heat pump and high-efficiency equipment
- Mass Save rebates and 0% HEAT Loan financing (Massachusetts homeowners)
- Federal energy efficiency tax credits where applicable
- 36-month special financing through Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., with approved credit
Lawrence Air Systems helps our customers understand and access every applicable incentive for their project.
Annual Maintenance Program
A new heating system is a significant investment. Protecting that investment means keeping it properly maintained — and the Annual Maintenance Program (AMP) is how Lawrence Air Systems customers do that.
AMP members receive:
- Scheduled seasonal Total System Cleanings — automatically arranged
- 10% discount on service calls and repairs
- 5% discount on equipment replacement and upgrades
- Priority scheduling — especially valuable during peak heating season demand
- Access to after-hours emergency service
- Preservation of manufacturer system warranties
Enrollment ensures your system stays in peak condition and your warranty coverage remains intact.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I know when it’s time to replace my heating system? If your furnace or boiler is more than 15–20 years old, repairs are becoming frequent, your energy bills have risen without explanation, or your home has persistent comfort issues, replacement is worth evaluating. A system designer from Lawrence Air Systems can assess your equipment and give you an honest comparison of repair versus replacement costs with no obligation.
What is AFUE and why does it matter? AFUE — Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency — measures how efficiently a heating system converts fuel into usable heat. A 95% AFUE furnace converts 95 cents of every dollar’s worth of gas into heat; a 65% AFUE system wastes 35 cents. For a home spending $2,500 per year on heating, upgrading from 65% to 95% AFUE can save $800 or more annually — and typically pays back in 5–8 years depending on fuel prices.
Can Lawrence Air Systems handle an oil-to-gas conversion? Yes. Oil-to-gas conversions are among the most common projects we handle for East Bay and Southeastern MA homeowners. We evaluate your existing distribution system, size the new equipment correctly for your home, and coordinate the full installation. Gas line work is included where applicable.
What’s the difference between a furnace and a boiler? A furnace heats air and distributes it through ductwork. A boiler heats water and distributes it through baseboard radiators, radiant floor tubing, or fan coils. The right choice depends on what distribution infrastructure your home already has. We evaluate this during the consultation.
Does Lawrence Air Systems service steam boilers or oil systems? We do not service steam boilers or oil heating systems. If your home has either system, we can evaluate options for converting or upgrading to gas, heat pump, or geothermal heating.
If your heating system is aging, inefficient, or simply not doing the job it should, the experienced team at Lawrence Air Systems can evaluate your home and design a solution that fits. Call (401) 213-1516) to schedule a complimentary in-home consultation — and get clear options, honest recommendations, and a system that performs for the next 20 years.