I have a 50+ year old oil boiler that I'm looking to replace this summer. I have steam radiators in a 1700sf 2-storey house. Water heater is separate. I am in Westchester county, New York. I recently received a quote of $8000 to install a Weil-McLain gold boiler and remove the old monstrosity. (I have more estimates on the way, but not in yet.)
Anyway, is this a reasonable price for the job?
TIA
I'm not a plumber, but an electrician in Westchester county, NY. Each year I wire a number of boilers for plumbing companies and the prices can vary considerably. The price you quote sounds high, unless a lot of piping is being replaced as well. One thought would be to get a price from your oil company, if its Burke or Robison, or another large company as they often will make their customers a pretty good deal on replacements
My oil company is coming to give me an estimate tomorrow, so we'll see what they say. Only the piping in the immediate vicinity of the current boiler will be replaced - up to a height of 8 feet maybe - from there on all the existing piping will be used. The quoted price includes the electrician to wire the new boiler, btw.
For that price it damn well better!!!
I paid $800.00 for labor to replace a steam boiler battery (a battery is the "block"). Do do it, they had to remove all the systems such as fuel lines, ignition, refill system, etc., cut the (copper) piping, and reattach it with sleeves. It took two guys around half a day.
My quote to replace everything was $3,500 which included an entire new system and labor. Turns out the battery was in its 9th year on a 10 year warranty.
$8000 sounds really high to me.
Why? Is your setup the same as the one the OP is asking about? We had a Weil McLain steam boiler installed three years ago and it was $36,000. Another bid was $38,500. Not knowing what is involved, the size of the boiler, how it is accessed, etc, it is impossible for any of us to quote prices.
This would be a 5-section Weil McLain Gold steam boiler (SGO-5?). Access should be easy - it is in a large room with 10 foot ceilings in a walkout basement (so no stairs to navigate with old or new boiler although you do have to walk down a slope to get to the back of the house). The radiator system would be left as is - so it basically is just replacing the boiler, wiring it in, and fitting it to the existing piping (the piping in the immediate vicinity of the old boiler would be scrapped and replaced with new piping up to a height of about 7 or 8 feet). It would include a new duct (or whatever the correct term is) to connect it to the chimney opening.
is it reasonable? These people don't discuss prices, but go here
The OP clearly stated the size of the house, system type and geographic location. This should be plenty of information to determine the size of the boiler for estimating purposes.
I just had a 4 section WM Gold boiler installed for around the same $3,500 in CT. There could be legitimate reasons for the $8K quote, but it does seem high and certainly warrants another quote or two for comparison.
Pete C.
He did state location, but you did not. I also live in CT. I'm in the NE corner, but prices of some jobs in the SW corner are 100% different. I agree that 8k sounds a bit high, but there are circumstances . . . . . . .
NW corner.
Pete C.
I guess I was really addressing the labor aspect of it, Edwin. My labor for basically the same job was $800. Cast iron pipes and the fact that it's hot water and not steam will increase it, but it's still useful information.
Any yes, for a residential two-pipe hot water heating system, $8,000 for a 2-story 1700 sq foot house sounds high to me.
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