Another "Is this reasonable" Quote thread!

[jadnashua]

A friend at work has an oil boiler and natural gas is available at the road. The cost to the utility company to get it to the house and meter is around $600, which seems reasonable. The gas company also will sell you a Burnham boiler at a good price in lieu of installing something else and then filing for a rebate. He lives in MA not all that far from NH. He also wanted to run the gas to the kitchen so he could switch to a gas stove. The location of the boiler is right under where the gas service would come in and the stove would be only about 10' away. The basement is unfinished and the joists are open. Not including removal of the old oil boiler or the oil storage tank, they were asking forr $6-7K for installation. Since the expensive items would be purchased already, and it is mostly connect the new to the old this seems excessive for the pipes, valves, and hookup to the old hot water heating system.

Maybe it's the area, but for maybe $1000 in parts and a couple of days for a team of (probably) two, I think that's high...Thoughts?

[BigLou]

Install something else and file for the rebate its way cheaper in the long run.

I think there is a code that says the boiler must be so many feet away from the service entrance but I could be all wrong about that. I know when I switched from oil to gas I spent about $1500 in parts and had I gone with a lower efficiency direct vent gas boiler it would have been over $2k and thats not including the boiler.

I don't know the specifics of the job but I would say that $6-7K for a new gas boiler installed is about right. i would however try to convince your friend to go with a condensing boiler for the little bit of extra up front cost

Lou

[Plumber Jim]

Tell your friend to get a few more bids. then he can see how they stack up.

[master plumber mark]

Maybe it's the area, but for maybe $1000 in parts and a couple of days for a team of (probably) two, I think that's high...Thoughts?

A couple of days work for 2 guys and 1000k is enough.. no way that is going to happen....

Unless you are going to hire someone that has a sign out by the road that says "will work for food"




factor in insurance, liability ect ........


2500 maybe

[jadnashua]

I did say about $1000 in parts, plus labor, probably another couple thousand for a total of $3000 considering the expensive parts (the boiler) was to be supplied separately. $1k wouldn't cover parts, let alone labor. Maybe more in parts if they replaced the circulator that already exist.

[GrumpyPlumber]

circulators, brass swing-checks, copper piping/fittings, SS exaust venting (required for Burnham SCG & rediculously expensive...3" elbow runs about $50-$60 if I recall correct), 4" intake, relay/wiring, ball valves, draw-offs for each zone w/tee's to connect them, Watts auto feed & backflow preventer, 1-1/4" steel piping off the boiler, , Electrician for wiring boiler & CO detector (required by MA code)....
These are just the tip of the iceberg

$1K couldn't buy that, not close, and that list is far from complete.

Switching boiler types takes more time than a simple swap out on the same type....there's alot of repiping & drilling through the exterior foundation for the exaust/intake lines.