Anybody ever replace a baseboard gas boiler furnace? Costs?

[MikeBear]

We might be switching houses, and the new (to us) house MAY need the gas boiler furnace replaced fairly soon. I have NO experience at all with gas boilers. I've never lived in a house that had anything other than the old gas forced-air through ductwork types.

What sort of cost might we be talking for this sort of boiler furnace to be replaced? I can't do this work myself, so it would have to be done by a regular furnace company.

I'm just curious about approximate costs? Do they also have to replace the baseboard radiators to match with a new furnace?

The house is a bi-level, and has about 1900 square feet heated total. The present boiler is like 35 years old, and fairly small compared to a forced air furnace. Pretty old for a furnace...

 

[steven Durham]

Hello Mike : Well as a retired heating contractor my specialty and favorite types of jobs was hydronic systems and I have done a lot of conversions that were homes with baseboard, in floor and even wall heat. My favorite systems are using American Polaris high efficiency water heaters. I your case you would have to run a dual pass heat exchanger and a pump to circulate the closed system water in the base boards and another pump to circulate the hot water from the main households water heater that runs @ 96% efficiency. A Polaris water heater with say a 50 gallon tank and a 100,000 burner would supply all your heat for winter time and all the hot water you could ever want.
Another type with about the same efficiency is a unit that I like made by Weil McClain called the Ultra Gas S3 boiler. I did a log cabin kit home and replaced a 30 year old Montgomery Wards boiler and that system worked great and used the existing systems old pumps. When you look at a system like the Polaris it will be working all year long and will give you a much shorter pay back of the money spent.
Always here to help in any way. Steve

 

[MikeBear]

So, what sort of costs are we talking about here? Obviously I know you can't be exact, but you probably have a better idea than I do. I had a gas forced-air furnace replaced in a manufactured home about 10 years ago, and that was around $1800.00 total. That included a new chimney pipe, since the old one launched like a rocket!. Of course, that was a furnace made for manufactured homes. Insurance paid all but my $500 deductible. (old one exploded from a gas pocket)!

I'm a person that likes the temp a little cold, and find anything over 75 degrees or so FREAKING HOT! lol.

Do you think I'll be able to acclimate to hot water heat?

 

[MikeBear]

Oh, there's a 7 year old separate gas water heater tank that was installed next to the boiler. I didn't look at it close, but I'd say it was about a 40 gallon. So the furnace itself wouldn't include house hot tap water.

At least I think the hot water tank is separate? I guess now I have to look at it much closer, to see if it's tied into the furnace boiler in some way.

 

[Brooklyn Bob]

I tore out my old boiler system and had it replaced with a two stage forced air unit, whole house humidifier, central air with all ductwork, I paid $10,000 two years ago. I liked the boiler heat but it sucked not having central air.

 

[steven Durham]

Well I would have to agree with Brooklyn Bob a home without some sort of AC would not be my choice for any long term ownership and running any type of ductwork in a finished house is not easy. I have done both old retrofit and new construction using the high velocity Unico systems that were shown on This Old House. I did a 4,000 Sq. foot house here in Portland that has 3 bathrooms two floors with a system in the attic and another system in the crawl space under the home been working now for 12 years and it is heated with a Polaris 50 gallon 100,000 gas water heater and a single pump controlled by a Taco controller.
And each system has a separate cooling system by Frigidaire my brand at the time . Was it cheap NO and this house has a lot of bells and whistles. The Unico system is perfect for retrofitting an existing home but costly to do just for AC and finding the right contractor is probably the biggest challenge. The new ductless systems are here but I don't thing the most of the installers we have today have enough knowledge to fix they if they fail and I include myself in that group. I am way to old school for todays business world and it shows up at the end of every month living on a fixed income of a small pension and social security than heaven I am a veteran for my health care.
What ever you do go slow and check out all contractors nothing worse than getting a contractor that doesn't like to give more than they take from the job. Still here to help. Steve

 

[manchester1]

I had that done 20 years ago in my other house. Base board head. Furnace, new chimney liner and permits cost me 3,000.00.

 

[MikeBear]

I had that done 20 years ago in my other house. Base board head. Furnace, new chimney liner and permits cost me 3,000.00.

That's not a bad price at all, for all that being done. I gives me some hope the price won't kill me. Thanks!

I find it amazing that Steve says they are heating houses with nothing but a jacked-up HOT WATER HEATER!

 

[steven Durham]

Mike the Polaris can deliver hot water at temperatures up to 180 degrees and the water out to the house is mixed with cold water to bring the supply down to a normal 130 degrees for household use. My son Michael has a 30 gallon Polaris with a 100,000 BTU burner and it heats his 1700 square foot 21/2 bath home and you can take as long of a shower as you want and never run out of water anywhere. That system went in to replace an old oil furnace back in 1999 and has only 2 hot surface igniters that failed and no other problems. You baseboard system as it is might be better off if you just go with a boiler like the 95% efficient Weil McClain and it is vented with 2 inch PVC. With the length of Michigan's heating
season the choice you make now will decide your long term savings VS cost.
Steve