2023 Boiler Cost Calculator – Estimate Boiler Installation Cost

Boiler Cost Calculator instantly estimates the cost to install a new Condensing, Hydronic (Forced Hot Water) and Steam boiler, fired by Natural Gas, Heating Oil or Propane (LP Gas), based on your house size, location, and heat load in BTUs.

Calculate Gas/Oil/Propane Boiler Cost & Size in Ohio

* Climate Region / Zone: Your estimated location is Ohio - Climate Region #3

Your location on the climate zone determines the heat load needed for your boiler.

Some states have multiple climate zones/regions. Please adjust your climate region as needed - see map below:

Along with the cost of a new boiler, you can also estimate the cost of installing new radiators (baseboards, wall-mounted & steam cast iron radiators) as well as the cost of hydronic heated floors.

Finally you can estimate the cost of connected Tankless (on-demand) or Indirect Domestic Hot Water heater, all necessary piping and zoning.

How To Use Boiler Installation Cost Calculator

As mentioned above, this calculator can estimate the cost and size of virtually any type of residential & small-to-medium size commercial boiler (up-to 400,000 BTUs DOE capacity).

With that come certain limitations of different boiler technologies, efficiencies, fuel type, as well as connected radiator types and Domestic Water Heating options.

For example, most oil steam boilers cannot do tankless or indirect water heating, and most gas-fired conventional (non-condensing boilers) are not equipped with tankless water heating coils, but can support indirect hot water storage tank, and Condensing boilers can support both indirect and tankless/on-demand water heater.

Our calculator is designed in a way that if there is an incompatibility, it will switch one of the related settings to the appropriate option.

For example, if you select a Condensing boiler, and New Radiators to Steam, the boiler type will change to STEAM, as Condensing boilers cannot do steam heating.

Another built-in technology utilized by this calculator is the ability to determine your approximate geographic location, which is used to select an appropriate Climate Zone/Region.

This determines how much additional heating capacity a boiler would require to provide adequate comfort for your home. See related notes and Climate Zone/Region Map above.

Estimate Boiler Cost And Size Step-By-Step

• Step 1: Enter your house size in square feet (heated area only). This in conjunction with your climate zone (step 8) and your house insulation levels will determine your HEAT LOAD, or how much heat your boiler need to produce on the coldest day (excluding any efficiency losses).
• Step 2: Select your boiler type.

  If you currently have a steam boiler, select STEAM, unless you want to change to a forced hot water boiler instead (which you can select in Steps 5 & 6).

  Otherwise select Forced Hot Water (conventional) or Condensing boiler. This will also determine your boiler’s efficiency.

  NOTE: If you want hydronic heated floors, you need to select a Condensing boiler.

• Step 3: Select Desired Boiler AFUE Efficiency Rating. AFUE efficiency is the amount of usable heat that boiler can extract from burning a particular fuel.

  A 95% boiler has only 5% of energy wasted as flue gas. The rest of the energy is captured and converted to usable heat. Keep in mind that there are other small energy losses in the radiator pipes (about 3-5%).

  95% efficiency is only available in condensing boilers that have double heat exchangers. Conventional, steam and oil boilers all have efficiencies that range from 82-87%.

  Our calculator automatically adjusts boiler efficiency and calculates radiator pipe loses, depending on boiler and fuel type.

• Step 4: Select your heating fuel type. GAS refers to both Natural Gas and Propane. If you select a Condensing Boiler in step 2, Fuel type will automatically change to GAS, as oil-fired condensing are not available for typical residential installations.
• Step 5: Select your Project Type. If you select “Replace”, the calculator will add a small charge for removing and disposing of old boiler. Selecting “Install New Boiler + Radiators” will show additional option of installing new radiators in your home (see Step 6), and based on radiator type, calculate total cost of your project.
• Step 6 (optional): New Radiators – this option is only available when you select “Install New Boiler + Radiators” in step 5. Select the type of radiators that you want to install. Options are Baseboards (most common), Wall-Mounted Radiators, Steam (cast iron) radiators, and Hydronic Heated Floors.

  Selecting Steam Radiators will automatically change the boiler type to STEAM, and Efficiency to 82-86%.

  Selecting Hydronic Heated Floors will automatically change the boiler type to CONDENSING, and Efficiency to 95%.

• Step 7: Domestic Hot Water (DHW) production. If you want your boiler to also make domestic (potable) hot water, your options are Tankless (on-demand) hot water coil, and Indirect Hot Water Storage Tank in 45, 60 and 80 gallons capacity.

  Both types of DHW use boiler (and not a separate hot water heater) to produce hot water for your sinks and bath/shower.

  All forced hot water boilers (condensing and conventional) can work with Indirect Hot Water tanks, while Steam boilers CANNOT make hot water (in most cases).

  All** condensing boilers (know as Combi Boilers) can make On Demand and Indirect Hot Water.

  Conventional GAS boilers usually do not come with Tankless Coil option, while most conventional OIL boilers can be equipped with a Tankless Coil.

  This calculator will automatically adjust boiler type and fuel based on the Hot Water option that you select, within compatibility range.

• Step 8: Climate Zone/Region is used to adjust your home’s heat load based on your local climate Average Winter Temperature and Heating Degree Days.

  As mentioned above, this calculator can automatically detect your approximate geographic location, accurate enough to match your location the the appropriate climate region in the US.

  However there are many states in the US, which have multiple climate zones within them (such as CA, CO, TX, NM, AZ, OR, WA, UT, etc).

  Therefore it is important that you use climate region map to select you exact climate zone. Otherwise your heat load may be calculated inaccurately, and can vary by as much as 10-15%.

• Step 9 (extra option): Select the ceiling height in your house. This option will determine total cubic feet of heated space and affect your home’s total heat load.
• Step 10 (extra option): Select your home’s insulation grade. This option will affect your home’s heat loss total heat load.
• Step 11 (extra option): Select your home’s windows insulation grade. This option will affect your home’s heat loss total heat load.
• Step 12 (extra option): Select number of windows in your. This option will affect your home’s heat loss total heat load.

** All condensing boilers used by our calculator. There are however condensing boiler models on the market, which can only be used for heating (do not have a hot DHW loop inside). There are also models that look like Combi Boilers, but are strictly Tankless Water Heaters.

How Much Does A Boiler Cost?

While most new gas boiler heating systems cost $4,000 – $7,000 to install, details matter, and can dramatically affect your total cost.

Most modern gas Forced Hot Water Boilers come in two varieties – Standard (conventional) and Condensing, and are easily distinguished by their AFUE efficiency ratings.

Most standard / conventional boilers 84-86% efficient.

Most condensing boilers are 95% efficient (meaning only 5% of your heat input goes “out the chimney”).

PRO TIP: While condensing boilers are much more efficient, they are also more expensive, require expensive annual or bi-annual maintenance and have a typical lifespan of about 15 years (when properly maintained).

A typical gasket kit for a condensing boiler, which needs to be replaced at every maintenance event, costs about $100-150, on top of service call labor cost. Thus it’s not unusual to get a $300-350 bill for a service call on a condensing boiler.

Conventional boilers can easily go several years without maintenance, can last up-to 25 years, and typically do not require any expensive parts to be replaced.

Thus your lifetime cost of each type of a boiler is about the same, considering energy savings of 95% vs 84% efficient boilers, and cost and regular preventative maintenance.

All the additional options such as domestic water heating capabilities, new radiators, and multiple zoning options will be discussed at the end of this guide.

Condensing Gas Boiler Cost

If your boiler install is a simple drop-in replacement, you can expect to pay about $5,420 – $7,350 for a new condensing boiler (up-to 100,000 BUTs) installed.

Sometimes a condensing boiler manufacturer (such as NAVIEN) also require a use of special high-temp PVC exhaust pipes, which can add about $300 to the bill.

Most condensing boilers (known as Combi Boilers) are equipped with tankless/on-demand Domestic Hot Water production system. Hooking up a tankless / on-demand hot water production will add another $800-1,000.

Cost Of A Conventional Gas Boiler

For a simple drop-in replacement, you can expect to pay about $4,460 – $5,720 for a new forced hot water boiler (up-to 100,000 BUTs). Most conventional gas boilers CANNOT be equipped with tankless hot water coil, but can work with an Indirect Hot Water Tank (more details on these below).

Steam Boiler Cost

For a simple drop-in replacement, you can expect to pay about $5,650 – $6,320 for a new Gas Steam boiler (up-to 100,000 BUTs).

NOTE: When replacing a steam boiler, we highly recommend ONLY hiring boiler installers that specialize in STEAM boilers. These boilers can be dangerous if installed incorrectly!

Cost To Install An Oil-fired Boiler

Oil boilers are usually about $300 – $500 more expensive to install/replace, due to the extra cost of an Oil Burner), compared to their natural gas counterparts.

Also, in most cases, you cannot get an OIL-FIRED Condensing boiler. They simply do not exists (with rare exceptions, when it comes to large capacity boilers, designed for commercial application.

Thus, a forced hot water oil boiler would cost $4,780 – $6,120 to install/replace.

A new a steam oil boiler would cost $5,950 – $6,720 to install/replace. However, when you get into premium / designer brands like Viessmann / Bosch (both made in Germany), your cost will likely be closer to $10,000 – $12,000 range.

Propane (LP gas) Fired Boiler Cost

Essentially LP/propane gas and natural gas boiler operation is identical, and the only difference is GAS supply pressure, coming into the gas valve on the boiler.

Sometimes these will have a different valve. A typical cost difference between Propane and Natural Gas boilers is no more than $100-200 (LP/Propane boilers being more expensive).

Boiler Cost Based On Type And Fuel

We will use FHW abbreviation for “Forced Hot Water” which generally refers to a conventional boiler type. Keep in mind though, that Condensing boilers also use forced hot water as a heating medium, albeit at a lower water temperature.