Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. We’re making the big dinner here for the first time in our life. I guess that’s a sign of getting older when you start having Thanksgiving dinner at your own house.
The last couple of weeks we’ve been focused on replacing our old boiler and hot water tanks. As you might remember we have two boilers and two hot water tanks given that this house used to be two apartments. Both boilers are 23 years old and both water tanks are rentals. Last year during the renovation we had some months of $750+ gas bills! This was a combination of open doors (given the renovation), non-insulated walls, inefficient boilers, two rental hot water tanks and two gas delivery charges (since we were getting two bills). Obviously this was a little bit maddening.
Another issue is the crazy plumbing that went along with two boilers and two hot water tanks. The basement was a maze of piping. In addition all of these units took up a huge footprint of the basement.
We received three quotes to do the work. We have not been looking forward to doing this as we knew that it was going to be expensive. As anyone who is renovating knows it absolutely sucks spending money on this type of thing that is virtually invisible.
The quotes varied in price significantly from one supplier to the next (from a high of $19,500!!! to a low of $12,800). In addition the preferred type of boiler, number of BTU’s, type of hot water system and many other items varied from one supplier to the next. Needless to say it was VERY confusing to know which route to go.
At the end of the day we went with Vetro Sheet Metal (call Domenic at 416-499-3458). They came recommended by my sister and a good friend. They also came in on the low end of the quotes.
We’ve gone with an NTI boiler at 200,000 BTU’s and an in-direct hot water system. A lot of the price is related to them combining all of the piping and freeing up a lot of room in the basement.
Here’s what it’s looking like now that they are just over halfway done:
The two old rental hot water tanks:
The two old boilers in our filthy basement:
We’ve gone with a high-efficiency boiler. Once this transition is done it will be time to bring back the ecoENERGY grant auditor and make our case for a rebate cheque for all of the energy savings we’ve created given the new boiler, insulation, low-flow toilets, etc…
5 responses so far ↓
1 Michelle // Oct 16, 2008 at 8:47 pm
Your timing could not be better with this update! We live in Leslieville and have almost the same situation as you do in terms of 2 boilers — ours are asbestos-covered though! We’ve had several quotes, some scary low and the latest one today for $17K (which we totally can’t afford)!!! I’ll be giving Dominic a call today! Thanks so very much for sharing your stories, and your resources, on the blog!
2 anke // Oct 16, 2008 at 10:46 pm
We’re glad that the information has been of use! We had asbestos on some of our pipes as well. We had it removed before we moved in. If you’re looking for someone to help here’s our post about it. We liked this guy and his price was right. He did a great job.
http://www.247reno.ca/2007/11/04/asbestos-removal-quote/
3 Flipperdelph // Oct 19, 2008 at 8:58 pm
Oh My God !! This is exactly what I was looking for ! We just bought an old Victorian house in Quebec, and are planning extensive renovations as you did. I think I will read every single article, it will be very useful !! I just started my blog too, but we haven’t started the renos yet, we are at the planning stage ! Any advise welcome…!
4 anke // Oct 20, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Exciting! Reno’s are a lengthy process but in the end run we absolutely love our space- it’s worth it! The more homework you do ahead of time the easier you’ll find things along the way. Sometimes you’re required to make decisions on the spot and it’s much more comforting when you know that you’ve already thought about it ie. where to put lighting, types of finishes etc etc. It’s all about the details! Have fun with it.
5 John Keating // Apr 29, 2010 at 2:02 pm
Hi, I just stumbled upon your very useful site. We wanted to replace our hot water tank and mid-efficiency boiler furnace with a tankless water heater and high efficiency boiler. But now we’re interested in the Phoenix Evolution combination boiler/water heater made by Heat Transfer Products. Is yours a combination boiler and are you happy with it? Does anyone reading this have experience with the Phoenix Revolution? Thanks! I love your site. John
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