Help! I’m freaking out! I’m on the board of a 10 unit rowhouse co-op and my super/co-board member just informed me that our boiler is shot and we need a new one. This information was given to her by our boiler maintenance company. The super is perfectly happy to hand over money to this company and do whatever they tell us to do, but i think for something that’s such a large investment, we should get multiple bids or at least an engineer’s report. I’ve been reading about NYSERTA and incentives for going green. My head is spinning! What do i do first? Thanks!


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  1. Yes, relax, it’s not a big deal at all. Our 4-unit co-op did this a couple years ago and it was really quite painless. Definitely get a few quotes, certainly one from your existing servicing company as well as a couple others. We talked to Gateway (“Master Plvmber” from above), Vigilante (mentioned a lot in these forums), and another plumber recommended by a neighbor. The written quotes you get will likely have different levels of detail, so once you have them all, use the most detailed quote to go back to the other companies and confirm that everyone’s providing the same thing and see if they need to adjust any of the numbers.

    Price matters, of course, but in the end unless there’s a huge discrepancy I’d recommend going with the people you felt most comfortable talking too, who explained things best, were most responsive to your questions, etc. Once you hire someone, the replacement and installation itself (from what I remember) is a day, maybe two, of work.

  2. The first thing to do is to calm down, be glad this happened after the coldest weather. Boiler replacements are very common and can be done quite easily by experienced companies of which there are many. In fact there are three individuals right here on this site that can be contacted, BrooklynPlumber, MasterPlvmber and myself would all be more than happy to provide you with estimates based upon your current heating system and your desire (and budget) for implementing upgrades. Please feel free to call any or all of us in the morning. You can find my information by clicking on my name above and going to our website. We have a contact page with our phone number. We would also be happy to assist you in finding out any alternatives (solar) and NYSERDA incentives.

    Don’t sweat it, you’ll be ok.

    -SteamMan