Oil to Gas Conversation Help (East Meadow) (how much, new home)

[tito210]

We're in the process of closing on a home in East Meadow, LI. The home has oil heating/attached water heater.

We would like to convert to gas (install New Gas Boiler and Water Tank). Nation Grid already confirmed that they will bring the gas line to the home for free.

Anyone here can share there experiences with the oil to gas conversation? How much it cost? Any recommended installers?

Thanks in advance for your kind help.

[michelleinli]

We are also in the process to arrange gas conversion and at the stage of finding a contractor for it. What we know now is:

1. National Grid asked whether we have a qualified plumber for the gas conversion already. If not, National Grid first gave us one referral. We asked for more so we can do comps around the same time but were told we have to get the estimate from the first referral then ask for additional referral.

2. From the contractors we contacted so far, it may take 6~8 weeks for the gas conversion. Some good part of that is about applying for permit to get the gas line from the street to the house.

3. Some contractors can take care of all paper work and some don't. For those who don't, you'd need to do the paper work yourself.

We don't get any estimate about the cost for our conversion yet. From what we learned, it may cost about $8K~$9K. I guess it may also vary depending on the size of heating areas and the equipment. You may try to search old threads about gas conversion on this forum to get some referrals and information. (To search the forum, there is a "Search this forum" option around the top right corner and under the "Last >>" link in the pagination area).

Good Luck.

[daihung]

I just finished my oil to gas conversation this past Sunday. It took a total of 3 full days plus a couple of hours on the 4th day. The total cost for me was $4500. For obvious reasons, I didn't get a permit for the conversion. The house already has gas for cooking and hot water. Heating was on oil. My contractor is a licensed ConEdison contractor for NYC but he was willing to do LI.

The first day he took out the old boiler and put in the new one without all the cover and electrical. Second day he worked on the piping to the new boiler and finished putting the boiler cover on. He also had the scrap metal guys come and took out the oil tank in the basement. Third day he did the gas pipe lines. The forth day he finished all the electrical on the boiler.

We had a tank less hot water heater already so no work needs to be done on that. We have steam heat so the highest efficiency boiler we can get was a Weil-McLain 82.9% high efficiency boiler. There is a rebate for LI if you use high efficiency boiler conversion for like $400 or so, not a lot.

I'm still cleaning up my basement. It was a mess. Make sure you cover your floor with tarp or paper to avoid the mess. I didn't put the paper on the first day and the dirty from the old boiler was just too much.
[SIZE=3] [/SIZE]

[tito210]

When you mentioned the total cost, was that including the boiler?

[michelleinli]

Originally Posted by tito210

When you mentioned the total cost, was that including the boiler?

I guess so. If the house has gas line already, it's much easier. If a gas line is needed from the street to the house, National Grid offers the first 75-ft free (as what we understand at this time).

[Elke Mariotti]

Originally Posted by michelleinli

I guess so. If the house has gas line already, it's much easier. If a gas line is needed from the street to the house, National Grid offers the first 75-ft free (as what we understand at this time).

That's 100 ft!

[Ren34]

Anyone know how late in the season companies will do these conversions? We are hopefully closing on our new place in less then a month. I am a little worried about running into the beginning of the heating season while all the rebate/permit stuff is being done.

[Elke Mariotti]

Originally Posted by Ren34

Anyone know how late in the season companies will do these conversions? We are hopefully closing on our new place in less then a month. I am a little worried about running into the beginning of the heating season while all the rebate/permit stuff is being done.

They do them year-round

[tito210]

Nation Grid confirm that they can bring the gas service to our new home for FREE.

Elke Mariotti -- How much would a conversation cost with a water tank? Can you recommend someone?

[chetstash]

To give you an idea, I converted last year. It cost me $4700 after National Grid Rebate which was $400. The $4700 included all the plumbing work, a Burnham ES2-4 boiler and the stainless steel chimney liner . It also included removal of the old oil boiler and the 275 gallon oil tank from the basement. My price did not include the water heater (but did include the install) since I already had an indirect with the oil system. The water heater should cost you no more than $1500 if you go the indirect route. Depending on the size of your boiler, I would shoot for under $6500.

One last thing, do a heat loss calculation before you start getting bids. Disregard the plumbers who try to sell you oversized boilers or tell you to match the size of your old oil boiler. They are either lazy or are trying to sell you more than you need.