← Boiler replacement bid calculator
Owners call at 9 p.m.: “Can you just replace the circulator for $280 and get us through the winter?” That sounds cheaper than a plant bid because the boiler invoice left the ticket. It did not leave the trip, the loaded wage, or the two more no-heat calls a leaking heat exchanger actually produces before April.
Open the free boiler replacement bid calculatorA circulator swap still carries travel, on-site hours, and parts. On a typical 80 MBH gas hot-water house — $48 wage, 32% burden, 15% overhead, 20% target margin, ten miles — the visit walk-away sits above $280. Taking the Facebook number to “just get them heat tonight” still loses money even when three winters of honest patches still undercut a like-for-like replacement.
| This visit | This winter | Replace the plant | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What they asked for | $280 circulator | “Get us through spring” | $4,500 special |
| What is actually on the ticket | Trip + parts + hours | This visit plus the callbacks | Plant, zones, extras |
| At the Facebook number | Usually loses | Not the $280 | Different question |
A leaking heat exchanger or a cracked section does not stay fixed after one gasket. Price the extra calls this winter and the winters they want the old plant. When those callbacks carry real parts, the season can pass the replacement bid while the $280 visit is still a loss. That is the conversation to have in the basement — not a promise that patching is always cheaper.
Open the boiler replacement bid calculator, enter the plant you are standing in, and put their patch number in “patch price they asked for.” The table scores that number against this visit, stacks this winter and the remaining seasons, and sets the total next to the plant bid. Nothing is uploaded.
This is the same arithmetic as how much to charge to replace a boiler. It is not a heat-loss calculation, a fuel-gas code determination, a chimney design, or a reason to refuse a customer — it is the walk-away number on the visit and the cash of one more winter.
Only after you price this visit and the extra no-heat calls the same plant will generate before spring. A $280 circulator special often sits under the walk-away on that visit even when three winters of patches still undercut a full replacement.
Usually not. Loaded labor, the trip, and a $210 circulator stay on the ticket after you drop the Facebook number. On a typical 10-mile gas hot-water house the visit walk-away is still above $280.
When a cracked section or a leaking heat exchanger comes back. Price this visit, the extra calls this winter, and the winters they want the old plant. A cheap circulator season can still undercut replacement; a section that needs $800 parts two more times this winter often does not.