I see nothing for labor...has the job been performed yet?...if not and obviously you think the prices quoted are high, then get another quote...

IMO

I change kitchen sinks for more than that.

It’s a Sunday. Before Christmas. Duh.

good point...regular hours weekday or weekend/holiday!???

looks like your repairman will have a Merry Christmas!...

The prices were not broken down any further than what I listed. The work is scheduled to be done during the week, so no special hours should apply.

Yes it does seem a bit high. About $141 in parts and materials and $2000 in labor. Plumbers make a good living.

Did the service guy explain why the pressure relief valve is leaking? From the parts lists it appears the expansion tank is not working properly.

As suggested previously get another quote if the you feel the price is too high. Sometimes pressure relief valves start leaking because they are old, but more likely pressure is building up and you have to make the proper repair. You are better off paying someone who knows how to fix boilers properly. If the repair is done properly you should never have to worry about this again.

The technician/plumber working on your boiler doesn't know what's wrong with it so he's going to change all the parts related to pressure maintenance. Let me guess: you had water coming from your relief valve, right? That means you may need to replace either the pressure reducing valve, the expansion tank, or the relief valve, but certainly not all three. I recommend you call someone who actually knows how boiler devices work and how to test for proper function rather than a professional parts changer.

I'm not a contractor but I was one. Now I do consulting work for heating systems

www.72fLLC.com

What make, model, and size boiler is it? Do you have anti-freeze in your system? Is it in a tight space or easily accessible with room around it to work? Are there isolation valves on the boiler supply and return lines and the pressure tank? How old is the boiler and do the fittings around the relief valve look corroded?

Good point about replacing three parts when replacing only one may be all that is needed. Either the tech doesn't know how or want to do the diagnosis, just looking to, take advantage of the situation.

I could understand wanting to change the two other parts since they are not expensive, but it seems like you are getting no break on the labor charge.

I hope there is a warranty on this work.

Thanks for all the comments. I am getting another quote today from a friend of a friend so hopefully that will help gain confidence behind the estimate either way.

This is boiler is about 13 years old and has no visible signs of corrosion. I don’t know if there is antifreeze in it or not. As far as the other questions about isolation lines and what not, I have no idea.

i think the guy wanted to replace it all because the age of the boiler or perhaps he is just replacing whatever might be bad as some people stated.

Will post again after I get the next quote today. It was hard to even find somebody willing to take a look at it in my area. Not a lot of boilers, this was installed by the houses original owner for the addition they put on. The rest of the house is forced air for heat and AC. The room also has a wall unit air conditioner. I am debating just replacing that with a AC / Heater unit combined and ditching the boiler. Just not sure what that will do to my electric bills. Right now gas bills with both types of heaters are actually pretty good.

It is not unusual for a properly maintained boiler to last 30-40 years. The idea a boiler needs parts to be replaced because it is 13 years old in nonsense in my opinion.

Does the boiler have a sticker on it of the original installer?

I am not a boiler expert, but I would bet the expansion tank has failed. Let's see what the next quote says.

So...new guy came out today. Changing valve and tank for just over $260. I will never, ever call that other place again and will put a nice, fact based review on Angie’s List.

I'll drill a faucet hole for $200.00, but only if you schedule it on my way to another job. No special trip for you at that rate.

Tank, $35 + Valve $35 = $70. He was here under an hour and got $130 for his time. Is that too low?

Yes. He’s not covering his overhead at that price. Someone not making money on a job ain’t smart enough to stay in business long. That may or may not translate into his abilities. Some guys are born employees, because they just can’t quite figure out business. Or they need the smart diagnostic guy to tell them what to do and they are just parts changers. So they just change parts.

Is this a friend of a friend doing a side job? Is he semi-retired and does this to keep busy? Is he a one man operation that doesn't know how much to charge in order to stay in business long term?

Probably prefers to not jack up the price on small jobs so when a big job is needed later, he will get the call instead of the other guy. Overcharging and overpaying on a small job isnt wise IMO.

Joe you are kind of specialized in what you do, and its expensive if you mess up. There are various choices out there in plumbers, and if they install something wrong it is easily fixable, granted unless something caused catastrophic water damage, but I digress. Liability coverage and/or negligence lawsuits would be the next step in something major happening over a small job badly botched.

This repair would fall under a 1 to 2 hour call. Most pros will charge a minimum service fee for small jobs. If a drive is required, possible trip charge. Shouldn't be thousands for this.

Yesterday I got a call while I was at another job. The customer wanted a hole drilled in granite for an Insta-hot. He said he was 10 minutes off I-75 on my way back. I told him my minimum is $300.00, but I'd make an exception and drill it for $200.00. He was more than 10 minutes off I-75, but between the drive and the drilling, I doubt I had more than an hour into the job. He was pleased and grateful.

So, the fun keeps going on this. When the guy was in my house, he did state that it was not urgent to fix my issue immediately - I had a "couple weeks until it would be a huge problem" - his words. I had the water draining to the sump pump and it was only a drip. However, he did a very "hard sell" to get me to sign up for the work. He said scheduling somebody else would be hard and it would need another initial visit if I didn't schedule that day and I might run out of time. I asked if I could cancel if I changed my mind and he said "yes" and I could use that time for other estimates if I wanted to and just cancel and get my deposit (1/2 the job price - $1000) back. We signed the form and sent him on his way. The form has nothing on it about cancellation or refund policies.

I called and cancelled this return visit on Thursday - three business days after his visit. (remember this was on Christmas eve) and confirmed I would receive my full down payment back, minus the $85 trip/diagnostic charge. They called me yesterday (Friday) and said I could only have half my deposit back because I need to cancel within three days. The "salesman" said nothing about this in our discussion and neither does our paperwork. Needless to say, they got a bit of an earful from me and the customer service rep said she would go back and discuss with management and get back to me. As a side note, I am still confirming if it applies to this type of work, but there are specific rules about cancelling contracts in Illinois for estimates given by a salesperson in a home. One is that it is always "3 business days to cancel any contract" and the other is that they need to leave me with a copy of paperwork for a cancellation policy. This policy is at http://www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov/consumers/threedaycancel.html

I will say that my history with company until the last two years had been good. My father always used them and recommended them to me. I used them for years for the basics - annual furnace and A/C checks and they have come out and worked on the boiler and heater a couple other times with basic fixes with reasonable prices.

They became bad when I needed a hot water tank replaced. They charged me $1700 and I thought it was a bit high, but I trusted them and didn't want to get other quotes while my family didn't have hot water. After the fact, I checked around and found that I paid more than I should have - I talked to others in the neighborhood who had the same job done (our houses are all similar 60's quad levels built by a single builder who did the subdivision). I shook that one off and now I get this issue. My dad used to say "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me". They will not fool me twice. This company has simply grown very large in the area over the years. I feel they are losing sight of what helped them grow. They lost me as a customer.

On the $200 to drill the hole, I get that. You have a specialty saw, you are taking accountability for the granite chipping or cracking, and you probably know if you need to add any extra support prior to drilling to avoid such issues. To make it worth your time to drive out, do the drilling, wear and tear on your tools, etc, $200 or $300 could make sense. I would be fine if they said $500 or $600 to do the basic pluming work for an hour or hour and a half and I get the work guarantee and continue to do business with a company over the years. $2000 is just taking advantage of somebody who thinks they have an emergency problem on their hands. I found a lot of reviews of this same company online just like mine. Some even called out the same first name of the person who came to my house of this situation. Can't be sure it is the same guy, but this is looking fishy. They only have a B rating on Angie's list with over 1600 reviews. I had never even checked until now, again, because of the decent history with myself and my father. All the more reason to be done with them.

You should have 3 business days to cancel. Christmas day is a federal holiday, so it should not be counted as one of the days. Therefore in my opinion if you made a contract on December 24 you can cancel by December 28.

What is really sad is that you are a repeat customer and they are treating you this way. I hope you get your refund.

Thanks...the other guy who came out has a business, he was referred to me by somebody I used for remodeling jobs in the past. Smaller, family owned business. He even gave me $25 off the bill in honor of the other company's coupon that is a magnet on my unit for every service call. They other company didn't even take off the $25, I just realized, looking at my bill.

Stop payment on the check, if it isn't too late, or challenge the charge on your credit card. Try to contact the owner of the company to get the issue resolved.

It's important to keep in mind that a failed expansion tank always causes the relief valve to blow out some water. Your problem wasn't a tough one to diagnose. It's exactly how it was designed to work. If you didn't have anti-freeze in the system and there was a drain near the boiler, and you didn't have dozens of old radiators to bleed air from, then this would have been a do-it-yourself level job (quick and easy). Easy to drain the system and nothing special involved in re-filling it. Replacing the pressure relief valve when the pressure tank is replaced is pretty standard practice.

The expected life of the boiler depends on what type it is. Modern "smart" boilers are more efficient but much more complex than old cast iron boilers. Their gas valves modulate the flame size based on heat needs and wear out with use. They're often unique to a particular boiler, and can be costly to replace (or unavailable) when they fail. Condensing boilers generally have much smaller water passages that clog more easily. 15 years is a typical lifetime for a high efficiency boiler but if you have hard water and don't treat it the boiler can fail much earlier.

Cast iron boilers generally use simple on or off gas valves that are less likely to fail and are usually cheap and available if ever needed. The passages are larger and less likely to clog (and require less pump electricity to run water through). But they're bigger, taking up more floor space, and are less efficient under most circumstances. There are many cast iron boilers still in service after 50 years, but 25 to 40 years is more common.

You can save 10% on your fuel bill each year with a mod/con boiler, but you'll typically have to buy and install it twice over the period when you'd only need one conventional boiler.

It was a credit card payment so can't cancel a check. Customer service said they put the situation "into review by their executives". I should hear something Tuesday or Wednesday. I called today and told them to look up the law in Illinois and explained exactly how they did not follow it, and to make sure those notes go to the "executives". Worst case I will contest the charges on my credit card, which should be pretty simple as I did not accept services, returned the parts they dropped off, and am willing to pay the $85 initial fee for the guy to come out.

The upside of all of this is I found a great new HVAC company going forward.

Finding someone you can trust is worth some trouble!