Replacing an old boiler

[Areia]

We need to replace our boiler and I have absolutely no idea where to start.  I'm going to start googling after I leave this message and call Sears and Hope Depot tomorrow, but I was wondering if anyone had any advice.

We've had the  house for a few years and this is first problem we've had.  It is a 40 gallon gas heater that was installed in 1996.  Do I need to replace it with another 40 gallon or can we get a larger one?  Anything specific I should ask?  Thanks!

[34me]

I would call several local plumbers as well. I live in an area that doesn't have a lot of boilers and Sears was about 4x as much as anyone else. We ultimately went with a local company. As for size, I'm not sure what to tell you. Growing up we showered with our boiler water but now halfway across the country we have a boiler for heat and a hot water heater for hot water.

[SleeplessMommy]

your boiler "just" a hot water heater, or hot water + household heating?

are you replacing because it stopped working or some other reason?

I would strongly suggest you get quotes from 3 local HVAC companies. (not sears!)

You can get  probably solar hot water for about $7500 ($10,000 less incentives) - something to consider.

Here is a useful link:

http://www.dsireusa.org/

[JesKace]

I'm a little unsure of what you're looking to replace.  Are you talking the boiler for the house heating system or just the hot water heater?  Or is it a boiler for your heating system that also supplies your hot water? 

I would say any boiler for a heating system should last longer than 15 years and may only need a minor repair if it's not working correctly.  If it's just a water heater that is a separate unit from the heating system I think most only have 5-10 year warranties on them and it may need replacing, but it is possible it may also just need a small repair also.  We had a water heater that had a bad thermocouple and it was a lot less to replace that than the whole tank!  I would definitely call a plumber to come out and look at it before you go out and replace the whole unit if you don't know what's wrong with it.  If you're talking just a hot water heater, than you can definitely go with a larger tank if you feel that the 40gal isn't enough for your house.  It just takes up a larger space and the larger the tank the more water your keeping hot and it will cost more to run (probably not a ton more though).

So it really depends on what you're looking at doing and what type of heating system you have.