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Boiler Installation & Replacement in Bellingham, MA

Gas and oil boiler installation for the hot-water and steam systems that heat this area's older homes. Replacement estimates are free.

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Hannon Heating & Air Conditioning installs and replaces gas and oil boilers in Bellingham, MA and the MetroWest towns around it — the hot-water and steam systems that heat most of the area's older homes. We supply the equipment, size it to the house, and pull the permits. Estimates on boiler replacements are free. We install boilers in Milford, Hopedale, and Medway as well as Bellingham.

Like-for-Like Cast Iron or a Condensing Boiler?

There are two honest paths. A cast iron boiler is simple, proven, and can run thirty years. A 90%-plus condensing boiler squeezes more heat from every unit of fuel, but it only earns that rating when the water returning to it is cool enough to condense — and that is the reality check for this area, because standard fin-tube baseboard was designed around 180-degree water, which keeps a condensing boiler out of condensing mode for much of the winter unless the controls are set up thoughtfully, with outdoor reset and longer runs at lower temperatures. Some houses have enough baseboard to make that work; others don't. We look at your actual radiation before recommending either path, and if the old boiler might have another act in it, our boiler repair page covers what's fixable.

PurePro Trio oil boiler with a Beckett burner and three purge stations, piped beside a Bradford White water heater

Sizing: The Old Boiler Is Not the Answer

Boiler sizing has one rule for hot water and a different one for steam. A hot-water boiler gets a heat-loss calculation of the house: windows, insulation, air leakage. A steam boiler is sized to the connected radiation, the total of the radiators it has to fill with steam, and square footage has nothing to do with it. Either way, we do not copy the old boiler's number. Boilers installed decades ago were routinely oversized, and most homes have gained insulation and new windows since, so matching the old label bakes the old mistake into the next thirty years of fuel bills.

Weighing a replacement? The estimate is free.

Call (508) 282-1000 or request an estimate online — you get a written number before any work starts, and nobody gets pressured into a new system.

Your Radiators and Baseboards Stay

A boiler replacement swaps the boiler; the baseboards, radiators, and piping that carry the heat stay right where they are, and steam stays steam while hot water stays hot water. Replacement day is also the cheap moment for the upgrades that are expensive later: purging and cleaning the zones, replacing tired zone valves and circulators, modernizing the controls, or planning for an indirect water heater that runs off the new boiler and typically recovers faster than a standalone unit. We already service indirect water heaters across the area, so we'll tell you honestly whether one fits your setup and what it would take.

What a Boiler Replacement Takes

Plan on one to two days. Draining the old system, hauling out the old boiler (cast iron comes out heavy), setting and piping the new one, then filling, purging, and combustion-testing takes most of that time. Your domestic hot water is only interrupted if the old boiler was making it through a tankless coil, and we tell you that up front. If you can pick the timing, pick the off-season: spring through early fall we schedule freely, while January replacements happen around no-heat emergencies. Estimates on replacements are free and in writing, with the permit handled by us. Get in touch to set one up.

1

Drain and remove

Drain the old system, haul out the old boiler — cast iron comes out heavy.

2

Set and pipe

The new boiler set and piped in.

3

Fill, purge, test

Fill and purge the system, then combustion-test.

Frequently Asked Questions

Should I replace like-for-like or step up to a condensing boiler?
It depends on your radiation, honestly. Condensing boilers only hit their 90%-plus ratings when return water is cool, and standard baseboard runs hot, so the paper efficiency gap shrinks in a lot of real houses. With generous baseboard or radiant floors, condensing wins clearly. We look at what your house has and quote both paths when it's genuinely close.
Do my radiators and baseboards stay when the boiler is replaced?
Yes. Only the boiler and its near-boiler piping change; the distribution system stays. While the system is drained and open is the inexpensive time to purge sludge from the loops, swap tired circulators or zone valves, and update the controls, so we check those parts as part of the estimate.
How is the right boiler size determined?
For hot-water boilers, with a heat-loss calculation of the house. For steam, by measuring the connected radiation, because a steam boiler has to match its radiators and square footage is irrelevant. The old boiler's rating is the one number we don't trust — decades-old installs were routinely oversized, and the house has probably tightened up since.
Should the new boiler heat my domestic hot water too?
Often, yes. An indirect water heater is a well-insulated tank heated by the boiler, and it usually recovers faster than a standalone unit while retiring the old tankless coil's lukewarm-shower problem. Boiler replacement is the cheap moment to consider one, since the piping is already open. Ask when we quote the boiler and we'll tell you straight whether it fits your setup.
My old house has a boiler — is it worth switching to a furnace instead?
Almost never. A furnace needs ductwork, and cutting supply and return ducts into a house built for radiators costs more than the furnace itself, eats closet space, and rarely heats as comfortably as the hot-water system already there. Boiler heat suits this housing stock; if you want cooling, that gets solved separately with a heat pump or ductless equipment.

Ready for a Straight Quote?

Estimates on system replacements are free — a load calculation, honest options, and a written number before any work starts.

(508) 282-1000 Request an Estimate

Mon-Fri 7am-5pm · Emergency Service Available