I am interested in buying a home that uses radiator heating. Besides being an eyesoar, the radiators are place in akward spots in each room. Approximately how much would it cost to remove the radiators and replace with baseboard heating or central air/heating? Also, how long would something like this take?

After draining the system which could take between 1 and 4 hours, depending upon the amount of water in the system, the installer can then remove each radiator in about an hour a piece. Then the baseboard has to be transported to your house and installed in place for about 2 hours apiece. Then the system is checked in about 4 hours. Given a 40 hour week at $65 and hour for the plumber and $35 an hour for the helper, you are looking at $4000 in labor and $1000 in parts for about $5000.

Now that depends upon whether you want cast iron baseboard or finned tube baseboard and how much of it you need and how many radiators. Oh, was that in Canadian or US dollars?

Hydronic Network

Thanks for your response. What is the difference between iron baseboard and finned tube baseboard? Which one is better? I am replacing approximately 6-8 radiators. I am using US dollars. Are these New York prices or should I consider the cost higher because of my location?

The difference between cast-iron baseboard, which is a slab of iron that you can run a vacuum into without denting - and fin-tube baseboard which has a sheetmetal cover and lightweight tubing inside - is about 20 pounds a foot of length and eight times the cost for cast iron. Cast-iron baseboard will heat more like the radiators you have now.

Always consider that you will pay much more in NY.

Hydronic Network