Ugh, Budget Buster - new boiler?

[Colleen27]

We bought a home over the summer that has hot water heat. This is something I've never encountered before, so frankly I don't know much about it, but we had the boiler inspected and repaired at the beginning of the heating season and expected (per the repairman) that we could get a couple-few seasons out of it even though it is quite old. Well, it quit working this week, so we're thinking it makes more sense to replace than to deal with additional repairs just to keep it on its last legs. We have an appointment to have someone out tomorrow to start getting estimates, but I'm not sure what a good price is for an efficient gas-fired boiler.

Does anyone have any experience with repairing or replacing a natural gas boiler? What should I be watching for? Any brands to prefer or avoid? And what sort of price range are we likely to be looking at?

[3boymthr]

Prices vary by region and the extent of the new plumbing they have to install as well as do they have to put in a new fuel line, do they redo your zones, re-do your baseboard/radiators/registers but in the northeast around $7,000 for a minimal intall without a water heater.