Boiler repair and replacement in Arlington.
In Arlington, where the typical owner’s home dates to 1960, a boiler tune-up is $69 and a new boiler runs $9,900 to $16,500 installed.
Price range
$9,900-$16,500
8yrs @ 7.99%
$140/mo
15yrs @ 9.99%
$106/mo
Monthly figures on the starting price, the whole price financed, on approved credit. The lender sets the final terms. How financing works
Book your boiler visit
- Hot water boilers, gas and propane
- Navien, Weil-McLain and Force
- Heating and plumbing teams
Arlington’s boilers hide in old basements and shared building rooms.
About six in ten Arlington homeowners heat with gas, and the median owner-occupied home was built in 1960. In neighborhoods like Maywood, Lyon Park and Cherrydale, that means a boiler often sits in a basement that has outlived several heating systems, venting into a chimney older than the boiler itself. When one fails here, it’s rarely the first boiler in that spot, and the new one has to fit piping and a flue that have survived every swap before it.
We do more work through landlords and property managers in Arlington than in almost any other town, so condo buildings, tenant scheduling and access rules are routine for us there. Close to six in ten Arlington homes are rented, so check who owns the boiler before you book: in a rental house it’s usually the landlord’s, and in a condo building the boiler in the basement usually belongs to the association. The Arlington County Fire Department recommends a yearly inspection of furnaces, flues and chimneys by a trained professional, and on a boiler that’s the $69 tune-up: the combustion, the venting and the safeties that shut it down if the flue backs up.
Arlington County requires a plumbing and gas permit with inspections to replace anything fueled by gas, including a boiler. This applies even if you are swapping in the same type, size, and location. The County strongly suggests the contractor doing the work holds the permit. An owner can hold a residential permit for only one address in two years, which limits how a landlord can handle paperwork across multiple units. If a boiler fails and you need an emergency replacement, Virginia law allows the work to start before the paperwork is filed, as long as the permit application reaches the County by the end of the next working day.
About one in four owner homes in Arlington is a detached house, and more than half are condos and apartments, so the boilers we work on here are mostly in the older detached houses and rowhouses. About one in a hundred owner homes still heat with oil; we don’t work on oil boilers, and a switch to a gas boiler or a heat pump is ours to price.
Arlington houses, by the numbers
From the Census Bureau’s 2020 to 2024 survey, owner-occupied homes unless it says otherwise.
Arlington
- Median home built1960 Census
- Built before 1980about 5 in 10 Census
- Built since 2000about 3 in 10 Census
- Most homes arecondo and apartment buildings, about 6 in 10 Census
- Heated withgas, about 6 in 10 Census
- Rentedabout 6 in 10 Census
- Houses this age are where the boilers are: cast iron, often venting up a chimney shared with the water heater. When one gets replaced, the chimney may need a liner, and that goes in the written price.
- In condo buildings the boiler in the basement usually belongs to the association, not you. Check your documents; if your unit’s heat is yours, book it like any house.
What boiler repair and replacement cost in Arlington.
A new boiler runs $9,900 to $16,500 installed, the range of our own boiler replacements; a condensing or combi boiler lands at $12,782 to $16,500. A tune-up is $69 a system, regularly $99.
- High-efficiency condensing boiler or combi boiler, installed$12,782 to $16,50060mo @ 0% $213/mo
- Cast iron boiler on the chimney, replaced like for like, installed$9,900 to $13,69060mo @ 0% $165/mo
- Boiler tune-up, one system$69, regularly $99
- Boiler repair diagnostic visit$99
A repair starts with the $99 diagnostic. If the fix is a circulator pump, a valve or an expansion tank, you get that price in writing before we start, and you decide.
Want a closer number before anyone comes out? The boiler estimator asks a few questions about yours and shows the range for that job.
Monthly figures: 60mo @ 0% APR on each starting price, the whole price financed, on approved credit. Longer plans lower the payment and cost more in total. The lender sets the final terms. How financing works
What your boiler is telling you in Arlington.
The venting is older than the boiler
In Arlington’s older homes, the chimney or flue was there before the boiler was installed. A new boiler may vent differently than the old one, and the connection between the two can be a weak point. A tech who checks the venting with the burners lit can spot a blockage or a gap that a visual inspection misses.
What the county says about boilers in Arlington.
Arlington County
Arlington County wants a plumbing and gas permit, with inspections, to replace anything fueled by gas, a gas water heater included. Off gas, swapping in the same type, size and location needs no permit. Source.
Replacing a furnace or air conditioner with the same type, size and location needs no Arlington permit unless it burns gas, which takes a plumbing and gas permit. With no permit, Zoning still approves where any outdoor equipment goes. Source.
The same page names gas furnaces and water heaters among the appliances carbon monoxide can escape from, and asks for at least one CO alarm near where people sleep. Source.
The Arlington County Fire Department says to have a trained professional inspect, clean and tune up furnaces, flues and chimneys every year, and to fix any leaks. Source.
How to pick who works on your boiler in Arlington.
Questions to ask anybody who quotes you, us included.
Will they check the venting with the boiler running?
In a house where the chimney is decades older than the boiler, a flue that drafts fine cold can spill when the burner’s lit. Ask whether the tech checks the venting with the boiler firing, not just by looking.
Can they handle both halves of it?
A hot water boiler is half heating system (the burner, gas valve, flue and controls) and half plumbing (the water loop, circulator pumps, expansion tank, relief valve and zone valves). We hold a Virginia Class A license and run separate heating and plumbing teams, so each half gets a tech who does that trade every day.
Does the quote say how it vents?
A new boiler can stay on the chimney or vent out the wall in plastic pipe. A good quote says which, and whether the chimney needs a liner, because that’s where two quotes for the same boiler usually split.
What our customers say.
…did a great job recommending a new system for a Condo that did not previously have one at all (Old Boiler System). The installation went great.
4.95 stars across 1,131 reviews. Read them on our reviews page.
Boiler questions from Arlington.
Does Arlington need a permit to replace a gas boiler?
Yes. Arlington County requires a plumbing and gas permit with inspections for any gas-fueled equipment replacement, even a same-size swap in the same location. The County strongly suggests the contractor holds the permit. An owner can hold a residential permit for only one address in two years, so if you manage multiple units, the contractor should handle the paperwork.
Will you work on the boiler in my condo building?
Usually that boiler is the association’s, not yours, so the building’s manager books its service. If your unit has its own boiler and the heat is yours to keep up, book it like any house.
Do you work on steam or oil boilers?
No. We work on hot water boilers, the kind that heat radiators or baseboard, on natural gas or propane. If yours is steam or burns oil, we’ll tell you on the phone, and a switch to a heat pump or a gas or propane boiler is ours to price.
Boiler service in the towns next door.
- Boiler repair and replacement in Falls Church
- Boiler repair and replacement in Alexandria
- Boiler repair and replacement in Dunn Loring
- Boiler repair and replacement in Annandale
- Boiler repair and replacement in McLean
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Get the boiler looked at before the cold week.
Call any time: we run 24/7 emergency service. Or book online and pick a window. A tune-up is $69, a repair starts with the $99 diagnostic, and a new boiler gets a written price before any work.
SwiftPro Heating, Cooling & Plumbing is a licensed, BBB Accredited (A rating), independently owned heating, cooling and plumbing company in Chantilly, serving Arlington and the rest of Northern Virginia. Virginia contractor license #2705192276. 4.95 stars across 1,131 reviews on Google, Angi, Yelp, the BBB and Facebook. SwiftPro maintains a dedicated HVAC team and a dedicated plumbing team.
SwiftPro Heating, Cooling & Plumbing, 4230 Lafayette Center Dr, Suite N, Chantilly, VA 20151, (703) 997-9757. Book online, read our reviews, or see every town we serve.