Costs for converting from OIL to GAS heating unit

Advance apologies if this is the wrong forum for my question.

I had someone in today to quote me for converting the OIL burner unit to GAS unit. Without batting an eye he stated it'll cost around 5000 euros, citing the following reasons: he needs to locate the gas unit outside and i need to build a brick-housing for it. He insisted that the gas unit be located outside and that it cannot be inside the house. (This just makes me wonder what people do who lives in apartments)

This sounds a bit ridiculous to me; i have seen many gas units outside with a metal housing, not neccessarily brick housing

Also, the amount he gave was not broken down in terms of labour and parts. Is this guy a chancer or is this the amount i'd be expecing to pay for the conversion?

Can anyone give me a bit of guidelines ito. how much a reasonable amount would be? The property has all the piping etc for the radiators/central heating. The oil burner needs to be replaced (there is already a purpose-built chimney in the house for the air intake for the unit). I am aware that there are some changes in the laws regarding central heating units, but not clear on exactly what it says

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

We converted from Oil to Gas in 2008. Can't remember what the cost was as it was included in some other plumbing work. However the burner was installed internally in a converted garage and any house I've even lived in which has gas has had the burner indoors

Suggest you ring Bord Gais and get a list of approved fitters as BG can be fussy from a Health and Safety perspective as to who they allow install gas units and if you use an unregistered fitter, they can charge you to come out and check the work before they turn on the supply

Unregistered fitters can NOT be used, since 26/06/09 it is an offence

Get a good local installer out, look for their RGII membership card, all gas boilers ideally should be installed indoors as this is the atmosphere they have been designed for.

5000 does sound very expensive, if you want to pm me I may be able to guide you on a few installers to come and quote for you depending on your area.

Also, as you are upgrading to a 'class a' appliance, assuming you also upgrade the control side (youd be mad not to as this will save you money in the long run. ie time & temperature control) you can apply for the current SEI grant scheme and get 700euro towards the costs.

Hope that helps.