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Well, I guess our OP is gone. Not surprised — he wanted to do it cheap, not do it right. And that we don't do…

My mistake, but I assume you get that pricing on the steam boiler too. It's still the same problem, just with slightly different numbers.

Then yearly I would pay $350 for cleaning + $50 every month during the heating season for someone to go and drain/refill the water so it's clean.

For those who are still here, this is completely wrong. You don't drain and refill it every month and I haven't had mine cleaned in 5 years—this is gas not oil.

Not to mention steam costs more in gas per monthly than a forced hot air.

Source, please?

Thanks for listening to my ted talk and goodbye

Sounds like you had your talk all written up, not sure what you were asking for.

So instead of a steam boiler that could last 30 years with very little maintenance, you want to replace it with something that will cost you $15k-$20k every 10-15 years?

I think you have it backwards. It's the new systems that require more maintenance. Steam heated by natural gas requires a very small amount of attention that any handy homeowner can give it.

"More Modern" is not necessarily an "Upgrade". Note Brother Hall's post above. Heat pumps are NOT "maintenance free"