If you’re considering heating your home with a boiler, or if you have an older boiler in your home but don’t know much about it, you might have some questions. One of the top concerns about heating systems is longevity. How many years will a new boiler be able to keep your house comfortably cozy all winter? How does that compare with the lifespans of other heating system options?
While there will always be a range of possible outcomes, we can give you a good approximation of the potential lifespans of different types of boilers and show how that compares with various furnaces. We’ll also give you our top tips for making sure your boiler is able to live a long and productive life.
Old-Fashioned Boilers
Perhaps you’ve heard someone say that a good boiler can last half a century. And to their credit, there’s a grain of truth in that statement. Old boilers did frequently survive that long. However, they were hulking cast-iron monstrosities, and you would not appreciate either the cost of purchasing one or the amount of space it would occupy in your home. New boilers are much more streamlined and much more affordable than their ancestors were.
Life Expectancies of Modern Heating Systems
While a gas furnace is generally quite reliable for about 15 years, an electric model is more likely to last closer to 20. Heat pumps might even surpass that by a couple of years, but probably not by much.
Boilers come in a few different types. Electric boilers have heating elements like electric furnaces do, and those heating elements often burn out by 15 years. High-efficiency gas boilers, sometimes called condensing boilers, can save you money on your monthly bills, but there’s a cost to that. Because they have two heat exchangers, the components are exposed to more combustion gasses, which can lead to corrosion and a lifetime that’s also around 15 years. This might be an acceptable trade-off for 15 years of reduced utility bills, though.
Of all these heating systems, the longest lifespan award goes to the standard gas-powered boiler. It can certainly last 20 years, and sometimes they keep chugging along until they’re thirty! And for a nice bonus, they tend to require fewer repairs than other types of heating systems. So if you’re considering boiler installation in Cook, MN, this might be the way to go.
How to Extend Boiler Life Expectancy
Here’s our number-one tip for making sure your boiler reaches that 20-year point and beyond: annual maintenance.
Your technician will clean and inspect all the components, such as the heat exchanger, flame sensors, burner assembly, and all connections. They will test the pH of the water in the system to make sure it’s neither too alkaline nor too acidic. They will check for corrosion, make sure the ventilation system is working properly, and even flush the system if there’s an excess of mineral buildup from your water.
These steps will improve the efficiency and safety of your boiler, and they will reduce wear and tear, decreasing the likelihood of repairs and increasing your boiler’s life expectancy.
Reach out to Mesaba Heating & Air Conditioning today for all your home heating needs. Service to you is success to us!