Boilers can go from good, to bad, to failure, in very short order where maintenance procedures are lax or non-existing. On the other hand,
properly maintained boilers regularly last more than 25 years.
But even with the best maintenance, boilers will wear out and require replacement or refurbishment numerous times throughout the life of a building. These are infrequent, but expensive, events and should be budgeted for. Facility managers should have systems in place that allow them the luxury of planning ahead instead of having to react to unexpected sudden failures.