Equipment · Life expectancy

ASHRAE equipment life expectancy chart for commercial HVAC

The ASHRAE equipment life expectancy chart gives most commercial HVAC a median service life of 15 to 25 years: 15 for rooftop units, air-source heat pumps and PTACs, 18 for furnaces, 20 to 23 for chillers, 24 to 25 for steel boilers and 35 for cast-iron boilers. Those medians come from the ASHRAE Handbook, and they are not the only published numbers; the U.S. Department of Energy, New Jersey's Technical Reference Manual and Fannie Mae each use their own, which can differ by 15 years for the same unit. The chart and table below put them side by side, with a link to every source.

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HVAC equipment life expectancy chart

Bars show ASHRAE's median service life in years, the age at which half of the surveyed units were still in service. ASHRAE counts a unit as gone when it was replaced for any reason, cost and obsolescence included, not only failure. The gray line under each bar runs from the lowest to the highest figure any source in the table publishes for that equipment.

Cast-iron boilerCast-iron boiler: ASHRAE median 35 years. Published range 20 to 35 years.
DuctworkDuctwork: ASHRAE median 30 years. Published range 30 to 30 years.
Steel fire-tube boilerSteel fire-tube boiler: ASHRAE median 25 years. Published range 20 to 40 years.
Steel water-tube boilerSteel water-tube boiler: ASHRAE median 24 years (>22 in 2005 data). Published range 20 to 40 years.
Centrifugal chillerCentrifugal chiller: ASHRAE median 23 years (>25 in 2005 data). Published range 15 to 25 years.
Absorption chillerAbsorption chiller: ASHRAE median 23 years. Published range 15 to 23 years.
Reciprocating chillerReciprocating chiller: ASHRAE median 20 years. Published range 15 to 23 years.
Cooling tower, metalCooling tower, metal: ASHRAE median 20 years (>22 in 2005 data). Published range 20 to 25 years.
Fan coil unitFan coil unit: ASHRAE median 20 years. Published range 20 to 37 years.
Pneumatic controlsPneumatic controls: ASHRAE median 20 years (>18 in 2005 data). Published range 20 to 30 years.
Base-mounted pumpBase-mounted pump: ASHRAE median 20 years. Published range 15 to 20 years.
Water-source heat pumpWater-source heat pump: ASHRAE median 19 years (>24 in 2005 data). Published range 15 to 19 years.
Furnace, gas or oilFurnace, gas or oil: ASHRAE median 18 years. Published range 18 to 23 years.
Electric motorElectric motor: ASHRAE median 18 years. Published range 13.6 to 18 years.
Rooftop unit, single-zoneRooftop unit, single-zone: ASHRAE median 15 years. Published range 15 to 30 years.
Air-source heat pumpAir-source heat pump: ASHRAE median 15 years. Published range 15 to 30 years.
PTAC / PTHPPTAC / PTHP: ASHRAE median 15 years. Published range 8 to 15 years.
Electric boilerElectric boiler: ASHRAE median 15 years. Published range 15 to 20 years.
Unit heater, gas or electricUnit heater, gas or electric: ASHRAE median 13 years. Published range 13 to 18 years.

Useful life of HVAC equipment by source

Years, as printed in each source. A dash means the source publishes nothing for that equipment.

Commercial HVAC equipment life expectancy in years by source: ASHRAE median, DOE average, New Jersey TRM effective useful life, Fannie Mae estimated useful life, and EIA average life.
Equipment	ASHRAE median	DOE average	NJ TRM (PY6)	Fannie Mae	EIA
Cast-iron boiler	35	24.8*	20	22–25 (sectional)	25
Ductwork	30	—	—	—	—
Steel fire-tube boiler	25	24.8*	20	30–40 (by size)	25
Steel water-tube boiler	24>22 in 2005 data	24.8*	20	30–40 (by size)	25
Centrifugal chiller	23>25 in 2005 data	—	23	15 (chilling plant)	25
Absorption chiller	23	—	20	15 (chilling plant)	23
Reciprocating chiller	20	—	23	15 (chilling plant)	20
Cooling tower, metal	20>22 in 2005 data	—	—	25	—
Fan coil unit	20	—	—	30 hydronic, 20 electric	37
Pneumatic controls	20>18 in 2005 data	—	—	30	—
Base-mounted pump	20	15 (all clean-water pumps)	—	—	—
Water-source heat pump	19>24 in 2005 data	19	15	—	—
Furnace, gas or oil	18	23	20	20	23
Electric motor	18	13.6 (shipment-weighted)	15	—	—
Rooftop unit, single-zone	15	21 / 23 / 30 by size	15	20 (15 in-unit)	21
Air-source heat pump	15	21 / 23 / 30 by size; 16 under 65,000 Btu/h	15	20 (condensing unit)	21
PTAC / PTHP	15	8	15	15	8
Electric boiler	15	—	—	20	15
Unit heater, gas or electric	13	—	18	—	18 (electric)
Ductless mini-split	—	21 AC / 15 heat pump†	15	—	—
VFD (variable-frequency drive)	—	—	15	—	—
Gas storage water heater	—	10	15	10	10
Tankless water heater	—	17	20	10	17
VRF system	—	—	—	—	—

* DOE assumed 24.8 years for every commercial packaged boiler class in its 2020 rule. A federal court vacated that rule in 2023; the figure is the lifetime DOE's analysis used, and DOE said it lacked data to give condensing boilers a separate one.
† From DOE's residential central air conditioner and heat pump rule, which covers single-phase ductless mini-splits.
Fannie Mae groups boilers by fuel and size rather than by material, so its 30–40 figures are its low- and high-capacity boiler rows.
No source here publishes a life for VRF systems. Any figure you see quoted for them is an estimate.

What each source measures

ASHRAE: median service life, from Table 4 of the Handbook's owning and operating costs chapter. Most rows rest on a survey ASHRAE ran in 1976, and its own footnote warns those figures may be outdated. A 2005 ASHRAE study of 163 office buildings found centrifugal chillers, water-source heat pumps and metal cooling towers still running past the old medians.
DOE: the average lifetime the Department of Energy assumed in the cost analysis behind each federal efficiency standard, as printed in the Federal Register.
NJ TRM: the effective useful life New Jersey's utility programs use to count a measure's savings, from the Program Year 6 manual the Board of Public Utilities adopted on August 12, 2026.
Fannie Mae: the estimated useful life a multifamily property condition assessment uses for loan underwriting (Form 4099.F, Appendix F).
EIA: the average equipment life used in the federal National Energy Modeling System.

Why the HVAC useful life figures disagree

They measure different things. ASHRAE reports when units were actually retired; DOE and EIA use an average inside a cost model; New Jersey uses a period for counting savings.
Most of New Jersey's HVAC figures are borrowed from California's utility measure data, which caps measure lives at 20 years by policy. That is why the NJ column sits at 15 to 20 years even where other sources print more.
The ASHRAE table is old, and a median is not an expiry date. Half of the units in a median outlive it.

What life expectancy means for a New Jersey incentive

New Jersey's utility programs pay on the energy a project saves, and the Technical Reference Manual sets how long those savings count. When working equipment is replaced early, the manual uses two baselines and limits the old unit's remaining useful life to one-third of the new unit's effective useful life. For a rooftop unit rated at 15 years, that is 5.

So the age of a unit matters less than whether it is still running when you apply. Replace it while it works and the saving is measured against the old unit for those years; wait for it to fail and the saving is measured against a new code-minimum unit. Why the application has to come first.

Get your HVAC equipment audited

Send us your equipment list, or have us walk the building. We log each unit's age, nameplate and condition, set it against these figures and your last twelve months of electric and gas bills, and tell you which units qualify for a New Jersey utility incentive now and which can wait. Call (848) 261-9510 or use the form below.

Common questions

What is the ASHRAE life expectancy for HVAC equipment?

ASHRAE's Handbook lists median service lives of 15 years for rooftop units, commercial air-source heat pumps and through-the-wall units, 18 for furnaces, 20 to 23 for chillers, 24 to 25 for steel boilers and 35 for cast-iron boilers. A median means half of the surveyed units were still in service at that age.

How long does a commercial rooftop unit last?

ASHRAE's median is 15 years and New Jersey's manual uses 15. Fannie Mae uses 20, and DOE assumes an average of 21 to 30 years depending on the unit's size. Because 15 is a median, half of rooftop units run past it.

How long does a commercial boiler last?

ASHRAE lists 35 years for cast-iron boilers and 24 to 25 for steel boilers. DOE's analysis used 24.8 years for commercial packaged boilers and EIA uses 25, while New Jersey's manual counts boiler savings over 20 years.

How long does a chiller last?

ASHRAE lists 23 years for centrifugal and absorption chillers and 20 for reciprocating ones. New Jersey's manual uses 23 years for electric chillers of any type and 20 for gas absorption chillers. EIA uses 25 for water-cooled centrifugal units.

Is HVAC depreciated over 15 years?

Not by default. HVAC that is part of a commercial building is generally depreciated with the building as 39-year nonresidential real property, and IRS Publication 527 puts furnaces in rental housing at 27.5 years. HVAC improvements to an existing nonresidential building can be elected as Section 179 property. Ask your accountant how this applies to you.

What useful life does a property condition assessment use for HVAC?

Fannie Mae's multifamily tables use 20 years for rooftop packaged HVAC and furnaces, 15 for PTACs, 25 for cooling towers and 20 to 40 for boilers depending on fuel and size. Freddie Mac publishes no preset table and leaves the estimate to the inspector.

Sources

All sources read October 12, 2026.

Have us audit your equipment

We log every unit, compare it with these figures and your bills, and tell you what qualifies for an incentive now. That is a phone call, not a commitment.

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