How do we maintain and inspect the central boiler in our HOA condo building?

By OurHOA · General information · Revised October 26, 2026

How a condo board keeps a central boiler certified in Texas, Florida and Colorado, books annual service, preps for the state inspector and plans for replacement.

Part of the HOA board handbook: vendors, projects and upkeep.

The short answer

A central boiler needs two separate things every year or two, and boards often confuse them. The first is a service visit from a heating contractor who cleans and tunes the burner, checks the controls and looks at the venting. The second is the state certificate inspection, done by a commissioned boiler inspector, that lets the association legally run the boiler. Texas requires that certificate once a residential building has room for more than four families, and Colorado once it has six or more units. Florida's inspection law reaches only boilers in public assembly locations, so a purely residential condo building usually falls outside it. In all three states, the board should keep a boiler file, post the current certificate in the boiler room, and book the inspector before the certificate expires, not after. Rules vary by state, by city and by your governing documents, and this guide is general education, not legal or engineering advice.

What Texas, Florida and Colorado require

Texas. Health and Safety Code chapter 755 covers heating boilers, hot water supply boilers and some potable water heaters. Section 755.025(c) requires a certificate inspection every two years for steam and hot water heating boilers, and 755.025(d) sets a three-year interval for hot water supply boilers and potable water heaters. Section 755.022(b) exempts heating boilers in buildings used only as residences with room for no more than four families, so a condo building with five or more units is generally covered. Under 755.029(c), the certificate of operation must be posted in a conspicuous place on or near the boiler. The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation charges $70 per boiler for the certificate, and its FAQ says late fees apply when a boiler is inspected after the certificate expires and cannot be waived in that case. Florida. Section 554.108(1) applies the state inspection requirements only to boilers in public assembly locations, which section 554.1021 defines to include schools, day care centers, community centers, churches and other places open to the general public. Where the law does apply, heating boilers get a certificate inspection every two years under 554.108(3), and 554.1101(2) requires the certificate to be posted under glass in the boiler room. If your clubhouse or building hosts a use open to the public, ask the state boiler program before assuming you are exempt. Colorado. Section 9-4-104 exempts private residences, apartment houses with fewer than six family units, and domestic-type water heaters. Everyone else must report new or relocated boilers under 9-4-106(1) and may not run a boiler without a valid certificate under 9-4-106(5). The certificate goes in the room with the boiler under 9-4-107(3), and inspectors must give at least five days' notice before an internal inspection under 9-4-105(1). If your building is near the six-unit line, or your plant serves more than one building, call the state program and ask how it classifies you.

Build the boiler file first

Start with an inventory, one page per boiler. Copy the data plate: manufacturer, model, serial number, year built, input rating in Btu per hour, and maximum allowable working pressure. Add the state number if one is stamped or tagged on the boiler. Colorado assigns a serial number beginning with 'Colo' and requires it to stay visible. Photograph the current certificate and note its expiration date. List the service contractor, the inspector or inspection agency, the fuel supplier and the water treatment vendor if you have one, with phone numbers. File the last three service reports and any repair invoices. Texas owners can look up a boiler's status in the state's online records, which is the fastest way to learn whether a past board let a certificate lapse. Keep the file where the next treasurer can find it, with a paper copy in the boiler room.

The yearly service visit

The state inspector checks whether the boiler is safe to run. The inspector does not tune it, clean it or fix it. That is your contractor's job, and it should happen every year before the heating season. The Consumer Product Safety Commission has long told owners of fuel-burning equipment to have a qualified heating contractor or gas company technician inspect it every year, including chimneys, flues and vents for leaks and blockages, and to make sure boiler vents are not loose or disconnected. Put the scope in the contract so the visit is more than a filter change: clean and tune the burner and record the combustion readings, test the low-water cutoff and the high temperature limit, check the pressure relief valve and its discharge pipe, check the expansion tank, inspect pumps, valves and gauges, look for leaks and corrosion, and test the system water if the contractor treats it. Ask for a written report with readings, not a checkmark. If the report shows the same leak or the same failed part two years running, that is a capital planning problem, not a service problem.

Getting ready for the state inspector

Book the inspection about a month before the certificate expires; the Texas program gives the same advice. In Texas and Colorado, the inspector can be a state inspector or a commissioned inspector from your insurer, and many equipment breakdown carriers do this work for the boilers they cover, so ask your agent first. Then walk the room with the contractor. New Jersey's boiler bureau publishes a pre-inspection checklist of the violations its inspectors see most often on hot water boilers, and it is a good model even outside New Jersey. It asks for a pressure or altitude gauge and a thermometer that are easy to read, two temperature controls that shut off the fuel, a low-water fuel cutoff on automatically fired hot water boilers over 400,000 Btu per hour, a relief valve with no shutoff valve between it and the boiler or on its discharge pipe, a discharge pipe arranged so it cannot scald anyone, and an expansion tank on closed systems. Clear out the bikes, paint cans and holiday decorations that collect in boiler rooms. Have someone with a key and the authority to run the boiler on site for the visit. If the inspector lists violations, get the contractor's repair quote that week and track it to the reinspection.

A sample year and the shutdown notice

A workable calendar for one hot water boiler: August: confirm the certificate date, book the inspector if it expires within the next six months, and schedule the service visit. September: service visit, written report to the board, repairs approved at the September meeting. October: start-up, with the contractor or the building's maintenance person on site, radiators or baseboard units bled, and a check that every unit has heat. Monthly through winter: a walk-through with a simple log of pressure, temperature, any alarms and any leaks. Spring: shutdown or summer mode, depending on whether the boiler also makes domestic hot water. Owners need warning before any planned outage. A notice the board can adapt: 'Heat and hot water will be off on Tuesday, October 6, from 9 a.m. to about 3 p.m. while the boiler is serviced and inspected. Please do not use space heaters near bedding or curtains. If you have a medical need for heat during this window, call [name] at [number] by Friday so we can help. If your heat is not back by 6 p.m., call [emergency number].' Post it in the lobby and send it by email at least a week ahead. The CPSC recommends carbon monoxide alarms on every level of a home and outside sleeping areas, and the start of heating season is a good time to remind owners to test theirs.

Insurance, reserves and the board motion

Ask your agent whether the property policy includes equipment breakdown coverage, sometimes called boiler and machinery coverage, what failures it pays for, and whether the carrier sends its own inspector. If it does, ask for copies of every report. For the long term, give the boiler data, the age and the last three service reports to your reserve study provider, and ask for the replacement cost and remaining life as a separate line, along with pumps, controls and the expansion tank. A failed boiler in January leaves owners without heat and the board making a large decision in days. Better to start a replacement plan three to five years before the reserve study's end date. Record the decisions in the minutes. A sample motion: 'Move to approve the annual boiler service contract with [contractor] at $[amount], scope as attached, and to direct the treasurer to schedule the state certificate inspection before [expiration date] and report the result at the next meeting.'

Mistakes boards make with a central boiler

Treating the service visit as the inspection. A clean service report is not a certificate, and Texas charges late fees when the inspection happens after the certificate has expired. Letting the certificate expire because the reminder went to a former manager's email. Update the mailing and email address with the state program whenever management or officers change. Hiring a general handyman to work on burner controls or relief valves. Use a licensed heating contractor wherever your state or city licenses that trade. Ignoring a relief valve that drips. A leaking relief valve can point to a pressure or expansion tank problem, and capping it is dangerous. And waiting for failure to plan replacement. For more on building a full calendar, see our guide on the HOA preventive maintenance schedule, and our guide on hiring a reserve study company covers how to get major mechanical equipment into your reserve study.

Sources

These guides are general education for HOA boards and residents, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Rules vary by state and by your community's governing documents - check with a professional for your situation.

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