There are plenty of reasons to service your boiler - from safety to fuel efficiency and everthing in between. And a ton of bodies/agencies/companies advising you of the same. The SEI advises of regular servicing for fuel efficiency and the environment, NSAI and the boiler manufacturer recommends you service for safety and prolonged life of the boiler and the likes of us service engineers, we recommend you service your boiler for all of the above.
There is a couple of issues however that new homeowners take for granted and probably assume the snagger has checked everthing including the installation of the boiler and veryfied the usage of their heating system. In the last week alone I've been to 3 relatively new houses (all less than 3 years old) and all assumed their installations were up to scratch.
The first, in Balbriggan had some metal stud work sitting on the boiler and then the plasterboard fixed on top, plastered and painted and a kitchen cabinet built around the boiler with limited access to the boiler but it was impossible to remove the loadbearing cover from the boiler without the aid of a panel saw and alot of patience - guess where the builder is now -gone.
The second, a very expensive duplex in Glasnevin, had a very common problem - as well as being extremelly tight in its discrete housing, it wasn't wired properly - no permenant supply to the boiler and external controls not interlocked with the boiler. Again, the builder was long gone with no chance of him returning to rectfy the issue.
The third, same scenario, new home etc. etc. This time in Finglas. This will be the most costly to rectify of the three. This time it's impossible to have hot water in the house without turning the domestic heating on because of the way the house is piped out and requiring a section to be repiped (and of course it's not accesible without taking up carpets floorboards etc). So again, no controls and yes, you've guessed it, no builder either.
This was all in one week and are all regular occurences in and around Dublin and I'm quite sure the rest of the country is the same. If I can empart a single piece of advice it's get your boiler serviced - sooner rather than later.