How often do you clean the flue for an oil-fired boiler/furnace?

[thecatumbrella]

Sure, I could ask this in a plumbing forum, but why create another account when there's a 3% chance of this being answered here?

We had the flue lined with a stainless steel liner when we moved in 8 years ago. The chimney company wants to sweep it every year. I settled for every other year. Now I'm wondering if that's still too often. There's nothing else going through it besides the oil-fired boiler, which I service every spring.

 

[TioBollio]

I've always been a fan of annual inspections and servicing of heating and cooling systems.
On oil furnaces, the cleaner the flue and burners are the more efficient they operate, and potential problems can be detected before something fails.
Here in Texas, we have our heat pump system inspected twice a year, once in late spring and again in late fall.
Our service gives a healthy discount for the scheduled maintenance, not so much for emergency repairs.