One of the strategies that can be used to enhance reliability of a system is component swapping, when a component fails, so replacing it by another component from the system which is still functioning. Swapping components, if possible, is likely to incur some costs, for example for the actual swap or to prepare components to be able to take over functionality of another component. The cost effectiveness of component swapping has been considered over a fixed period of time. It is assumed that a system would need to function for a given period of time, where failure to achieve this incurs a penalty cost. The expected costs when the different swap scenarios are applicable are compared with the option not to enable swaps. In this paper we study the cost effectiveness of component swapping over an unlimited time horizon from the perspective of renewal theory. We assume that the system is entirely renewed upon failure, at a known cost, and we compare different swapping scenarios. We also study the effect of components swapping on preventive replacement actions.