Commercial Boiler Servicing and Repair

Commercial Boiler Servicing is something that very few people would think much about. It’s unlikely to be top of anyone’s list of things they love to organise, but neglecting it, can be a very expensive decision in more ways than one.

What happens if you don’t service your commercial boiler?

In this article,

• We’ll look at the potential legal issues you could face if you fail to service your commercial boiler.
• We’ll look at the damage that can be caused to the system from neglect and how this can be prevented with regular maintenance
• We’ll then look at what a regular service entails and why you shouldn’t try it yourself, unless you are fully certificated
• We’ll look at the issue of error codes and why they may not always be the most helpful indicator of boiler health
• And finally, we will look at which commercial boilers we work with and who has given us approved supplier status.

 

WHY COMMERCIAL BOILER SERVICING IS REQUIRED

There are four key reasons to service your commercial boiler

• Legal
• Operational efficiency
• Damage prevention
• To prevent nuisance breakdowns

FIRSTLY, LEGAL REQUIREMENTS

If you are the landlord of a commercial premises, whether it’s an office, industrial, retail, residential, hotel, educational, hospital, care home, licensed outlet or even a prison, you have a legal duty to protect your staff and guests whilst they are on site.

You should service any commercial gas appliance in accordance with the guidelines laid down by the manufacturer. On top of this, It is your legal obligation to have an annual gas safety inspection carried out by a registered engineer.

You also need to ensure that you retain copies of your gas safety certificates for a minimum of two years.

The Health and Safety Executive now have the power to issue criminal proceedings if you do not comply with Gas Safety Regulations. If you are the landlord or managing agent it is your responsibility to ensure you comply.

It’s not the tenants and it’s certainly not your staff or customers.

The penalties, in the worst cases, can be extremely harsh.

• The standard penalty is a £6,000 fine for each breach and/or 6 months imprisonment.
• If through your negligent non-compliance, someone is killed, charges of manslaughter could be brought.
• Your Insurance cover would almost certainly be invalidated for non-compliance leaving you exposed as directors and Officers to the legal ramifications.

OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY

If you follow a sensible commercial boiler servicing regime, your boiler will run more efficiently, be less prone to breakdown and generally last longer.

You must have your commercial boiler serviced according to the manufacturers guidelines, or you will invalidate the warranty. Like car servicing, increasingly these service intervals are not a set time, but more about the time a boiler has run for and how efficiently it has run. We are seeing more recommended service intervals being extended out to up to three years, but this long service interval does NOT void your legal requirement for annual safety certification.

Commercial Boiler Servicing to save lives

Whilst rare, there are still too many instances around the world where guests have been harmed from carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning through a faulty boiler.

It has the potential to affect anyone in a commercial space too. As more buildings are almost hermetically sealed for energy conservation, the risk of CO in the system grows. The gas is odourless, colourless and tasteless, meaning that most people would never know they are being poisoned. A regular service programme will ensure your commercial boiler is burning fuel safely and efficiently.

Commercial Boiler Servicing to save money

Correct maintenance will invariably save you money in the long term. The cost of maintenance can be dwarfed when compared to the capital cost of having to install an entire new system after an irrevocable breakdown. In addition to the capital cost, there is the obvious potential for major business interruption too.

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