When it comes to commercial boiler hire, or indeed anything to do with boilers, the top priority without exception is the safety of the appliance and the protection of the people and premises within its vicinity. Whether permanent or temporary, a boiler which isn’t correctly installed and maintained by fully qualified and accredited engineers could result in major hazards such as fires, explosions or carbon monoxide poisoning.
The commercial boiler industry is rightly heavily regulated. The Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, with further amendments added in 2018, set out the legal requirements to ensure safety for all gas appliances, fittings and flues which are installed in and around buildings. The rules state: ‘Where an employer or a self-employed person requires any work in relation to a gas fitting to be carried out at any place or work under his control or where an employer or self-employed person has control to any extent of work in relation to a gas fitting, he shall take reasonable steps to ensure that the person undertaking that work is, or is employed by, a member of a class of persons approved by the Health and Safety Executive . . . ‘
A temporary commercial boiler is a hard-working piece of equipment. A permanent boiler will be serviced in situ, probably on an annual basis, but a hired boiler can be deployed at short notice to a hospital, factory, school, office or other commercial premises, for any time period ranging from weeks to months. Crucial safety checks must be performed during installation and regularly during the placement, so you can be sure that a temporary boiler hired from a reputable company will be robust and fully compliant. Once this has taken place, a Gas Safe Certificate will be issued. The certificate must be renewed every year if the temporary boiler is in place that long, and compliance is essential – it is a legal offence to operate a commercial property without a valid certificate.
Building regulations in the UK are under the administrative authority of the Building Control Department and intended to ensure that a building is safe for all its occupants. Part J (or Approved Document J) covers combustion appliances and fuel storage systems. It covers the safe installation of flues and boilers and fuel storage requirements and compels landlords to notify the local authorities when a new gas appliance is installed. A Building Regulations Compliance Certificate is then issued. However, this isn’t the same as a Gas Safe Certificate, the issue of which comes under the aegis of the Health and Safety Executive.
Compliance with both is essential. Failure to ensure gas safety checks are up to date can genuinely be a matter of life or death, with penalties ranging from invalidated insurance to significant fines. In addition, if negligence in gas safety results in someone losing their life, criminal charges will follow which could, in the worst case scenario, lead to a lifetime prison sentence. It’s therefore extremely important that the installation of a temporary commercial boiler is undertaken by a reputable and experienced organisation.
At Ideal Heat Solutions, we believe that the best way to guarantee an uninterrupted commercial boiler service is to organise a bespoke contingency plan. With this in place, a boiler breakdown, which could have a serious effect on a hospital, hotel, factory or other premises, can be immediately mitigated with the installation of a temporary replacement.
When we’re asked to provide a contingency plan, one of our fully qualified engineers will visit your site, free of charge, and make a thorough inspection. They’ll need to look at access, position of power sources, the layout of your site and available space. We need to ensure we allocate the correct size of temporary boiler for your specific needs and, of course, that every part of the installation conforms meticulously to health and safety guidelines. Once this masterplan is in place, a temporary commercial boiler can be installed immediately in the event of an emergency, or during planned maintenance.
All our commercial boilers are fitted with a cutting-edge BMS two-way monitoring system. This enables us to monitor the boiler’s performance remotely, and deal with any issues which may arise, providing a stress-free service to hard-pressed premises managers.
If you think temporary commercial boiler hire could benefit your business, why not contact us. We’re trusted by some of the UK’s largest companies, we’ve built an excellent reputation in the industry, and our team of experienced staff are on hand 24/7 to provide assistance and support.