Servicing Your Boiler - Why it Pays to Meet Legal Requirments
Tal Potishman asked:
In order to maintain a good operating domestic boiler, it is widely accepted that periodic servicing is not only required but actually makes a lot of economic sense, as it reduces breakdown and downtime. As a reminder, one can use the service interval time controls to ensure the maintenance is carried out in a timely fashion.
Over the last several years we have seen a major drive towards upgrading old boilers to new high efficiency boilers to save energy and reduce carbon emissions. Still, there was notably little focus put on the importance of regular boiler maintenance and central heating system servicing.
Regular servicing of your domestic boiler and central heating system is essential for the following reasons:
* Ensure that performance is kept stable and reliable even at peak demand levels. This way, the boiler is efficient and economical throughout the year (both at low and high load times).
* Ensure you abide by the law which requires the owner of the property to make sure the boiler and the heating system are in good operating order
Gas Regulation 36 (part of Gas Safety, Installation and Use) 1994 states:
* It is the duty of the owner of the gas appliance to ensure that it is maintained in a safe condition so as to prevent risk of injury to any person and to ensure that the appliance is checked for safety at intervals of not more than twelve months.
* The Landlord has to make sure that the gas fittings within the property are checked and kept in good and safe operating conditions in a way that prevents injuries to users of the property.
* Without predisposition to the above points, a landlord must make sure that all gas appliances (including the flues) are checked within twelve months from the point of installation and at periodic intervals of no more than twelve months apart (whether such check was done subject to these Regulations or not).
Evidence from the marketplace indicates that it is difficult to enforce these Regulations in the case of private households. It is estimated that there are around 25 million households in the UK and many of them are either unaware of their legal obligation or they are simply delaying the checks due to financial difficulties. There are talks of imposing penalties in cases of accidents that involve damage or injury due to neglect on the side of the home owner.
There are automatic solutions that offer a reminder mechanism that flags when it is time for a periodic check or service. Some manufacturers offer a flag up reminder, while other manufacturers actually turn off the system if the service date has passed without the system being serviced. In such case the system flashes up a phone number for the local engineer.
Automatic scheduling mechanisms actually provide a short grace period beyond the scheduled service if one was not carried out. It is, however, imperative that the owner of the system or the tenant arranges for a service engineer as soon as possible before the system actually shuts itself down.
Calls for servicing seem to grow substantially as we get closer to the winter, and more households restart their central heating system after the summer break. Using an automatic reminder system would spread the work load more evenly reducing scheduling difficulties and keep the costs down.
Jose
In order to maintain a good operating domestic boiler, it is widely accepted that periodic servicing is not only required but actually makes a lot of economic sense, as it reduces breakdown and downtime. As a reminder, one can use the service interval time controls to ensure the maintenance is carried out in a timely fashion.
Over the last several years we have seen a major drive towards upgrading old boilers to new high efficiency boilers to save energy and reduce carbon emissions. Still, there was notably little focus put on the importance of regular boiler maintenance and central heating system servicing.
Regular servicing of your domestic boiler and central heating system is essential for the following reasons:
* Ensure that performance is kept stable and reliable even at peak demand levels. This way, the boiler is efficient and economical throughout the year (both at low and high load times).
* Ensure you abide by the law which requires the owner of the property to make sure the boiler and the heating system are in good operating order
Gas Regulation 36 (part of Gas Safety, Installation and Use) 1994 states:
* It is the duty of the owner of the gas appliance to ensure that it is maintained in a safe condition so as to prevent risk of injury to any person and to ensure that the appliance is checked for safety at intervals of not more than twelve months.
* The Landlord has to make sure that the gas fittings within the property are checked and kept in good and safe operating conditions in a way that prevents injuries to users of the property.
* Without predisposition to the above points, a landlord must make sure that all gas appliances (including the flues) are checked within twelve months from the point of installation and at periodic intervals of no more than twelve months apart (whether such check was done subject to these Regulations or not).
Evidence from the marketplace indicates that it is difficult to enforce these Regulations in the case of private households. It is estimated that there are around 25 million households in the UK and many of them are either unaware of their legal obligation or they are simply delaying the checks due to financial difficulties. There are talks of imposing penalties in cases of accidents that involve damage or injury due to neglect on the side of the home owner.
There are automatic solutions that offer a reminder mechanism that flags when it is time for a periodic check or service. Some manufacturers offer a flag up reminder, while other manufacturers actually turn off the system if the service date has passed without the system being serviced. In such case the system flashes up a phone number for the local engineer.
Automatic scheduling mechanisms actually provide a short grace period beyond the scheduled service if one was not carried out. It is, however, imperative that the owner of the system or the tenant arranges for a service engineer as soon as possible before the system actually shuts itself down.
Calls for servicing seem to grow substantially as we get closer to the winter, and more households restart their central heating system after the summer break. Using an automatic reminder system would spread the work load more evenly reducing scheduling difficulties and keep the costs down.
Jose
