Commercial boiler servicing: the law and the standards
The law does not set a fixed date for servicing a commercial boiler. It requires whoever controls a workplace to keep its gas appliances, pipework and flues in a safe condition, and HSE says that maintenance should follow the manufacturer’s instructions and the appropriate standards. The service interval therefore comes from the maker, and the work must be done by a Gas Safe registered engineer.
The legal duty
The duty is regulation 35 of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998. Every employer or self employed person must make sure that any gas appliance, installation pipework or flue at a place of work under their control is maintained in a safe condition. HSE’s guidance for employers says this should be done by a competent person, in line with the manufacturer’s instructions and appropriate standards.
Regulation 3 sets out who may do the work. Anyone working on gas must be competent, and a business doing gas work must be on the Gas Safe Register. HSE names shops, restaurants, schools and hospitals among the workplaces where work on gas fittings must be done by a Gas Safe registered engineer.
BS 6798 or BS 6644
Which British Standard applies depends on the boiler’s net heat input. BS 6644 covers the installation, inspection, commissioning and maintenance of gas boilers over 70 kW and up to 1.8 MW. It also covers groups of boilers that are each 70 kW or less but add up to more than 70 kW, which is how many plant rooms are built. BS 6798 covers boilers of 70 kW or less, and is written for boilers that heat homes, including homes inside commercial buildings.
British Standards are not the law, but HSE describes them as agreed good practice. Commercial plant also needs an engineer qualified for it. A Gas Safe ID card shows the type of work the holder is qualified to do and whether those qualifications are up to date, and the Gas Safe Register website confirms it.
How often
The manufacturer’s instructions set the service interval. HSE’s guidance for landlords recommends a yearly service where there are no instructions, unless the Gas Safe registered engineer advises otherwise. For gas equipment in catering, HSE calls a yearly inspection a reasonable minimum.
A boiler that heats rented flats as well as a workplace carries a second duty. HSE treats a boiler in a non residential part of a building, such as a basement plant room, as covered by the landlord rules in regulation 36 when it also serves residential accommodation. That means a yearly landlord gas safety check and a record, on top of the servicing. The FAQ on communal boilers covers this in brief. For communal boilers in a block of flats, see how often a communal boiler should be serviced.
What a service visit covers
A service and a safety check are different jobs. HSE’s guidance for landlords warns that an annual service should not be assumed to include the points a safety check requires, and that a safety check alone should not be assumed to be enough maintenance.
On commercial plant, a service looks beyond the boiler itself: the burner, the combustion, the flue, the pumps that move water round the system, and the valves and pressurisation unit that control its flow and pressure. A condition survey records the age and state of each item of plant, which gives a basis for planning repairs and replacement before something fails.
Booking a service or a repair
Neos Engineering services and repairs commercial boilers and plant rooms across all of London. Planned servicing of a plant room or communal boilers covers a burner service, combustion checks, flue testing, and checks on the pumps, valves and pressurisation unit. It is priced after a site survey, with a written quote before any work is booked; the plant room maintenance page sets out what is included. The price for servicing a single boiler at a business is in the boiler service prices.
Breakdown call outs are taken 24 hours a day. At a business, a call out is £150 + VAT an hour per engineer, 8am to 5pm, Monday to Friday, and £290 + VAT an hour at any other time. The first hour covers the call out and finding the fault, and after that the visit is charged by the hour, with any return visit or further work quoted first. Materials, parking, the congestion charge and waste removal are extra where they apply. The business hourly rates are set out in full in the FAQ, and a service or survey can be booked through the contact page.
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