Boiler Rental Tips for Facilities Managers

Boiler Rental often comes at times of crisis, when equipment and plant rooms fail, and facilities users are demanding access to hot water and heating. Even when it’s part of a planned refurbishment project, the pressures can be high.

It’s important you have a boiler supplier that you can trust to carry out the installation and commissioning safely and efficiently, giving you peace of mind and saving you time and money on running costs.

Unfortunately, this can be easier said than done with numerous boiler rental suppliers providing an inadequate installation. To ensure you don’t fall foul of a less than ideal boiler rental solution which could lead to expense and safety compromises, read on for informative tips which will enable you to have an open conversation which results in a high standard and safe installation, regardless of the pressures you may be facing.

Boiler Rental Consultation, Delivery and Installation

Your supplier and engineer should consult with you in a timely manner, well in advance for planned maintenance or quickly but accurately and safely during emergencies, so that regardless of the situation surrounding your requirement, you’re given the best solution that will suit your needs – avoiding unnecessary cost, safety risks or disruption to your business.

Once your provider has specified equipment to meet your requirements, the first consideration should be about delivery and installation of the boiler unit itself.

Temporary boilers are housed in weatherproof containers, allowing them to be sited outside in a suitable location. The unit will be typically delivered by a HGV with a mounted crane. Your supplier will need to account for this, as although the cranes are very powerful, they have limited range, as well as an increased footprint when the crane is deployed. Ensure that your supplier has taken this into account and ask if a “lift and shift” contractor is necessary to place the unit in its final position and if you have any doubts about the plan, ask the engineer for clarification.

The final positioning of the unit is a combination of common sense, safety and the law.

The location of the boiler must be reasonably level, and if no suitable area is available, wooden supports need to be used to ensure that the boiler is kept stable during operation. If the boiler is fuelled with oil, the positioning of the tank needs to be considered, ensuring the fuel lines are not too long, so that the unit is able to get the fuel it needs.

The most important safety point to consider when installing and placing the boiler, is the fumes produced by the process. The boiler must be placed a safe distance from doors, windows and ventilation inlets to the building and the distance varies based on the size of the boiler, with bigger boilers requiring a larger safe distance. If the required distance is too large, a chimney may need to be installed to increase the height and ensure that the fumes are dispersed safely.

In built up areas, chimneys are often not practical, so your engineer should suggest a fan flue dilution system in these circumstances. A fan flue dilution system mixes the products of combustion from the boiler with fresh air to dilute the fumes and make them safe. Because of the importance of these systems, they are subject to strict legal requirements, regulating attributes such as minimum height as well as the amount of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide that can be present in the air. Ensure that you speak with your provider about these regulations if they suggest a fan flue system to ensure you’re happy with the arrangements and they meet compliance.

Boiler Commissioning and Efficiency

The skill of the commissioning engineer has a direct effect on the efficiency and the running cost of the boiler.

To ensure the most efficient and safe boiler installation, the unit should be commissioned by a trained and experienced engineer, maximizing the heat provided by the fuel and reducing the amount of harmful substances in the fumes produced – saving you money and keeping the population safe from harm.

For gas burners, the engineer must be Gas Safe Registered, and for oil burners they will still need to be suitably trained.

Boilers generate heat by utilising a combustion process, combining the oil, a mixture of hydrocarbons and sulphur with air to generate heat by creating a reaction at a molecular level with the oxygen in the air and the hydrocarbons. Because air isn’t made up completely of oxygen, but contains nitrogen as well as trace gases, incomplete combustion can occur when the ratio of air to fuel is incorrect. Incomplete combustion lowers the efficiency of your boiler, increasing fuel costs and causing the creation of more CO2 (a harmful biproduct) and soot to be pushed into the surrounding air.

Because the delicate balancing act between air and oil is so vital to safe and effective operation, it’s important that the engineer that commissions your unit is highly skilled and uses a combustion analyser to check the effectiveness of the unit. A well commissioned boiler is safer, more efficient to run and therefore cheaper to run.

Summary

Despite hot water and heating being vital to a business’s success, the importance of a skilled engineer providing a safe and efficient solution cannot be understated.

Planned refurbishment and contingency planning can massively decrease disruption to business. If you’ve ever experienced an interruption in permanent hot water and heating supply, you’ll know this too well. ICS Cool Energy has a nationwide network of engineers and depots that can consult with you and supply your business with well planned, safely installed and highly efficient boiler equipment. To learn call our experienced team on 0800 840 4210 or click here.