The only way to be 100 per cent sure of enjoying uninterrupted heat and hot water provision is to invest (within an organisation’s budget) in the very best boiler on the market but to also have a contingency plan in place in the event of a boiler breakdown occurring (because even the most expensive and hi-tech boilers can develop a fault).

A contingency boiler plan is essential for any building or premises that houses a substantial number of people - whether permanently residing there or just on-site during working hours. A boiler fail may be fixable in a matter of hours, in which case a replacement temporary boiler is probably less vital but until the repair and maintenance company arrive, no-one will know how long the heating and hot water will be down for. Should the problem be more complex than initially suspected or if specific parts need to be ordered, a back up boiler solution can be on site quickly and prevent huge disruption.

Applications that are reliant on boilers for hot water and heating

Last winter, when temperatures plummeted to the lowest on record in some UK regions, and heavy snowfall caused havoc to the country’s transport systems, people everywhere prayed that it was a one-off – that following winters would not be as severe. So far so good. But, according to meteorologists, we may not have escaped Siberian temperatures and metres of snow quite yet! That is why, for some, having a back-up boiler solution arranged is essential. Particularly for the following applications…

Hospitals: Most hospitals would struggle to cope for half a day without an adequate hot water and heating supply; in the event of a boiler breakdown, patients could be put through the inconvenience (and stress) of being moved to other wards (or even hospitals), and operations could be cancelled.

Imagine the horror of a sudden loss of hot water and heat during a long operation that is scheduled to take place over a number of hours. With surgical instruments and other equipment needing to be thoroughly cleaned and sterilised throughout the procedure, a boiler failure at a hospital could actually be a life-threatening occurrence.

Care Homes & Nursing Homes: Given the frailty and susceptibility to illness of the elderly, it is not surprising that there are strict governmental guidelines in place regarding the temperature at which British care homes and nursing homes should be kept. (The homes should look to maintain a room temperature of 24-26 degrees Celsius, and a water temperature of 41-44 degrees Celsius.)

To ensure these temperatures are kept up, it is essential that the fixed boiler in each home is reliable and regularly serviced. But the reality is that so many of these boilers are old and often defective, particularly boilers that have been in place for decades in a mature property. For residents and patients, this can be a potentially fatal situation.

Schools: When a boiler fails at a school in winter, the usual decision taken is to send all the pupils (and staff) home. But this is not quite as simple a solution as it sounds; the headache of notifying hundreds, if not thousands, of parents that their children need to be collected can be a logistical nightmare, as well as involving considerable expense. Contacting the same number of families during the evening about a next-day school closure can be equally exhaustive and costly.

Prisons: UK prisons, detention centres and other types of secure accommodation differ from care homes, nursing homes and public hospitals, etc. insofar as the option to transfer people to another facility in the event of a boiler breakdown is rarely there. This makes it essential that the heating and hot water provision at prisons (and other such facilities) is managed well, and that on-site boilers are fully operational at all times. But this is not something that can ever be guaranteed.

Leasing a boiler from a boiler rental specialist can prove the ideal solution for all the aforementioned applications. Having a contingency plan in place is the best way to ensure that any interruption to the heat and hot water supply at a hospital, care home, school, prison (or other) is kept to an absolute minimum.

Contingency plans – what is involved?

When supplying hired boilers (and related equipment) to different premises, the two main challenges a specialist boiler rental company will face are:

Assessing the client’s exact requirements

And

Getting into the site quickly (careful planning between the client and the specialist’s transport department and service engineers is crucial in ensuring the delivery goes as planned)

These challenges can be easily overcome by the boiler hire specialist performing a survey at the site. It is always a great help to them if the site manager has key details at hand on the day, (e.g. required temperatures for the different site areas) to make the survey/assessment as site-specific as possible.

With a carefully formulated contingency plan in place, site managers can enjoy peace of mind knowing that if "the unthinkable" happens, and there is a fixed boiler system failure at any time, a specialist boiler hire company that operates a 24/7, all-year-round call-out service are always only a phone call away. They will have well-stocked depots strategically positioned across the country, meaning response times will always be fast.

And for Facilities Management Companies…

Finally, at some premises, the responsibility to maintain the heating and hot water supply belongs to a Facilities Management Company (an "FM Company"). In the event of a boiler breakdown, having a back-up solution is vital for them (failure to have one in place could actually cost them the site contract). That is why most work hard to ensure a contingency plan is formulated with a specialist boiler hire company as soon as possible (i.e. upon winning the initial contract) – something that also offers them peace of mind.