Boiler

BOMI, the international institute for property and facility management education, has released a handy list of boiler/heater checks and inspections that should be on every facility manager’s schedule this fall. Boilers and electric heaters require thorough checks and cleanings to ensure that they will function properly through the winter—failures in these systems can be extra problematic in the midst of snow and ice, and facility equipment and tenants don’t typically respond well to prolonged exposure to cold.

Thankfully, the worst of these problems can be easily avoided by implementing BOMI’s suggestions. And if your company uses a CMMS/EAM platform like ManagerPlus, integrating them will be easy.

Here’s how to implement BOMI’s winterization tips for boilers and electric heaters in four easy steps:

+ Pull up the list of BOMI recommendations posted at FMLink. Look over the list and select which of the service items they’ve outlined are applicable to your facilities, then save them to a word doc or keep your browser open for reference as you create your schedule groups.

+ Open ManagerPlus, click on the Schedules Due module, then click on “Edit Schedules”. If you already have schedule groups for boilers and heaters, you can open them and add any additional services/inspections that you find on the BOMI list. As their recommendations are fairly thorough, it can’t hurt to see if there are details you can add to existing services to make them more effective and complete. It may even be a good idea to do a quick Google image search for some of the signs of wear that the list mentions (such as scale deposits) to ensure that maintenance staff knows what to look for.

+ Create schedule groups for boilers and electric heaters. Depending on the specific needs of your facilities, it may make sense to create an umbrella group for your entire heating infrastructure, or it may make more sense to create separate groups for boilers, heaters and other equipment. Once you’ve determined how you’re going to organize BOMI’s recommended checks and services within ManagerPlus, creating the groups can be as simple as cutting and pasting their recommendations.

+ Assign to specific assets and schedule work orders. With your services, parts, notes, pictures and/or files added to your schedule group, you can now click “Linked Assets” and select your boilers and other heating equipment from your assets list. Use the cycle settings to define the interval at which you’d like the schedule group to come due. This can be defined in terms of log values or timeframes.

And that’s it! Spending a few minutes to enhance your boiler/heater maintenance can add considerably to their useful life and reduce overall maintenance costs. Once they’re in place, they’re in place for good and don’t need to be worried about again unless there are new services, parts, or attachments to add later. If your facilities’ heating equipment uses metering equipment to monitor its condition and function, these readings can be imported using meter tracking for rapid response in the event of failure. Combined, these features make maintenance of heaters easy and ensure that there won’t be any crises come winter.

Be sure to check back here regularly for all the latest news and insights from ManagerPlus.

About the author

ManagerPlus

ManagerPlus is the preferred solution across the most asset-intensive industries, including Fortune 500 companies, to improve reliability and minimize downtime.
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