Commercial LPG heating
Commercial engineers covering Suffolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire
Winter gas safety: smell gas? Call National Gas Emergency on 0800 111 999. For commercial boiler breakdowns call 0800 0996 007.
Commercial LPG boilers and heating systems need safe, dependable servicing and practical fault support across East Anglia and the Sudbury CO10 area.
Much of rural Suffolk, north Essex and south Cambridgeshire is off the mains gas network, so many businesses heat their buildings and hot water with liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from a bulk tank or a cylinder bank. Our team of over 10 local engineers, working from Clare (CO10 8NN), supports commercial LPG boilers, water heaters and heaters across that area.
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For commercial clients
We support businesses, holiday parks and park home sites with LPG boiler servicing, heating repairs, plant-room checks and planned maintenance discussions where suitable.
Typical commercial LPG sites include:
- Holiday parks and park home sites: reception buildings, clubhouses, shower blocks and pool plant.
- Rural pubs, restaurants and hotels: heating plus high hot-water demand at set times of day.
- Farm offices, workshops and rural business parks: offices, units and workshops on converted farm sites.
- Village halls, churches and community buildings: plant that runs only a few hours a week.
- Schools, nurseries and care settings off the gas main: buildings where heating and hot water have to be reliable.
- Warehouses and industrial units: LPG warm air and radiant heaters as well as boilers.
What we can help with on LPG plant
- Servicing of commercial LPG boilers and burners, including combustion analysis and safety device checks. See commercial boiler servicing.
- Breakdowns and lockouts: fault finding on ignition, flame detection, gas valves, controls, pumps and pressurisation units. See plant room repair.
- Gas safety checks and records for LPG appliances, flues and installation pipework. See commercial gas safety inspection.
- Tightness testing and purging of site pipework, for example after a tank run-out or alterations.
- Warm air and radiant heaters running on LPG in workshops, warehouses and agricultural buildings.
- Planned maintenance: LPG plant can sit in the same schedule as gas, oil and hot-water plant. See planned preventative maintenance.
- Replacement planning when an LPG boiler is near the end of its life. See commercial boiler installation.
How commercial LPG differs from mains gas
Most of the boiler is the same. The parts that differ are the ones that matter most for safety and reliability:
- LPG is heavier than air. Escaped natural gas rises, but escaped LPG sinks and collects at low points such as pits, ducts, cellars and floor voids. Low-level ventilation, and where the plant sits, therefore matter more on LPG sites.
- Below-ground plant is restricted. The Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 put tight limits on LPG appliances in basements and cellars, so check before you plan plant below ground level.
- Appliances must be set up for LPG. A boiler or heater built for natural gas cannot simply be connected to propane. Burner parts and gas valve settings differ, and a conversion must use the manufacturer's approved parts and be commissioned by a competent Gas Safe registered engineer.
- The supply has its own equipment. Bulk tanks feed the site through regulators, often with over-pressure and under-pressure shut-off devices. A fault or a low tank can show up at the boiler as a lockout even when the boiler itself is fine.
- Responsibilities are split. On most bulk supplies the tank, and often the equipment at the tank, belongs to and is maintained by your LPG supplier under the supply agreement. The pipework from there to your appliances, and the appliances themselves, are normally the site's responsibility. Your supply agreement says exactly where the line is.
Common LPG faults on commercial sites
- Tank run-out. If the tank empties, appliances lock out and a shut-off device on the supply may trip. After the delivery, the system may need resetting, purging of air, a tightness test and each appliance relighting and checking before the building is warm again.
- Pressure dips in cold weather. A tank turns liquid into gas more slowly in cold weather and when the liquid level is low. On sites with a large heating load this can starve burners at the busiest time, which shows as hard starts or repeated lockouts on cold mornings.
- Regulator problems. A failing or iced regulator can give low or unstable pressure. The supplier's equipment is for the supplier to deal with; we check the pressure at the appliances and the site pipework so you know which side the problem is on.
- Cylinder changeover issues. Where cylinder banks are used, an automatic changeover valve that does not switch over cleanly can leave plant without gas while full cylinders sit unused.
- Burner and ignition faults. As on any commercial boiler: worn electrodes, failing flame sensors, dirty burners and faulty gas valves.
If you smell gas on an LPG site
Do not use naked flames, and do not operate electrical switches near the smell. Turn off the supply at the emergency control valve or at the tank if it is safe to do so, open doors and windows, and get people away from low areas where gas can collect. Then call your LPG supplier's emergency line: the number is usually shown on the tank or on your delivery paperwork. Do not use the appliances again until a competent engineer has made the installation safe.
What to have ready when you call
- The site address and the type of building.
- Whether you have a bulk tank or cylinders, and who your LPG supplier is.
- The make and model of each boiler or heater. Photos of the data plates help.
- Any fault codes or lockout lights, and whether the tank was recently low or refilled.
- Plant-room access arrangements and the times the building is in use.
Gas Safe registration and checking an engineer
Gas and LPG work is undertaken by Gas Safe registered engineers (985448). Tell us about the site, equipment and access requirements so we can discuss the right next step.
Gas Safe engineers carry an ID card showing the types of gas work they are qualified to do. You can check any engineer's card on the Gas Safe Register. Where a site also has oil-fired plant, our OFTEC trained engineers can help. See oil commercial heating.
We work on commercial sites only: businesses, public and community buildings, holiday parks and other business premises.
Talk to an engineer
- Freephone: 0800 0996 007
- Call or WhatsApp: 07947 578332 (open WhatsApp)
- Email: [email protected]
- Base: 4 Market Hill, Clare, Sudbury, Suffolk CO10 8NN · contact page · sectors we work in