Condo owners: Why you need to conduct maintenance of your natural gas equipment

What is your responsibility as a syndicate of co-owners/condo owner?

Mechanical equipment for heating and hot water are assets that are essential to the comfort and safety of the co-owners. If they break down or malfunction they could become a major source of irritation and complaints to the syndicate. The syndicate has three roles to play:

• Find a reliable and qualified company to maintain natural gas equipment
• Perform regular maintenance of the systems to avoid breakdowns at critical times
• Prolong the equipment’s life, because it represents a major investment

Why do you need to maintain your natural gas equipment?

All car owners have regular maintenance done on their vehicles to ensure optimum performance. But people do not always take the same care of their natural gas heaters and water heaters. Why not? This mechanical equipment has parts that are exposed to significant thermal stress and frequent stops and starts.

Manufacturer requirement: Read the installation manual that came with your gas-powered equipment and you will see that almost all manufacturers recommend annual maintenance. If a part breaks, any negligence on the part of the equipment’s owner may invalidate the warranty.

Safety: Equipment that is not maintained will get clogged up, and that could affect natural gas combustion. Faulty combustion can lead to the release of carbon monoxide, which is harmful to health.

Energy efficiency: Clogged equipment, blocked heat exchangers and faulty combustion will all affect your device’s energy efficiency. Energy efficiency that does not meet the manufacturer’s parameters will lead to unnecessarily high natural gas bills.

Longer lasting equipment: Like cars, heating equipment will last a lot longer if it is maintained properly, and you will not have to invest in replacing it before you have to.

When should you do maintenance on your equipment?

The best time for maintenance is spring and summer. That is when the technical manpower is most widely available.

Who should do maintenance on your equipment?

Maintenance has to be done by a technical expert who has all the permits and operator cards to work on equipment that runs on natural gas. It is a matter of your own safety and that of the other co-owners.

What are you waiting for? Call in a professional and have some maintenance done on your natural gas equipment!

Gaz Métro Plus or a Certified natural gas partner