Benchmark digital platform: paper checklist no longer maintained, HPM reports

The paper Benchmark checklist is no longer maintained, Heating and Plumbing Monthly (HPM) reports. HHIC and ICOM want your engineers to fill in commissioning and service records on the Benchmark digital platform instead, according to the same report.

HPM says the latest version of the checklist sits on Benchmark’s website and apps, so the form gets filled in online or through an app, and the householder gets an accessible record of their heating system. For a small business that’s a tools and technology decision as much as a paperwork one.

HPM goes further and calls full completion through the app or portal a requirement, alongside installing and commissioning to the manufacturer’s instructions. The report doesn’t say whose requirement that is or what access costs, and it gives no deadline for moving across and no word on records already on paper.

Commercial heating appliances can now go on the Benchmark digital platform too, HPM reports, though it doesn’t list which makes or models. It quotes ICOM director Steve McConnel saying several leading commercial manufacturers already use Benchmark, and encouraging the others to give Benchmark their model numbers.

The Benchmark digital platform now records inhibitor checks

Water treatment test results can now be logged in the digital record, HPM reports, including inhibitor checks at commissioning and at each annual service. A statement quoted by HPM says that helps an engineer coming back to the system identify the inhibitor used, pick the right on-site test kit and top up concentrations where needed.

What goes into commercial hot water systems is a separate subject, and ICOM’s water treatment guide update covers that side of the work.

HPM also says the appliance should be serviced at least annually to the manufacturer’s recommendations by a suitably qualified competent person. For gas boilers, the report says, that means a Gas Safe registered engineer, with the service details logged in the servicing section of the app or portal. Missing the manufacturer’s servicing requirements could invalidate the warranty, HPM warns.

The report describes the checklist as a record that the appliance was installed, commissioned and serviced to the manufacturer’s instructions, Building Regulations and the relevant British Standards. The notification you make under building regs for boiler replacement is still its own job.

Your customer needs to know who registers the warranty

HPM says the appliance needs registering for warranty with the manufacturer within one month of installation, and that the installer can do it when completing the checklist. The warranty belongs to the customer, the report adds, and HHIC and ICOM want customers told that if the installer hasn’t registered it, it’s up to them to do it within the time allowed.

If your engineer completes the checklist on site and someone in the office handles warranties, your handover needs one clear answer: has the warranty been registered, and by whom?