24/7 Industrial Gas Engineer vs a 9-to-5 Firm: Why It Matters

If your factory, warehouse or plant room runs nights or weekends, your gas engineer needs to as well. A 24/7 industrial gas engineer in Preston and across Lancashire isn't a luxury for sites like yours. It can be the difference between losing an hour and losing a shift, a weekend or an order. Plenty of good firms work 9 to 5, Monday to Friday. That suits some customers, but not a production line. What you need is a dedicated gas company that won't let you down: one that answers when you ring and turns out when you need it.At SMR Gas Maintenance Ltd we've worked on industrial and commercial gas plant from our base at Higher Walton, Preston, since 1999. We offer 24/7 emergency cover because gas faults don't wait for office hours. Here are two situations every site manager should think through.

Your plant doesn't keep office hours

Most industrial sites don't stop at 5pm. They run night shifts and weekend production, with ovens and dryers on long cycles, steam plant feeding processes and warehouses working round the clock. Boilers, process burners and radiant tube heaters often work hardest when nobody else is about. A weekday-only contractor only covers some of the hours your plant actually runs. Anything that goes wrong outside those hours has to wait.

Scenario 1: a smell of gas on the night shift

It's 2am at a factory or distribution warehouse. Someone on the night shift smells gas near a process line or in the plant room.With a 9-to-5 firm: the emergency service makes the supply safe and the gas is isolated. You ring your contractor and get voicemail. Nobody can trace or repair the fault until the morning, so the gas stays off. The night shift stands idle or goes home, gas-fired lines stop, and the morning shift starts late while you wait for an engineer.With a 24/7 industrial gas engineer: an engineer can come out that night. They make the installation safe, trace the leak, repair it, and test and re-commission the plant before it goes back into use. You don't have to wait for office hours.

If you smell gas, do this first

• Call the National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999 straight away. It's free and open 24 hours a day.
• Don't use electrical switches, and keep naked flames and sparks away.
• Open doors and windows if it's safe to do so.
• Turn off the gas at the emergency control valve if you know where it is and can reach it safely.
• Get people out of the affected area and follow your site's emergency procedure.
• Once the supply has been made safe, call SMR Gas on 07882 898492 for an engineer to trace and repair the fault and get the plant back into service.

For an LPG installation, call your LPG supplier's emergency number instead of the National Gas Emergency number. To see what information to have ready, read our night breakdown response checklist.

Scenario 2: the boiler goes down on a Saturday morning

It's Saturday morning. The boiler or steam plant locks out and won't restart, and the site has weekend production booked.With a 9-to-5 firm: nobody comes until Monday. That means no heating, hot process water or steam all weekend. Weekend production is lost and staff are sent home. In winter there's also a real risk of frozen pipework, damaged equipment and a slow start on Monday. All of that usually costs far more than the repair.With SMR: we come out at the weekend. We find out why the plant locked out, fix the fault and get the boiler or burner safely back in service, so your people and your production aren't left waiting until Monday.

Why a dedicated gas company matters

When something goes wrong, the most important question is simple: will your gas company actually turn up? A contractor that lets the phone ring out, or says "we'll be there Monday", has let you down when it counts. A dedicated industrial gas company treats your plant as its job, at night, at weekends and on bank holidays, and doesn't leave you stranded.The same goes for the times in between. A boiler that fails at 5pm on a Friday, a process burner on an oven or dryer that trips mid-run, a bank holiday frost or a warehouse heater that fails in a cold snap all need someone who will come out, not someone who will ring back next week. Read more about our process burner servicing and industrial boiler and steam plant servicing.

What good 24/7 cover should give your site

1. Genuine out-of-hours emergency cover at nights, weekends and on bank holidays, not just a weekday service desk.
2. Industrial know-how: boilers and steam plant, process burners, gas trains and interlocks, radiant tube and warm air heating, and LPG and oil-fired plant.
3. Gas Safe registration for the work being done. Ours is 562186.
4. A maintenance contract with out-of-hours cover built in. Planned servicing cuts the chance of breakdowns, and contract clients get priority 24/7 emergency response. See PPM contracts and gas safety certification and our PPM vs reactive call-outs post.

Where we cover

We're based at Higher Walton, just outside Preston, and cover industrial and commercial sites across Lancashire and the North West, including:

• Preston: our home patch, from Walton Summit and Bamber Bridge to manufacturing and distribution sites across the city. See Preston industrial and commercial gas engineers.
• Leyland: a town with a long vehicle-manufacturing history and plenty of engineering firms.
• Chorley: factories and business parks along the M61 and around Buckshaw. See Chorley gas engineers.
• Blackburn: manufacturing sites across Blackburn and Darwen, including Whitebirk and Shadsworth. See Blackburn gas engineers.
• Bolton: manufacturers and warehouses along the M61 corridor. See Bolton gas engineers.
• Wigan: food production, manufacturing and distribution sites near the M6. See Wigan gas engineers.
• Blackpool and the Fylde coast: industrial units and business parks across Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre.
• Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale: East Lancashire's engineering and aerospace supply chain, plus its mills and manufacturing units.
• Lancaster and Morecambe: industrial estates around Lancaster, Morecambe and Heysham.
• Southport and West Lancashire: industrial units in Southport and the estates around Skelmersdale and Ormskirk.
• Ribble Valley: manufacturers and plant around Clitheroe.

See all the areas we cover or our Lancashire gas engineers page.

FAQ

Do you really work nights and weekends?

Yes. SMR Gas offers 24/7 emergency cover for industrial and commercial sites, including nights, weekends and bank holidays.

What should we do first if we smell gas?

Call the National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999 (or your supplier, for LPG). Follow their advice and your site procedure, then call SMR on 07882 898492 to trace and repair the fault.

What plant do you work on?

Industrial and commercial plant only: boilers and plant rooms, steam plant, process burners, gas trains, radiant tube and warm air heating, and LPG and oil-fired plant.

Can a maintenance contract include out-of-hours cover?

Yes. Our PPM contracts can be planned around your shifts and shutdowns, and contract clients get priority 24/7 emergency response. Ask us for a quote.

Talk to SMR Gas about 24/7 cover

Don't wait for a night-shift gas leak or a Saturday breakdown to find out your contractor works 9 to 5. Choose a dedicated gas company that won't let you down when you need it. Call SMR Gas Maintenance Ltd on 07882 898492 (24/7) or email andy@smrgasservices.co.uk to talk about emergency cover or a maintenance contract for your site, or contact us for a quote.SMR Gas Maintenance Ltd · Unit 10 Higher Walton Mill, Cann Bridge Street, Higher Walton, Preston PR5 4DJ · 07882 898492 · andy@smrgasservices.co.uk · Gas Safe registered 562186 · Industrial and commercial gas engineers since 1999