REGISTERED GAS ENGINEER | FLUE GAS ANALYSERS
The benefits of Bluetooth When you next consider upgrading your flue gas analyser, it’s worth taking a look at those with Bluetooth technology; it doesn’t cost a lot more but could potentially save you hours a week, says Anton sales director Damian Cairns.
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here’s an app for almost everything these days, and that includes flue gas analysers (FGAs). In fact, in order for your analyser to interact with the increasing number of applications out there, it will need to be Bluetooth-enabled. Being Bluetooth-enabled means that report data is sent from the analyser directly to a phone or tablet rather than physically printing the report. Many engineers are still using printers to generate their proof of the readings they’ve taken, but more and more are realising the benefits of Bluetooth reporting. Saved time: sending report data into a landlord’s gas safety record (LGSR) at the touch of a button is a lot faster and more efficient than filling out the paperwork by hand, inputting the data by hand into the form, printing the FGA report in duplicate and attaching it to LGSR copies. You can email reports immediately, too, further cutting down on admin time. Total accuracy: no errors in inputting the data from the screen of the FGA to your LGSR or other reports. Incomplete reports or putting the decimal in the wrong place on a ratio become a thing of the past. Traceability: Every report created electronically can be traced back to the serial number of the FGA that created the data, to the date and time the test was completed and the calibration-due date of the instrument. Some apps tag the GPS coordinates of where the device was when the report was created to further prove that the readings were taken at the right place and time with a suitably calibrated instrument. Save money: Once you go paperless, you don’t need to buy pads – not to mention the time saved by not having to fill in the paperwork and then send the duplicate copies to landlords, etc. Create a more professional image: When a customer receives an electronic gas report
22 December 2020
The Pro3 is the first FGA in Anton’s current range with the Bluetooth chip installed. Pro1 can’t support Bluetooth technology. Pro2 isn’t equipped with it either, although it can be upgraded during annual calibration if you want to add Bluetooth connectivity. We can see that interest in going paperless will only increase as more and more apps integrate with the technology and more gas engineers realise the benefits and time savings that Bluetooth can bring. by email, they generally don’t want to receive the paper version that they can’t read and now have to file. PDFs of all their reports are easy to find and easy to re-send if your customer needs another copy. COVID-19 Another benefit of Bluetooth is that being able to create reports on your phone/tablet and email them directly to your customer not only saves time (meaning you have to spend less time in the property) but also means one less physical interaction with the customer. From a COVID-19 risk-management point of view, these are highly desirable for you and your customer. On the subject of COVID-19, we (Anton) received a huge number of enquiries as to whether we’d remain open during the
first lockdown. The majority of these enquiries were relating to customers needing to get their FGAs serviced and calibrated. By introducing strict social distancing rules and other measures in line with government recommendations, we were able to remain fully operational through
the whole lockdown period and will continue to do the same through the remainder of the pandemic. Heating engineers are relied upon by their customers to maintain their hot water and heating, which is even more essential during the winter months. An FGA is a vital tool for heating engineers to ensure they can look after their customers: we recognise the need to support all our customers through this time and we will continue to provide full service, calibration and sales support accordingly. ■ www.anton-group.com
There are apps to suit all business sizes, including those that are free to download and use (on iOS and Android), such as Anton’s Sprint Mobile app, which is ideally suited to sole traders and smaller companies. There are also subscription-based apps that offer a complete solution for bigger organisations that want to send jobs to field-based engineers, as well as receiving all the data and reports back electronically to one database. Anton has partnered with several market-leading apps to provide this. With Benchmark now offering the ability to complete the boiler commissioning checklist through an app, there are plans to improve this further with Bluetooth connectivity to analysers, so that those all-important combustion readings can be sent instantly from the FGA to complete the Benchmark report. You’ll need a Bluetoothenabled FGA in order to take advantage of this.
