A hospital wing, a care home and three hundred valves
Thermostatic mixing valves are everywhere in the estates you look after: care homes, schools, nurseries, healthcare buildings, leisure centres. Each one needs servicing on whatever interval the client's written scheme sets, and each service is a job in itself: isolate, clean, check, record, reinstate.
Your records probably count them per site. 'Care home A: 42 TMVs, serviced in March.' In reality, the engineer did 35 in March, found four in rooms that were occupied, could not locate two, and one needed a replacement cartridge that was ordered and fitted later. None of that detail survives in a spreadsheet row, and next year's engineer starts from scratch, walking the building to find them.
When the client asks for evidence that a particular valve in a particular bathroom was serviced, you have a PDF that says '42 TMVs serviced'.
Why counting valves is not the same as tracking them
- Valves have no unique identifier, so records cannot refer to a specific one.
- Locations change when rooms are renamed or refurbished.
- Partial visits leave a few valves undone, and those are forgotten.
- Failed valves needing parts are handled as separate jobs with no link back.
- Different valves on the same site may be on different intervals under the client's scheme.
Until each valve exists as its own record, every other improvement is built on sand.
What the gaps cost
Engineers waste time rediscovering valves on every visit, opening bathroom after bathroom to check whether there is a valve under the basin. Valves missed in one round are missed again next time, because nothing marks them as outstanding. Clients who need evidence per valve get a summary, which is an awkward conversation.
Commercially, the per-site count hides extra work. If a refurbishment added eight valves, you may be servicing them under the old price for years.
A valve register and a service round that uses it
- On the first round, engineers tag each valve with a durable label or QR code and record its location, make, type and photo in a mobile form.
- Each valve gets its own service interval, taken from the client's scheme, and its own due date.
- Service visits list the valves due at that site, grouped by floor or wing so the engineer can walk the building in order.
- The engineer scans each tag, records the service and readings, and marks the outcome: serviced, failed and parts needed, no access, or not found.
- Failed valves create a remedial job or quote linked to that valve. When it is fitted, the valve record updates.
- Valves not serviced on the round stay due and appear on the next visit, and the client sees them as outstanding.
| Outcome | What happens next |
|---|---|
| Serviced | Next due date set from the valve's interval |
| Failed, parts needed | Linked remedial job or quote created |
| No access | Stays due, client told which rooms |
| Not found | Flagged for the client to confirm if removed |
| New valve found | Added to register pending office check |
Per-valve evidence on demand
Clients can see every valve on their estate, its location and its service history. The monthly report lists outstanding valves by room, which helps site staff arrange access. Your engineers walk straight to the valves due rather than searching, and new valves found on site are captured and priced properly.
At contract renewal, the register shows exactly how many valves you look after, which makes the price conversation straightforward.
Is this your TMV problem?
- Your records say how many TMVs a site has, not which ones were serviced.
- Engineers search for valves on every visit.
- Valves missed on one round are not picked up on the next.
- Clients ask for evidence per valve and you cannot give it.
- Refurbishments add valves that never reach the contract.