All boilers in New York City must be inspected annually between January 1st-December 31st of each calendar year and a boiler inspection report must be submitted within 45 days of the inspection. If a correction is needed, another inspection report must be submitted within 180 days of the date the defects were identified proving that the repairs were made. There are three types of boiler inspections; High-Pressure Annual Boiler Inspections, Low-Pressure Annual Boiler Inspections, and First Test Inspections.
- High-pressure boilers require two inspections to be conducted by an authorized insurance company, one internal and one external. The internal inspections require that the department is notified via email at hpboilers@buildings.nyc.gov 10 days prior. Additionally, the inspections must be conducted six months apart from one another and are within the yearly cycle.
- The low-pressure boilers that must be inspected annually are; low-pressure boilers in residential buildings with 6 or more dwellings, low-pressure boilers in residential buildings classified as a single room occupancy dwelling, low-pressure boilers in mixed-use buildings or commercial buildings, and H-stamp domestic hot water heaters with more than 350,000 BTU's in residential, mixed-use and commercial buildings. You can find the low-pressure boiler inspection review list here.
- If a boiler is undergoing an inspection for the first time or more than half of the parts of the boiler are newly installed, it must pass a First Test Inspection. These inspections are scheduled at DOB: NOW Inspections. If a First Test Inspection is passed, approval will be given by the department and an annual inspection report is not required to be filed until the next cycle year. If a First Test Inspection is failed, another inspection is required after the faulty component(s) are fixed. Until the follow-up inspection occurs, the boiler is considered unregistered and is subject to an OATH/Environmental Control Board Violation.
Reports for both types of inspections must be filed at DOB: NOW Safety. The department’s Boiler Unit will issue violations to the owner of record if the inspection report is not filed within twelve months of the date of inspection. The penalty structure is shown below:
The following are a list of exceptions to the annual boiler inspections:
- Boilers that heat individual dwelling units in all building types.
- Boilers located at one-to-five-family properties.
- Boilers used for domestic hot water only and rated at a heat input of less than 350,000 BTUs.
- Boilers rated at a heat input of less than 100,000 BTUs.
- Boilers owned by the Port Authority, the United Nations, foreign consulates, and Federal/State government agencies.