Installation of medical gas systems
Pipelines, supply systems, terminal units and medical supply units — installed in accordance with the design documentation and PN-EN ISO 7396-1. Installation closes with tests, commissioning and formal technical acceptance tests, which must come before the ceiling is closed.
From the pipeline to the terminal unit at the bedside
We install medical gas systems in their full scope: pipelines, sources, terminal units and medical supply units — ceiling-mounted and wall-mounted. The basis is the design documentation and the PN-EN ISO 7396-1 standard, not workshop practice carried over from plumbing installations.
The difference is fundamental. In a medical gas installation a fault does not show itself as a leak, but as the wrong gas reaching a terminal unit, or too little of it reaching it at the moment it is needed most. That is why the sequence of works, the cleanliness of the installation and the scope of tests are not a matter of contractor habit, but of the requirements of the standard.
The installation work itself is only the middle of the process. It is preceded by the design, which settles diameters, zoning and the selection of supply systems, and closed by the acceptance tests — and it is these, not the completion of the works, that decide whether the installation can be put into service.
Who may carry out work on the installation and where the qualifications come from: medical gas qualifications. The hospital's role in approving the contractor: Authorised Person.
What we install
Acceptance must come before the ceiling is closed
This is the most common scheduling conflict on a hospital site. The ceiling contractor wants to close the void, while the medical gas installation still requires access to the joints. Once the ceiling is in place a large part of the pipeline is no longer visible, and testing, labelling and verification of the joints have to be carried out with access to the route.
The consequence of departing from this sequence is always the same: the handover is incomplete, or finished enclosures have to be dismantled. The installation handover date is therefore a fixed point in the construction programme, not an item that can be moved along with the rest of the finishing works.
The scope of tests follows from PN-EN ISO 7396-1 and covers, among other things, leak-tightness, flow, labelling and verification that the correct gas reaches every terminal unit. Installation closes with tests, commissioning and formal technical acceptance tests.
In detail: acceptance tests before the ceiling is closed and construction acceptance of a medical gas installation.
How the installation work ends
Work in an operational hospital
Extending a live installation follows different rules from building from scratch
Phasing
The scope has to be divided into zones agreed with the facility, so that a shutdown covers the smallest possible section of the installation and the shortest possible time window. Without that division the works block a ward rather than a section of pipeline.
Continuity of supply
Wards that cannot be shut down require a temporary supply for the duration of the changeover. How that is arranged is a design and organisational matter, not a decision taken on site.
Checks after changeover
The standard requires verification that the correct gas reaches every terminal unit. When tying into a live installation this check carries the most weight: a swapped gas has clinical consequences, not technical ones.
From the refurbishment of a single ward to a regional hospital
We build installations at very different scales — from a single ward under refurbishment to complete installations in projects co-financed from regional funds, such as the redevelopment at Centrum Medyczne in Łańcut under RPO Województwa Podkarpackiego 2014–2020. What they share is how they end: tests, commissioning and formal acceptance.
A medical gas installation rarely stands alone in a contract — it forms part of a larger construction project, in which success depends on coordination with the main contractor and with the facility, particularly on handover dates and shutdowns.
All projects, with their locations, are shown on the map: Medpipe projects.
Selected installation works
Before and after installation
Installation is the middle of the process, not its beginning or its end
Frequently asked questions about installation works
Does installation work on medical gas systems require any special qualifications?
A medical gas installation is not an ordinary plumbing installation — it is a medical device, and work on it has consequences for patient safety. Admitting a particular contractor to work on an installation in service is decided by the Authorised Person appointed on the hospital's side, and it is that person who sets the conditions of entry.
When do the acceptance tests have to be carried out?
Before the suspended ceiling is closed. Once it is boxed in, a substantial part of the pipeline is no longer accessible, while testing, labelling and checking of joints all require access. An acceptance test carried out after the ceiling has been closed is either incomplete or ends with dismantling finished construction.
What do the tests after installation cover?
The scope of testing follows PN-EN ISO 7396-1 and covers, among other things, leak-tightness, flow, labelling and verification that the correct gas reaches every terminal unit. That last test is critical: a cross-connection is an error whose consequences are borne by the patient, not by the installation.
Can the work be carried out while the hospital is operating?
Yes, but it requires phasing agreed with the facility: division into zones, a temporary supply for wards that cannot be shut down, and changeovers planned outside peak load hours.
Who is responsible for CE marking once installation is complete?
It depends on whether the installation was designed and built as a single device or came about as an assembly of separately marked devices. The distinction has legal significance and determines what documentation has to be produced — we describe it in detail in the knowledge base.
How does the installation work end?
With tests, commissioning and formal technical acceptance tests. This is not a formality that closes the construction works: only the acceptance certificate shows that the installation meets the requirements of the standard and can be put into service.
When the installation is a single device and when it is an assembly of devices: does a medical gas installation have CE marking and pipeline system certificate.
Send us the documentation and we will respond with a scope
For a quotation we need the design or the bill of quantities, information on the construction stage and on whether the work takes place alongside a ward in service. We work throughout Poland.