Menu
Click on the image below to view a welcome message from Marnie Williams, Commission Chairperson at Energy Safe Victoria (ESV).
During the each webinar, attendees will have the opportunity to ask the panel of industry experts questions about the content covered in each session. Questions asked throughout the series will appear here.
No.
The obligation to have a gas safety check conducted on a gas installation sits with the property owner not the licensed gasfitter. Your obligation is to carry out the work you have been engaged to complete. In this case it is to repair the appliance. This work would require you to ensure the appliance is safe, is operating correctly and a VBA record has been completed.
It is a legal requirement for a plumber to provide the person who commissioned the work a document setting out their name, license or registration number and business address.
Building Act 1993 221ZPA Information to be provided before work starts
You must be a registered or licensed gasfitter who also holds the specialised class of Type A appliance servicing. A registered person in this specialised class must work under the supervision of a person who holds a licence to service Type A Gas Appliances.
Building Act 1993 221F Restriction concerning specialised plumbing work
In the course of your work, you may come across non-compliant plumbing work. As the existing gas installation belongs to the owner of the property, they must approve of any rectification work to be undertaken. The action the
gasfitter takes will depend on whether the non-compliant plumbing work identified is considered to be dangerous
or not. A dangerous installation is one that presents a threat to life or property – see ESV’s “Gas Information Sheet
27 – Dealing with dangerous installations” for more information.
When conducting a service on a gas cooktop (cleaning the injector), the attending gasfitter identifies that the rangehood clearance is non-compliant (e.g. 590 mm clearance). What should they do?
Gasfitters are required to assess the safety of an installation. If you assess the installation as dangerous your first
priority is to safe guard life and property:
The person carrying out the work must:
If the gasfitter considers the installation to be non-compliant, but not a dangerous installation (e.g. no signs of scorch marks or damage in the surrounding cooktop area), they should advise the owner of the situation and recommend it be rectified.
If the non-compliant gas installation is within the warranty period covered by a compliance certificate (six years), the property owner may be able to take action to have that work rectified by the original gasfitter.
When conducting a Gas Safety Check (to comply with the Residential Tenancy Regulations 2021) on a freestanding gas cooker, the gasfitter identifies that the appliance is not secured from tipping over. What should they do?
An unsecured free standing gas cooker is considered a dangerous installation as the misuse of the appliance can have catastrophic consequences. As the installation is considered dangerous your first priority is to safe guard life
and property:
The person carrying out the work must:
Disclaimer: Please note that the above scenarios are only examples of some situations and do not constitute a complete list. All situations of non-compliance have to be considered as to the danger they present.
No.
Amendments to AS/NZS 5601 are not applied retrospectively so you would not need to fit an isolation valve in an existing kitchen unless you were engaged to renew the fitting line. It would be good practice to make your client aware of this new requirement when completing gas works on their kitchen.
No.
AS/NZS 5601.1:2022 will not be applied retrospectively so you would not need to fit an isolation valve in an existing kitchen if you were adding an additional appliance. If you were engaged to renew the fitting line or carry out an upgrade of the fitting line due to increased gas load then the isolating valve would be required.
ESV is intending to provide some additional guidance material on the new requirements for the new fire safety devices in the near future. The latest publication date for the new standard is in August. ESV is considering a transition period after the publication date.
The answer is dependent on the location of your fitting line alteration. Once the new standard comes in to operation the requirement for installing a safety shut off valve on an existing fitting line will be dependent on where you are altering the pipework rather than what material you are using. As an example if the copper was being installed at the supply point and the installation had multi layered pipe the safety shut of valve would be required.
It is currently anticipated that the new AS/NZS 5601.1:2022 will be published in August, ESV are internally discussing a transition period after the publication date. ESV will be providing further guidance material on the requirements and types of valves in the coming months. ESV would suggest also that it be good practice to make your client aware of this forthcoming requirement.
The standard will not be applied retrospectively, so existing installations that are not altered will not require retrofitting. But if the installation is altered then depending on where the installation is altered this may require the emergency isolation valve to be installed. For example if you are changing over an appliance there would be no requirement to retrofit the emergency isolation valve, but if you need to upgrade the fitting line due to increased gas load the new valve would be required.
Another example would be if you are altering the fitting line from the gas supply point (gas meter) to a downstream isolation valve (such as an appliance) you will need to retrofit the emergency isolation valve.
In relation to the automatic gas shut off valve on multi-layer pipe, is there going to be a “grace” period before this is enforced? If jobs have commenced at a fixed price, builders and owners aren’t going to want to pay for this change?
When conducting a Gas Safety Check on a gas appliance if there is no test point or test point is not accessible, should this be lodged as a non-compliance?
Gas cooktops when tested for emissions are required to have a carbon monoxide/ carbon dioxide ratio of less than 0.01. Gasfitters are not expected to monitor this.
Short term exposure limit of 200ppm for 15 minutes is recommended by Safework Australia. Time weighted average over 8 hours should not exceed 30ppm.
Yes, you must conduct a CO Test an un-flued heater.
Flueless heaters—Energy Safe Victoria
A person cannot install any flueless space heater as a new installation in residential premises (including a caravan or boat). A person is required not to install or locate for use a connection device for a flueless space heater in residential premises including a caravan or boat. However, a person is permitted to replace an existing flueless space heater with a new flueless space heater if the new flueless heater meets the following requirements:
These heaters require ongoing ventilation to external spaces to allow fresh air to fuel the burner and discharge combustion products.
Indoor flueless heaters are restricted in Victoria. Regulations prohibit the installation of new indoor flueless heaters, with the exception that existing LPG flueless heaters may be replaced in limited circumstances.
Gas heaters intended for outdoor use only have different requirements. Heaters designed for outdoor use must never be brought indoors, or in an unventilated location like a caravan or tent.
Short term exposure limit of 200ppm for 15 minutes is recommended by Safework Australia. Time weighted average over 8 hours should not exceed 30ppm.
You can test with the cover on by placing the smoke device near the combustion & dilution air intakes.
Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) considered this option as part of previous regulatory impact statements. ESV’s position is that we support the use of CO alarms but believe consumer education and practitioner training on CO will result in a better outcome than mandating CO alarms. ESV’s position is that appliances should be serviced every 2 years.
Why doesn’t ESV and VBA make carbon monoxide alarms compulsory in all residential gas installations?
Yes.
Repairs fall into the catagory of servicing work and trigger the requirements for the VBA’s Gas Servicing Record.
The VBA will utilise Type A appliance servicing reporting results within the already established risk based auditing process.
Yes.
Gasfiters wil be able to attach their own servicing reports to the AS 4575 Type A appliance servicing reporting process.
Yes, any service work including warranty service work will trigger the AS 4575 Type A appliance servicing reporting requirement.
It may be either yourself or the company of which you are employed by, as long as the person carrying out the work has the appropriate qualifications to conduct the work.
To save and retrieve the record later, you require the following information:
The GSR number for the record can be generated by:
If you have lost the reference number unfortunately you will not be able to access the report you had previously submitted.
No.
Gasfitting work in a school is classed as Complex Gasfitting work. Whilst the service work in a complex gas installation would need to be carried out in compliance with AS 4575 the new VBA reporting requirements only apply to service work on appliances in a standard gas installation.
Yes.
As these components are in control of the gas supply, replacement or repair work is by definition Type-A appliance Servicing Work. This is also assuming that the appliance is a plug-in and not hard wired.
No.
The work is a repair only, unless you are contracted to service the appliance where a gas service report would be required.
No.
AS 4575 does require you to ensure that when carrying out repair work on a Type A appliance the installation of the appliance is safe and that the appliance is checked to ensure safe and correct operation. AS 4575 Clause 2.10 Gas Safety.
There is also a requirement in the Gas Safety Act to ensure the gas installation is safe for use on completion of carrying out gas-fitting work. For more information visit ESV web site.
https://esv.vic.gov.au/gas-technical-information-sheets/57-type-a-appliance-service/
Yes.
Type A appliance servicing work for which a record must be submitted to the VBA is defined as the internal cleaning, maintenance and adjusting of a Type A appliance and includes the adjustment, repair or replacement of a component of the Type A appliance.
Hydrogen can operate a the same pressure as natural gas however would require a larger burner injector orifice to supply a larger volume of gas because of its lower heating value.
In the short term with small blends of 5 and 10% hydrogen into the natural gas network, the impact on gas characteristics is negligible and therefore the need for specialised training is limited.
For larger concentrations and in particular for 100% hydrogen there will be a need to train gasfitters. Units of competency have been identified by the Construction and Plumbing Industry Reference Committee under the Australian Industry Skills Council. However the development of those units of competency are on hold as the Federal Government is waiting on a report by the consultants PWC on hydrogen skills needs for industry. That report is expected to be published within the next two months.
Polyethylene has been found to be compatible with hydrogen so the piping will be ok.
More research is required on the crimped fittings although to date materials such as brass and stainless steel have been found to be compatible at the relatively low pressures of fittings lines.
There are a number of pilot projects already underway such as Hyp SA in Adelaide injecting 5% hydrogen into 700 houses. The proposed Hyp Murray Valley project will inject 5% and then 10% hydrogen into the natyral gas network servicing 40,000 customers. There are also some pilot projects for 100% hydrogen under consideration.
This question can only be answered once we understand the hydrogen proposal (100% or blend) and identify what, if any, skills gap this is to ensure safety.
Under the Building Act 1993, a compliance certificate must be given for any of the following gasfitting related
work:
A compliance certificate is required when you replace a section of the gas pipework. This is because this work
involves modifying the gas fitting line, and therefore the consumer gas piping is not the same as it was prior to the
work being carried out.
A compliance certificate is required when you replace an isolating valve to a gas appliance as this work will
involve a modification of the consumer gas piping. Note that testing of the fitting line downstream of the gas valve
to the next point of isolation will also be required.
A compliance certificate will be required as the gas installation has been modified.
A compliance certificate is not required unless the gas safety check includes any of the following:
The documentation found below will compliment the information delivered in the 2022 Gas Safety Program.
This program is a joint industry initiative from The Victorian Building Authority, Energy Safe Victoria and Master Plumbers.
Hosted by experts from each organisation, these webinars will provide Victorian registered or licensed Gasfitters and Type A Servicing plumbers with the latest information on new legislative requirements, changes to standards and your obligations.
If you’d like to ask a question or get in contact with the program organisers, please fill out the below form.
