Page 6 - Climate Control News magazine March 2022

News
Gas servicing mandate for Victoria long overdue
Sonia Sofianopoulos recommended that AS 4575 be updated to include a carbon monoxide spill- age test. This recommendation was delivered with a 2019 update.
“This government wants to ensure these standards are compulsory to put a stop to more preventable deaths,” D’Ambrosio said.
“The lack of minimum servicing standards is just not acceptable.”
New standards effectively ban new open flued gas space heaters by ensuring that they are no longer certified from 1 January 2022, and laws introduced last year require safety checks for gas appliances installed in rental properties.
The Government is also investing $335 million towards helping low income and vulnerable households upgrade to new high-efficiency heat- ing and cooling systems.
The Home Heating and Cooling Upgrades Pro- gram offers a $1,000 rebate to 250,000 house- holds, reducing the upfront cost of purchasing new split systems.
Consultation on the RIS closes 22 March.
Victorian households, businesses and indus- try can provide feedback at engage.vic.gov.au/ regulatory-impact-statement-mandate-austral- ian-standard-4575.
Master Plumbers’ CEO Peter Daly said the new servicing requirement is overdue and should have been introduced a long time ago.
He said the Australian Standard for gas servic- ing (AS4575) is already mandated in other parts of Australia by licensed plumbers and gasfitters.
“It’s disappointing that it has taken so long to get to this stage, but we strongly support the gov- ernment’s move to require a baseline for all gas appliance servicing,” Daly said.
“Servicing of gas appliances is a specialised area of plumbing and gasfitting, which requires additional training, experience and an addition- al accreditation to a plumbers’ license.”
THE VICTORIAN GOVERNMENT HAS PROPOSED A MINIMUM SERVICING STANDARD FOR TYPE A GAS APPLIANCES SUCH AS STOVES, HEATERS AND HOT WATER SERVICES.
ABOVE: Gas fitter at work on a boiler.
MINISTER FOR ENVIRONMENT & Climate Change, Lily D’Ambrosio, has released a Regulatory Impact Statement (RIS) for consul- tation, which will determine the best approach for setting minimum standards for gas appliance servicing from 1 June 2022.
In Victoria, there is currently no mandated minimum standard for the servicing of gas appliances, particularly gas heaters.
The mandated standard would reduce the risk to householders associated with ineffective servicing, including carbon monoxide poison- ing,” she said.
In 2018, a coronial inquest into the death of
Cooling matters
COOLING IS AT the very heart of modern life, which is why the theme for this year’s World Refrigeration Day (WRD) is Cooling Matters.
WRD founder, Steve Gill, said cool- ing allows everyone to live and work comfortably.
“The need for cooling is everywhere, it touches lives in fantastic, though often unnoticed ways. Whatever way we look at it, cooling matters,” he said.
“Our objective is to make the public aware of cooling’s essential benefits, how cooling impacts daily life, and how
technology choices foster environmen- tal well-being for future generations.”
WRD is celebrated every year on 26 June and was introduced to raise awareness about the role of the HVACR industry.
Food, vaccines, buildings all require cooling and the industry has been able to raise awareness on important topics such as emissions reduction, energy effi- ciency and global warming since WRD was introduced.
It is also a great way to promote career opportunities in the HVACR industry.
The need for cooling is everywhere.
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