Wednesday October 5 2016 by VBA
Safety in the kitchen is important for everyone. Good building practices will help maintain safety and one important area too often overlooked is the proximity of gas cookers to their surround, combustible, areas.
The Victorian Building Authority (VBA) has recently seen a growing number of domestic gas cooking appliances installed in residential premises which have been installed without adequate clearance between the appliances and surrounding combustible surfaces. Of particular concern is the proximity of the rear burners of gas cook tops to vertical surfaces such as combustible walls.
AS/NZS 5601.1:2013 Gas Installations Part 1: General Installations specifies that the required clearance distance between the periphery of the burner and a vertical combustible surface should be at least 200mm.. Where the distance is less than the specified clearance then protection of the combustible surface is required as per AS/NZS 5601.1:2013 Clause 6.10.1.2 and Appendix C.
One method of protecting a combustible surface is to use toughened safety glass with a suitable backing material however plumbers are often unaware that the toughened safety glass will also need to comply with AS/NZS 2208 Safety Glazing Materials in Buildings. The toughened safety glass would either need to be marked as complying with AS/NZS 2208 or documentation from the manufacturer will need to be provided to demonstrate compliance with AS/NZS 2208.
Installations of this nature may be audited by the VBA and practitioners are advised that documentation detailing compliance with the required standards, including the identification of the backing material, will need to be supplied to the VBA should an audit be undertaken.
For further information please refer to VBA technical solution sheet 92.03 which is available on the VBA website at VBA Technical Solution Sheets and ESV information sheet 6 available on the ESV website at ESV Technical Information Sheets.