Gas Safety Certificates for Boats, Trailers, Caravans, Food Trucks, Yachts, Buses, Motor Homes and Tiny Homes
This process is covered by a New Zealand standard for Gas Installations. It runs to hundreds of pages of very technical information. It’s a heavy read and usually can take hours of research to commence an installation specially if its unusual. And there are plenty of unusual tiny homes, appliances and food trucks or carts.
The law was changed a while ago where previously anyone could do gas installations using under 15kg gas bottles and so not many were done by a gasfitter, and so did not comply with any standard. If you have one of these installations then it is unlikely to comply.
If you are requesting a Gas Certification or Verification or Safety Certificate then we need to inspect the installation and go through a long checklist of checks.
The things we consider in broad terms, for example are:
- Type of pipe used, and sizing
- Position of the bottle and how it is secured and whether it is ventilated and drained.
- The size of vents and drains for the enclosure.
- The location of piping, what is in the storage cupboard.
- Regulator type used and where it vents to.
- Jointing materials.
- Appliance positions relative to combustibles.
- Gimballing.
- Appliance security.
- Fluing in the case of caravan water heating and space heating. Materials used. Sizing.
- Where and how the piping is run.
- Flue termination to lots of things.
- Appliance approval on the database of appliances with energy safety.
- Use of flexible hoses and how they are run through the boat and where they are located and on what appliances.
- Ventilation of spaces where people are sleeping.
- Isolation valves at appliances.
- Condensate drains.
- Gas leak sensors and location.
- Solenoids for controlling gas entering the boat or mobile building.
- Solenoid and gas leak controllers’ location and wiring and how that is to be run.
- Labelling and warning signs. Warning sign location.
With boats it is not possible to run the piping outside the boat for obvious reasons, and due to the hull curvature, and storage spaces, how will the piping be run while maintaining storage capacity?
In many cases getting piping into these spaces is difficult and trying to manoeuvre pipes to their new location is very time-consuming and requires discussion on how this is to be done. There is a limit of reason as to how neat and tidy this can be done in a visible location.
If it’s a boat then we need access to the bilge which is the lowest part of that boat to see if there is a gas sensor there.
Bottle locations need to be outside the hull or cabin in a storage locker specifically for the bottle and nothing else.
Tiny Homes and Caravans Wellington Services
Tiny Homes and Caravans are classified as buildings under the Building Act. Yes, even if it has wheels.
The Building Act has reference to gas codes and regulations as well. This page does not deal with plumbing or drainage to mobile buildings.
Step 1:
Service Call to identify what is compliant if anything. We have a standard fee for this.
We note the faults on the invoice.
Warning – there is a possibility we cap off your installation if it is unsafe. This means we think you are about to catch something on fire or similar, or there is a carbon monoxide discharge, or there is some other unsafe thing that is likely to cause harm to persons or the boat of vehicle. Not just a compliance issue.
Step 2:
Prepare a proposal to replace any unsafe parts. It is not uncommon to have to replace the whole installation keeping the bottles sometimes. There are some installations we can save quite a bit and it is just the piping and valves that need updating.
Risks
When you think of the bottles, piping, and appliances bouncing up and down on roads and over potholes and boats falling off waves 5m high, the gasfitting takes a real hammering and needs to be checked. We recommend every two years. The installation has to be robust to handle all this.
Call now at 0800 484 353.
How to Start
Bring the mobile item to us, or we go to you. There is a limit to where we can do work. Having a technician travelling miles into the wilderness is usually not viable.
Installation
Installations take a lot longer than you think as there is a wide variety of fittings needed for different situations and it is not uncommon to take a day just to gather all the parts together and make things work. It is not a standard one size fits all mobile buildings that are complex and time-consuming as each one is unique.
We do have standard regulators, sensors, labels, controllers, solenoid valves, and connections. As each boat has a different layout getting fittings to deal with the cupboards and frames and tight spaces.
A pressure test is carried out at the end of each project and then a Gas Certificate is issued and signed by a certifier. Certifiers will not sign off unsafe installations or leave them running.