Gas heater not lighting, smelling odd when it starts, or overdue for its two-yearly check? Prime Plumbing & Gasfitting is a BPC-licensed Type A gasfitter that services and repairs gas space heaters, wall furnaces and gas log fires across Melbourne's east, south-east and bayside suburbs. Every gas heater service includes a carbon monoxide spillage test, and every repair is quoted in writing before we start.
Dust builds up on the burner and the pilot assembly, so the flame burns yellow instead of blue and the heater starts producing carbon monoxide. Spiders and debris block the flue. The thermocouple wears and the pilot keeps dropping out. On open-flued heaters, a house full of exhaust fans and rangehoods can pull flue gases back into the room, which is why the carbon monoxide warnings from Energy Safe Victoria focus on that heater type. Most of it goes unnoticed until someone gets a headache that clears when they leave the room, or the heater quits on the coldest night of the year. A service every two years catches the wear before it becomes a hazard or a breakdown, and it keeps the manufacturer's warranty valid on newer units.
One thing we are upfront about: Prime Plumbing & Gasfitting does not service ducted heating or evaporative cooling. That means room heaters, wall furnaces and gas log fires only. For a ducted system you need a heating and cooling specialist.
Type A gas appliance servicing in Australia follows AS 4575. For a heater that means checking the gas pressure at the test point, inspecting and cleaning the burner and injectors, checking the flame failure device, inspecting the heat exchanger for cracks, checking the flue and terminal, and testing for carbon monoxide spillage with the room under negative pressure. Prime Plumbing & Gasfitting works through the full list on every service and records the readings on the report you receive.
Open-flued heaters draw combustion air from the room. If the house is sealed up and the rangehood, bathroom fan and clothes dryer are all running, the room can drop to a lower pressure than outside and the flue reverses, sending combustion gases back inside. The test turns those fans on, runs the heater, and measures CO at the heater and in the room with a calibrated analyser. If the heater fails, it is not safe to use until the cause is fixed or the unit is replaced, and we say so on the day rather than leaving it for the report.
Under Victoria's Residential Tenancies Regulations, rental providers must have the gas appliances, fittings and installations they supply checked every two years by a licensed gasfitter and keep the record. Prime Plumbing & Gasfitting issues that record after the check, with the appliance details, the test results and the date the next check falls due, so property managers have what they need on file. Where repair work needs a Compliance Certificate, it is lodged and you get the copy.
Tell us the make and model, how old the heater is if you know, and what it is doing. A photo of the rating plate saves guesswork. Heaters that are not lighting, smell, or have soot marks around the flue get treated as a fault call rather than a routine service.
On site we run the heater, check the gas pressure at the test point, inspect the burner, pilot, flame failure device, heat exchanger and flue, and take a carbon monoxide reading with the exhaust fans running. Everything is recorded before any cleaning starts, so you can see the before and the after.
Burner, injectors, pilot assembly, fan and filters are cleaned. Ignition and flame settings are adjusted. Seals and gaskets are checked. Most two-yearly services finish here. The heater goes back to burning blue and passes the spillage test.
If the heater needs a part, you get a written price for the repair before we go ahead. Parts for current Rinnai, Vulcan, Pyrox and gas log fire models are not hard to get. For heaters where parts are no longer made, we say so and price a replacement instead, rather than patching something that will fail again next winter.
You receive the service report with the test readings, anything we found, and the date the next service is due. Rental checks include the record the regulations require. Any Compliance Certificate for repair work is lodged and sent to you as a PDF.
Four things that make a heater service quicker and cheaper.
On most models the rating plate sits inside the lower front panel or on the side of the heater and lists the model number and the gas type. Send it with your booking so we can check parts availability before the visit.
Move furniture, curtains and anything stored against the heater. If the flue runs through a cupboard or the roof space, clear access to it as well. Servicing needs the front panel off and a clear view of the flue connection.
Pilot dropping out, delayed ignition, a smell when it starts, headaches when it runs, a yellow flame, soot above the flue outlet: these tell us where to look first. Write them down so nothing gets forgotten on the day.
Treat a gas smell as a fault call, not a service booking. Turn the heater off, open the windows, do not use switches or naked flames, and call us or your gas distributor's emergency line. Our step-by-step guide covers what to do while you wait.
Energy Safe Victoria recommends at least every two years by a licensed gasfitter, with a carbon monoxide test as part of the service. Rental properties must be checked on that cycle by law. Older open-flued heaters and heaters in bedrooms are worth checking every year.
Prime Plumbing & Gasfitting quotes a fixed price for a standard service when you book, and repairs are priced in writing on site before any part goes in. The price depends on the heater type and the access; a wall furnace in a hallway and a gas log fire with a long flue run are different jobs. Ask for the price when you book.
No. Prime Plumbing & Gasfitting services room heaters, wall furnaces and gas log fires only. Ducted heating and evaporative cooling need a heating and cooling specialist.
Most of the time it is a worn thermocouple or a dirty pilot assembly, which is a straightforward repair. It becomes a safety issue if the pilot drops out and gas keeps flowing, which the flame failure device is there to prevent. Do not keep relighting it every day; book a repair. Our pilot light guide explains the common causes.
We run the heater with the house's exhaust fans and rangehood on, then measure carbon monoxide at the heater and in the room with a calibrated analyser. It shows whether flue gases are being pulled back into the living space. It is part of every gas heater service we do, and it is why a proper service takes longer than a quick clean.
Those open-flued models were the subject of an Energy Safe Victoria safety alert after carbon monoxide poisonings. If you have one, do not use it until it has been tested. In most homes the practical answer is replacement with a modern flued or room-sealed heater, and we can quote that on the same visit.
You get a service report with the test readings and the next due date. Rental gas safety checks come with the record the Residential Tenancies Regulations require. Where repair work requires a Compliance Certificate, Prime Plumbing & Gasfitting lodges it and sends you the copy.
Melbourne's east, south-east, inner south and bayside suburbs. See the full list on our servicing suburbs page.
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