Selection, purchase, installation and maintenance of your wood heater

Selection

Appropriate selection, installation and maintenance of your wood heater are an important health and safety issue for you and your family. It may also be an important issue for your neighbours.

When selecting home heating options, consider alternative forms that can meet your needs. If you are thinking about a wood heater or fireplace, consider where you live - are you in built-up metropolitan area? How close are the neighbours' homes? Do you have access to reticulated gas?

Purchase

• If possible, save money and insulate your home first. Uninsulated ceilings, walls and floors can account for 70 per cent of total heat loss from a home.
• Think about the size of area you want to heat, how long you want to heat the area for, where you will source the wood and how much it will cost.
• Open fireplaces are up to five times more polluting than wood heaters that meet the Australian Standard (AS/NZS 4013:1999).
• It is a requirement that all wood heaters made and sold in Victoria are certified to meet this standard.
• Check that the wood heater you're buying has a compliance plate to confirm it complies with the standard.
• Obtain good advice before you decide to buy.

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Installation

• Obtain a licensed person to install your wood heater. A licensed person will provide you with a certificate of compliance for the installation.
• A wood heater must be installed in accordance with part 12A of the Building Act 1993.

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Maintenance

To keep a wood heater burning efficiently it needs to be maintained and serviced.

• Check your heater and flue prior to the start of every heating season. Look for cracks or changes to the surface. Have it checked by a qualified service person.
• Have your flue or chimney professionally cleaned at least once a year.

Leave the wood heater on a high burn rate for 20 minutes after lighting or adding more fuel.

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Further information on home heating appliances

EPA Victoria administers the Waste management policy (Solid Fuel Heating). The policy requires that only wood heaters certified to Australian Standard 4013:1999 are available for sale in Victoria.

The waste management policy provides a legal framework for managing the manufacture and supply of wood heaters in Victoria. It also contains provisions aimed at encouraging correct operation of solid fuel heating appliances installed in homes. This includes community information and education campaigns to reduce smoke from wood heating.

When correctly installed and operated, wood heaters compliant with the Australian Standard (AS/NZS 4013) produce significantly lower emissions of particles than non-compliant wood heaters.

Sustainability Victoria administers the High Efficiency Gas Heater Rebate Program as part of the Victorian Government's commitment to increasing the sustainability of Victoria's energy supply and use.

The rebate program is available to Victorians in rural, regional and outer metropolitan areas based on eligibility. Rebates are available for people who convert to gas heating or gas water heating until 30 June 2007. Please read the media release (Adobe PDF file available from www.sustainability.vic.gov.au) for further information.

Check for rebate eligibility, list of participating retailers, eligible heaters and other details. A hotline is available on 1300 366 195 explaining these details.

Sustainability Victoria provides the community with information on alternative forms of heating and energy use. Get advice on home heating such as types of heating systems and sizing a heating system for your needs.

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