Easter holidaymakers have beenwarned about faulty gas cookers that catch fire and explode.
Watchdog, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, said at least 13 people had been injured in butane gas cooker explosions. Many had received second and third degree burns. In Victoria, there have been six reports of fire or explosion in the past 12 months, and one person was treated for burns in hospital.
More than 70 brands portable butane canister gas cookers have been pulled from shelves nationwide in recent weeks because authorities said they did not meet safety standards. These models have had their certificates of conformance withdrawn, meaning they can no longer be sold.
State and territory gas regulators are negotiating recalls for faulty cookers with the ACCC. The first of these recalls, announced on Wednesday, was for the Twin Portable Butane Cooker, supplied by Sitro Group Australia. The cooker has been sold nationally in hardware and camping stores for the past year.
ACCC deputy chair Delia Rickard said the "lunchbox" style cookers, popular with campers, had a gas canister in the stove which could overheat if covered with a large cooking pot and cause a fire or explosion.
"An over-pressure valve should stop the flow of gas when the canister has overheated. In the defective models, the valve can fail to operate, which could lead to an explosion," she said.
Six models of gas cookers with defective over-pressure valves have been singled out by authorities. The models are:
- Auscrown (model number AD90, Auscrown)
- Campmaster (model number CM2250, AHM)
- Gasmate (model number PC2080, Sitro)
- Home Essentials (model number BDZ-168, Chen-Bros)
- Illusion (model number U-Bute, Illusion)
- Oztrail (model number OZ2160, AHM).
Ms Rickard said people should not use models of gas cookers identified as faulty. "If consumers are unsure whether their lunchbox gas cooker is affected, we recommend not using your cooker for now."
Energy Safety Victoria director Paul Fearon said the safety devices were prone to fail if the cookers were not used in accordance with the manufacturter's instructions.
There are about 5 million portable cookers in Australia.
