NEWSFLASH

Consumers warned against the purchasing of unsafe non-pressure paraffin fuelled cooking stoves and heaters

A non-pressure paraffin stove or heater can be defined as a stove or heater of which the pressure of the paraffin that reaches the burner is less than 2kPa/g of fuel. These appliances are commonly known as paraffin wick stoves and heaters.

With the winter upon us the demand for cooking and heating appliances will increase. This includes a demand for non-pressure paraffin stoves and heaters.

In the past unsafe non-pressure paraffin stoves and heaters had caused a lot of death and destruction, especially amongst less fortunate communities. Therefore, the introduction of the Compulsory Specification for non-pressure paraffin stoves and heaters during 2006 under the National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications Act, 2008 (Act No. 5 of 2008) to ensure that appliances that are placed on the market are safe for use.

Consumers are warned not to purchase unsafe non-pressure paraffin stoves and heaters as it may cause serious injury, death or destruction of property. Consumers must only purchase safe and compliant non-pressure paraffin stoves and heaters. Such compliant non-pressure paraffin stoves and heaters are marked with an approval number that was issued by the National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications. This approval number is marked either on the appliance itself or on its packaging (the box in which it is supplied).

Such an approval number consists of the following characters:

AZ/1906/2006/XXXX

Up to date the NRCS has granted approvals for the following types of non-pressure paraffin stoves and heaters:

This page was last updated on 25/06/2009.