Gas compliance in Victoria: the Type A and Type B split

Type A: the appliance is already cleared

The Gas Safety Act 1997 defines a Type A appliance as one Energy Safe Victoria has already accepted, either under an authorised acceptance scheme or by individually accepting the appliance or class of appliance under section 69. In practice this is nearly every domestic and light commercial gas appliance: cooktops, water heaters, space heaters, standard hot water units. A gasfitter must not knowingly install a Type A appliance unless it carries an ESV approved label, and must not commission one that was installed while its acceptance application was still pending until that acceptance comes through. Both are offences carrying up to 200 penalty units for an individual or 1000 for a body corporate.

Type B: the appliance is on you

A Type B appliance is anything with a gas consumption over 10 megajoules an hour that is not a Type A appliance, down to and including its manual shut-off valve and fittings. Large commercial cooking equipment, industrial burners and boilers usually fall here. The Plumbing Regulations 2018 carve Type B gasfitting work into its own class (regulation 29, appliances between 10 and 5000 MJ/h) and Type B gasfitting advanced work into another (regulation 38, above 10 MJ/h with burner and safety system work), each needing its own licence endorsement.

Using a Type B appliance is an offence unless the gas installation it is part of has been accepted by Energy Safe Victoria or was installed under an accepted safety case, carrying up to 100 penalty units for an individual or 500 for a body corporate. ESV runs this acceptance through GasTrac, its online system, where a Gas Safety Officer assesses the installation against published Conditions of Acceptance before it can go into use. Supplying or selling a Type B appliance without telling the buyer about this requirement is a separate offence, up to 120 penalty units.

The compliance certificate still applies

None of the Type A/B split changes the paperwork owed to the customer. Installing, relocating or replacing a gas using appliance, converting one to a different gaseous fuel, or installing, modifying or relocating consumer gas piping are all triggers for a compliance certificate under the same Building Act 1993 provisions that cover the rest of plumbing work, regardless of the job's dollar value. The gasfitter gives the customer a signed certificate within 5 days and keeps a copy for 10 years. Where a job also involves a Type B installation, the ESV acceptance and the compliance certificate are two separate obligations: ESV clears the installation for use, the certificate is the record the customer keeps.

Who licenses what

The Building and Plumbing Commission, still legally the Victorian Building Authority under the Building Act, registers and licenses gasfitters and handles the compliance certificate framework. Energy Safe Victoria is the technical safety regulator: it runs the appliance acceptance scheme, issues ESV approved labels, and assesses Type B installations through GasTrac. A gasfitter dealing with both bodies for one Type B job is normal, not a sign something has gone wrong.

Flagging it in ServiceM8

Add a Multiple Choice question to the gas job form, Appliance type, with options Type A (ESV accepted) and Type B (over 10 MJ/h). Selecting Type B should trigger a checklist item for GasTrac submission and ESV acceptance before the job can be marked complete, separate from the compliance certificate form. Keep the ESV approved label check for Type A jobs as its own mandatory photo question, since installing one without the label is the most common Type A offence."