Pursuant to Regulation 63 of the Gas (Safety and Measurement) Regulations 2010 ("the Regulations"), I, Mark Stephen Wogan, Operations Manager, Energy Safety, give the following notice.
N o t i c e
1. Short title and commencement-(1) This notice is the Gas Regulations (Prohibited Portable Showers) Notice 2012.
(2) This prohibition is to take effect on and from the day following the date of publication of this notice in the New Zealand Gazette.
2. Prohibited equipment-The manufacture, importation, sale (including an offer to sell), and use (including installation) of the gas fittings, being portable showers as prescribed in this notice, is prohibited.
3. Description-(1) The fittings to which this notice applies are portable showers which:
(a) comprise of a portable cubicle, or stall (similar in design to a portable toilet), usually manufactured in plastic, and having:
(i) a floor area of approximately 1m2; and
(ii) a height of approximately 2m;
(b) have hot water supplied to the shower fitting by a gas fired instantaneous water heater that is installed inside the shower cubicle that is either a flue-less instantaneous water heater or an open flued instantaneous water heater, and is not a room sealed type heater.
(2) For the avoidance of doubt, the fittings to which this notice applies include those portable showers matching the above description that are manufactured, sold, hired or leased by Rent A Loo NZ Limited.

4. Details of safety deficiency-The prohibited portable showers are, or may be, unsafe in that:
- they do not comply with the gas installation standards cited by the Regulations (NZS 5261:2003 (Gas installation)) which prohibit the installation of instantaneous water heaters in bedrooms, bathrooms or toilets; and
- they do not include measures to ensure that persons are not exposed to the build-up of carbon monoxide and other harmful products of the combustion of gas.
For other indoor locations, the gas installation standards specify a minimum room size based on the gas consumption of the appliance.
A small instantaneous water heater with a consumption of 25-40 MJ/hour would require a room size of around 62-100m3 while the room volume of these shower cubicles are around 2m3.
These requirements are necessary to prevent the build-up of carbon monoxide and other harmful products of combustion of gas to dangerous levels.
5. Reasons for prohibition-The portable showers described in this notice are deemed to be unsafe fittings under Regulation 11 of the Regulations in that there are not measures in place to ensure that persons are not exposed to carbon monoxide and other harmful products of combustion of gas.
Dated at Wellington this 6th day of November 2012.
MARK STEPHEN WOGAN, Operations Manager, Energy Safety, Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.