Gas Geysers
Gas geysers are cheaper that electricity, but not the best solution if you are looking at saving some money. You still going to have a bill on the end of the month. Not as much as electrical geysers, but you can still prepare yourself for a gas bill. In other words, gas are cheaper than electricity, but a solar geyser is still the best way to go.
But this blog doesn’t go about the solar geysers, it is about the gas geysers. As the electrical geysers, you get a lot of different sizes of geysers. You get anything from 6L and upwards, it all depends on the manufacturer that you will use. You get an 6L, 8L, 9L, 10L, 12L, 16L, 18L, 20L and up. The liter size of the geyser implies the amount of water that can go through that geyser to be sufficient.
You get indoor and outdoor units. The indoor units must have a proper ventilation, otherwise you can suffer from carbon monoxide. Carbon monoxide are deadly, and what makes it so dangerous is that it has no taste, no smell and no colour. You will not even know that it is in the room.
The best way to install a gas geyser is on the outside, but covered with a roof or canopy, because its electrical components are very sensitive for water.
Gas installation
There is a lot of rules and regulations for gas installation that needs to be followed in order for any installer to be in the SABS standards regulations of SANS 10087-1:2013. For external gas bottle of cylinder placement, it can’t be closer than 1m from a door or opening to a building. It must be lower than 1.5m from an outdoor light and also lower than 3m if it stands underneath a window. If it stands next to the window, then it must be 1m away from the window. The bottle can also not be closer than 2m from a drain or manhole.
Then you need to look at the distance from an aircon vent as well. It can not be closer than 2m from the vent and also not closer than 5m from a electrical power source. The bottle can also not be closer than 3m from a boundary wall, unless it is a firewall, then the distance can be 1m away.
If it happened that you need to install under a window that is closer that 3m, then you need to install a non-combustible roof. The roof needs to be extend that if you measure it from the valve around the roof to the closes point on the window, then it needs to be at least 1.5m away.
The roof needs to be install in such a matter that it have sufficient space to exchange the gas cylinder. Gas bottles are to be covered by a cage if the property has public access not restricting them from entering. Only a total of 100kg’s of gas are allowed outside on a property. If more that that is required, then a motivation drawing needs to be approved by the fire department.
