On 13 October 2023, Standards Australia published AS 1375:2023 Industrial fuel-fired appliances. The standard sets out requirements and safety principles relating to the design, installation, and operation of industrial appliances that involves the combustion of gas or liquid fuels. AS 1375:2023 is an essential standard that is referred to for Type B gas appliance approval requirements in Western Australia.

The standard has gone through an extensive revision. Please refer to the whole standard to learn about the major changes in the 2023 edition. Some of the key amendments include:

• Risk assessment and the requirement to conduct Hazard and operability study (HAZOP) is revised to align with other fuel-fired appliance standards such as AS 3814.
• Revision of Appendix D – Critical energy and critical time; to achieve a higher level of accuracy when calculating critical time for burner systems.
• Revision of Appendix E – Explosion relief; inclusion of worked examples referencing NFPA 68 or similar standards where the limits of the given equations for explosion relief are exceeded.
• Revision of Appendix F – Dilution; to reflect changes to EN 1539 and similar standards.
• Expansion of Appendix G – Characteristic data for flammable gases and combustible dusts; includes additional commentary relating to the use of lower explosive limit (LEL) and lower flammability limit (LFL) data and the application of limiting oxygen concentration (LOC) data. Where the use of LOC data relates to purging systems, NFPA 69 is the reference standard to be used.  
• Addition of Appendix N – Risk assessment for the operation and installation of an industrial fuel-fired appliance and Appendix O – List of significant hazards; to be consistent with other fuel-fired appliance standards such as AS 3814. 
• Addition of Appendix P – Fitness-for-purpose; provides guidance for establishing an equivalent level of safety that do not conform to this standard such as legacy appliances and novel innovative technology. 
• Addition of Appendix Q – Maintenance of flexible connections and hoses; provides general guidance on the maintenance of flexible connections and hoses.
• Addition of Appendix R – Waste gas flare systems; provides guidance on general safety aspects of waste gas flares.
• Addition of Appendix S – Apparatus used to measure the concentration of flammable vapours in dryers aligning with NFPA 86 and EN 1539.
• Addition of Appendix T – Hydrogen combustion safety – a brief introduction; considering the ongoing need to provide guidance to the emerging hydrogen industry this appendix has been included in the standard which provides guidance on new and innovative technology operating on hydrogen and hydrogen-natural gas blends.

AS 1375:2023 can be purchased:

• From the authorised distributor: AS 1375:2023 Industrial fuel-fired appliances | Standards Australia store; or
• From the Standards Australia recent release –Gasfitters set.

Transition period

In Western Australia the 2023 version of the AS 1375 is automatically adopted and will become mandatory from 13 April 2024. However, Building and Energy recommends that the gas industry complies with AS 1375:2023 as soon as possible.

The Gas Standards (Gasfitting and Consumer Gas Installations) Regulations 1999 allows a six-month transition period from the date of publication where both the superseded 2013 and the current 2023 edition of the standard are acceptable.