WorkSafe prohibited the sale and use of three models of wall-mounted Serene bathroom heaters earlier this year — the S2068, S207T and S2069 models. One of the models is linked to fires and overheating events.
Absolute Care Electrical director Nathan Mycock said the situation came as a bit of a shock for the industry.
Over the past five years, almost every electrician had installed the now prohibited Serene models in Dunedin bathrooms, and he estimated upwards of 2000 heaters had been sold in the city, he said.
His Dunedin-based electrical company, established in 2018, had installed between 60 and 80 heaters of the three prohibited models, and it had been a "pretty unwanted headache" to track down all the bathrooms they were in.
So far his company had replaced 12 of the faulty models for its customers free of charge.
As well as replacing all its customers’ heaters, the company had begun helping people who were not customers by disconnecting faulty heaters, also for free, Mr Mycock said.
"It would be good to get them out of people’s bathrooms. I don’t really want to see any more house fires — let’s get rid of them.
"We’re happy to do that for free because I don’t really want them to burst into flames.
"If someone doesn’t have the money to call an electrician to install a replacement, we should go out there and just disconnect that for them."
Electricity was dangerous, and he did not want just anybody addressing the problem.
Disconnecting the faulty heaters only took between 10 and 15 minutes at most, he said.
"I don’t want Granddad to be like ‘I can disconnect that’ and get up there and give himself a shock.
"Me and the boys are more than capable. We can get up there on a ladder and come and sort it out for everybody — that’s no stress at all.
"If it’s a free service — you might as well give us a call."
