As reported in Stuff, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment has acknowledged it has concerns about plumbing fittings supplied directly by small scale importers without documentation to support code compliance.
Consumers are urged to buy from reputable sellers such as mainstream building suppliers, rather than online or from “backstreet markets”, MBIE said. “If the product is cheap, it’s very likely cheap for a reason.”
Auckland Plumbers Group buys all of its materials and consumables from reputable suppliers so that our customers can have confidence in their installation when dealing with us.
Master Plumbers chief executive Greg Wallace said there was no way to police the quality of products being imported. He was aware of instances where pipe had been stamped with a New Zealand code, when it didn’t meet the code.
There is a general consensus that there’s no practical way for plumbers to ensure some imported plumbing products are up to standard… and because of this, installation of non-compliant items could lead to water damage problems in the future. Increasingly plumbers were being asked to install products supplied by consumers, builders or developers, without being confident that those products were up to code standards.
Master Plumbers supports the introduction of a mandatory quality system, like the WaterMark certification scheme in Australia. Under the WaterMark scheme, certain plumbing and drainage materials have to be tested by a recognised testing laboratory, comply with an approved specification, be made in accordance with an approved quality programme, and carry a warranty.
Read more from the Stuff article here.