Arotake wāhi power point

How this is calculated#

AS/NZS 3000 keeps socket‑outlets and switches out of a few places in a kitchen and around gas, and sets one rule near the floor. You pick the accessory, what it is near and the distances. The tool finds the rule, draws its zone and says whether the position is inside it.

Beside a cooktop, no socket‑outlet or switch may sit within 150 mm of the edge of an open gas or electric cooking surface. That band runs up from the cooking surface to the range hood, cupboard or ceiling above it, or to 2.5 m above the floor, whichever is lower. The cooktop's own switch must also be near it, in sight, not on the appliance and not reached across the cooking surface. The standard advises within 2 m, so the tool warns beyond that.

Around an outdoor gas cylinder, no ignition source may sit in the hazardous area. It is widest at the base and narrower at the top, 0.5 m above the cylinder, and an in-situ fill cylinder has a larger area than an exchange cylinder. The standard dimensions the base and the top. Between them the tool takes the edge as a straight line, as drawn, and says when a result rests on that reading. A gas relief vent has a zone ahead of it and a smaller one behind, scaled up for a vent over 50 mm. New Zealand adds an indoor cylinder compartment and the zone about a reticulated gas regulator.

Sinks, basins, baths and showers have zones of their own. The tool sends those to the wet area zones tool.

Worked examples#

• A power point 100 mm from the cooktop edge. The position is Not allowed and fails: it is inside the 150 mm band, below 2.5 m.
• The cooktop switch 600 mm from the edge. The position is Allowed: outside the band, within 2 m and not reached across.
• A power point 1.2 m from a gas bottle, 300 mm up. The position is Not allowed and fails: at that height the hazardous area of an exchange cylinder reaches 1,333 mm. That figure is the straight-line reading between A and B.
• A light 1 m ahead of a gas relief vent. The position is Not allowed and fails: the zone of a 20 mm vent runs 1,500 mm along the discharge.
• A power point beside a kitchen sink. The position is Check in the wet area zones tool. Section 6 sets the zones about the sink.

Limits#

The tool checks the rules named here. It does not check the hazardous area classification of Cl 7.7, equipment rated for a Zone 2 area, or the gas fitting standards. It does not set general mounting heights: AS/NZS 3000 sets none outside the rules above and Section 6. Measure on site where a result is close to a boundary.

See also: Power points near a cooktop, gas bottle and sink, Kitchen power points and the cooktop zone and Wet area zones.