Grey nomads are being warned to check the gas cooker in their caravan.
A safety alert has been issued for owners to urgently stop using all Swift 500 series gas caravan cookers.
The North West Star reports that it follows a serious accident in New South Wales where a Queensland-based caravan owner suffered severe burn injuries from using their cooker while camping.
When the front left burner ignited, the user observed the flame was only on ‘simmer’ despite the control knob being on full. The user moved the cooking pan to the rear right side burner and used the front left burner as a simmer.
Soon after there was an explosion, engulfing the user in flames and causing severe burn injuries.
A safety alert has been issued for the Swift 500 series cooker. PIC: Resources Safety and Health Queensland / North West Star
Authorities are working with other gas regulators and the manufacturer, Swift Appliance Group, to implement a national recall.
Resources Safety and Health Queensland has issued a safety notice which identified a failure point within the internal piping at a control valve connection point.
This resulted in a gas leak which led to a subsequent explosion.
RSHQ is currently working with other gas regulators and the manufacturer, Swift Appliance Group, to implement a national recall.
Owners are further advised that:
The North West Star reports that the safety warning has been broadcast right across northern Australia where a large number of grey nomads are now holidaying in the dry season.
Yes, we are about to go away,
We are about to go away for 5 months.
Pay over 60,000 for a caravan and we are told don’t use the stove until further notice.!
Bet its not resolved in a hurry.
Lyn Carter we are in the same position. We were heading north to assist our son with his not caravan and annual get away. Not happening (yes we have alternative power, however it is nkt my responsibility to supply. I have forwarded a request for update, but no reply.
Had no correspondence from suppliers Jenka Group ,what about not on social media. Have sent emails but no reply. Bet this takes months .
Our gas cooker looks the same will be be checking it the morning. Thank you for the information.
Yes we are currently travelling around Australia . I hope they rectify it asap . As we have to use a propane cooker to accomodate , or pay for powered site .
Buy a camp stove, place that on top of the existing stove…hit the road and cook on that…
I’d reckon you will be waiting a fair while until this is resolved and sorted out.
Just about all my gas cooking is on the $30 camp stove outside.
Good luck. Cheers.
It does but in saying this we haven’t used ours yet and our van is in storage
Just noticed recently that all but one gas burner are working properly the rear right large one is very low flame. So stopped using
And who will pay for your cancelled trip ??
Why would you cancel your trip?
Will this send Swift to the wall and leave a lot of people high and dry looking for a new stove?
Do they realise caravans registered in Australia at 31st of January 2019 there was 669,409 registered caravans up to 2021 resulting in an increase of 4.3 percentage.
This shows the percentage increase of caravan registration in Australia between 31 January 2019 and the 31st January 2020 without counting Motor Homes.
There is something around 150 thousand caravans and motor homes on the road at any time.
Not all have Swift 500 stoves in them but i reckon 3 quarter would have.
Can you imagine the wait if there is a recall how long can one wait.
We have purchased a new caravan ready for hand over and was told they are not allowed to release the van until further notice because of the issue with the stove. We have tickets to BRB in 10 days time. Hopefully it will be resolved by then.
Ask the dealer to remove the stove and cap the line
Following
I trust that Swift will carry out repairs onsite and that we are not required to take caravan to gas fitter for update.
Do we all need to get these stoves check out
Yes, I live in my van and need it.
Yes it does, we have a Kokoda Force 11 with a Swift 500 series cooker. This needs to be sorted out in a timely manner as there are thousands of people effected by this.
Similar recall recently on suburban hot water system and took 18 months to resolve and then had to travel long distance to an authorised repairer
Hopefully there is a fix soon before the company goes under
If it is DF500Fit-F1 then mine is Glen Dimplex is this also recalled
Yes we have a 500 series. No oven though. Our van is 7 years old. I will have to try and contact them.
We were to go away in July and we free camp everywhere. Our Swift 500 series is now useless. Will now have to check the Swift Appliance website regularly. It will depend on how the fix will occur. Understand all recalls are at the company expense. Will we need to take our vans to an authorised repair facility and or will a kit be issued so a qualified Plummer can do the fix. ?
Following
Yes .! We are yet to use our van . Was delivered through Covid.
We have one of these cookers in our van
We bought our new van 6 months ago and we are on our way around Australia and our van is our home. No one has contacted us about the stove at all only just seen on Facebook.
Yes ours is a swift 500 series in our 2011 traveller sensation
Interested to know if most people use their oven much prior to this notification as I’ve only ever used ours very early on in our 8 yrs we’ve had our van from new and found it pretty useless even for reheating meals so never used it again. Would really appreciate feed back as ours may have had a problem from the start! ‍♀️
Hey Kath we have had a Swift 500 in our van for 12 years no problem I use my oven all the time as I make my bread pasties cake etc always worked well. We are hoping this gets sorted soon
Yes, we also have a Swift 500 series. We used it recently while away for a few days. When we got back I happened to hear about the problem on Talk Back radio. Not confident that this will be sorted in a hurry. I feel for the Caravanners on the road & especially those without alternative cooking facilities.
We have already had to replace a swift 500 due to a broken gas line to the grille section back in 2019. The gas fitter informed us that we were lucky it didn’t explode. So maybe the issue is greater than the current reported issues. The disappointment with this situation is that everybody has had to find out from social media. Neither the manufacturer or swift have contacted us and we have owned our current van from new in 2011. We are now of the opinion that swift should reimburse us for both stoves.
I read a couple of years ago about a Lotus van blowing up for this reason. I phoned Swift at Cambelfield who booked my stove in for a modification which when I took it over ,they just replaced the stove and gave me a gas detacter, the explanation given to me was that the pipe connection between the valve& griller needed to be a flexible hose, instead of a solid pipe, also the installations instructions had changed putting support under the stove which was not originally there, this would take a lot of pressure off the pipe as previously the weight was taken on the top flange and pipe, hope this helps
How do we go about rectifying this
We live in our van, very inconvenient, but lucky we have alternate equipment
We had a gas problem, separate to current one, when we were in WA 7 years ago. We were told that not any gas plumber could work on a Caravan. They had to be Certified for Caravans. Is this the case in Victoria? I believe these Specialized Tradesmen may be scarce on the ground. Dont see this stove problem being fixed in a hurry.
We have a 2017 HH fitted with a swift 500 one would think that the dealer who sold the van to everyone would have contacted everyone who bought vans off of them with a swift stove . We bought our van new the old saying we’ve got your money see you later we’ll see just how long this takes don’t hold your breath
We live full time in our van and are currently half way up the west coast, Hope they get they’re act together soon, we use ours regularly for kettle and cooking veggies.
Yes we have one
We’re getting ready to go away in a few weeks so very annoying. Not as annoyed as I would be if living in the van full time though.
Hi Nomads
Made contact with Swift and we were informed that they have had their own independent testing done on the gas cooker and oven and no issue was found. Whilst the advertising refers to a recall I was told by Swift that they have forwarded their independent testing to the authorities in WA where the initial ban was applied and are awaiting their response.
Swift have stated they do not expect a recall of their Swift 500 appliances based on the confirmed results by an independent third party where the fault was not able to be reproduced.
They have also stated that in relation to the response of authorities to their independently verified testing that caravan users with their 500 appliances should monitor their website at the below address for an update expected before the end of June 2022.
Swift website: https://www.swiftappliancegroup.com.au
Like many others we will be limiting our use of the Swift 500 appliances installed in our caravan until an update has been provided by the Swift Appliance Group.
I note also of the 2 reported incidents relating to the ban, that the first occurred in 2020 and the second in 2021.
It appears there is not a lot we can do but wait for the authorities to be across the independently verified results and either giving the thumbs up or thumbs down!
All the best to our fellow caravanners, Tim & Heather
Yea me too in mount ISA
Yes we are about to go away for three months
Yes we are going away next week for 2 month have made changes and isolated the stove. Using other cooking devices out side, until we know what to do.
Yes we have the swift 500 series and ha ve only used it once in 4 years. We have a gas detector in the van and although it seems very sensitive it is good to have.
Our new van which has only been used three times has this stove. Hope this is sorted soon.
Have used ours for 3 years,no issues,touch wood. Following
Yes we are affects us. Free camping so impossible to turn off cylinders. If we did that no fridge or any cooking facilities. Need immediate fix as we are 250km from anywhere!!!
Speaking to a caravan rep, this van was 9 years old, they don’t know if it was ever serviced. The dates range up to 2019, nothing in the last 3 years thats been made is affected. Pls check these facts to make up your mind.
I live in a van permanently with one of these stoves ! What should I do ?
Does swift have serial numbers that this may affect