The Electrical Safety Office has reminded electrical workers and contractors performing work on solar photovoltaic systems of recalled DC isolators that may still be installed.

This advice has been issued to inform electrical workers of:

• the product recall on Avanco DC isolators
• prohibitions issued by the Electrical Safety Office to prevent the supply or installation of the following Avanco brand DC isolators.

The prohibitions have been issued in response to numerous incidents involving an internal fault that leads to overheating and fires.

The defective isolators were sold in Queensland after 1 January 2012.

If you do maintenance or repair work on solar power systems please check to see if Avanco brand DC Isolators are installed, or any other recalled product, found in the link below.

If you are called to a solar power system to replace the Avanco DC isolators, the replacement must be conducted in accordance with the actions below.

The recall of the Avanco DC isolators requires replacement of the entire device including the associated enclosure. The switch mechanism has an inherent internal fault, and the enclosure allows water ingress both of which present a risk of fire. As such, just replacing the switch mechanism does not remove the electrical safety risk associated with the Avanco DC Isolator.

For more information go to DC isolator safety advice.