By Shivaun Hales

Following four house fires in Victoria last week linked to faulty evaporative air conditioning units, Seeley International founder Frank Seeley assures not all evaporative systems are at risk.

According to the Victorian fire brigade, Brivis Contour Evaporative Cooler and the Brivis Profiler Evaporative Cooler installed between August 2001 and October 2003 are responsible for the recent blazes.

“I’m at a loss to understand why these fires are still occurring,” Seeley told www.connectedaustralia.com.

Seeley International manufactures air conditioners in Australia, and corrected a fault within its evaporative air conditioning units over ten years ago.

“The problem with evaporative systems goes back to the early 2000’s. We issued a recall many years ago and fixed the problem within three months,” said Seeley.

Seeley urges the manufacturer of the air conditioners at risk, Brivis, to accept full responsibility for the safety of its customers.

“More companies are sourcing parts such as motors from China to save on costs, which often sees quality and safety go out the window,” said Seeley.

Safety recalls for the Brivis evaporative units have been made over the past few years, however Seeley said the company needs to take a more serious approach.

“They need to introduce a recall that covers all customers,” he said.

Victoria’s Energy Safety director Paul Fearson, said the fires showed how some homeowners still had the units that were impacted by the recall but were not aware of the recalls or weren't having them serviced regularly.

“It is important that as an industry we assure people about the safety of evaporative air conditioning,” added Seeley.