Gas Marketers Assure Of Safety Of Cylinders, Bemoan False Education On Social Media
By Sulaimon Salau
The Nigeria Liquefied & Compressed Gases Association (NLCGA) has assured consumers that it is safe to fill gas cylinders to their prescribed weights as defined by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON).
This was in response to a video making the rounds on social media about Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) cylinder safety as regards filling capacity. A gentleman had warned cooking gas cylinders users against filling to the prescribed capacity labelled on the cylinder.
According to him, a “12kg” cylinder for instance, must not be filled up to “12kg” capacity but rather “11kg”. This message, that it is only safe to fill between “10kg” and “11kg” for a “12kg” cylinder.
The NLCGA described this as false education.
The Chairman Safety and Technical Committee, NLCGA, Femi Fanoiki, in a statement made available to Slye News, said: “Unfortunately, this is factually incorrect! Whilst it is true that cylinders must NOT be overfilled, it is safe to fill cylinders to their prescribed weights as defined by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON).
“The safe filling weight of all cylinders are clearly embossed on the cylinder. These prescribed weights takes into consideration the expansion of the gas in varying weather conditions.
“The SON Standard for cylinders (NIS:69) defines each cylinder category by volume (water capacity). For instance, the “12.5kg” cylinder below has a liquid capacity of approximately 26.5 litres. The safe filling weight for this cylinder is: 26.5 litres x 0.575 SG (specific gravity of LPG) x 85% safe fill capacity = 12.95 kg (meaning, the 12.5kg cylinder can, therefore, safely be filled to 12.5kg) This is in line with the SON NIS69- Specification for refillable Liquefied Petroleum Gas Cylinder,” he stated
