LPG cylinders dont have any expiry
Posted on: 22/Sep/2017 6:16:30 PM
There are continuous rumors about the expiry dates of LPG cylinders. This is scaring a huge section of customers. This year also, there is one such rumor doing the rounds. Now, for this, the oil companies have come forward with a clarification that these cylinders dont come with any kind of expiry date. The prints made on these cylinders are only for the deadline to make mandatory tests.
What about the date printed on these cylinders?
You can find some alphanumeric details on the cylinder with A, B, C and D followed by some numbers. These indicate specific quarters of the year. For instance, A may refer the quarter between January and March. When a cylinder has B18 marking, it may be that the deadline for tests is April to June 2018.
If a customer gets a cylinder with C17 marking by October this year, the customer may request the delivery boy to take back the cylinder and give an alternate one, because it indicates that the mandatory test is not yet done. This is however a case of rarity, states oil industry sources.
A resident of Madipakkam, Chennai explains that he is concerned about cylinders with date-barring done to it because he fears that it may burst. Explaining about this, an oil industry official said there is no need to get worried about such cylinders. Simply making a phone call to the gas agency can help.
Mandatory tests conducted on cylinders
The usual lifetime period of a cylinder is 15 years. In this period, mandatory tests are conducted twice.
During the check, the cylinder is tested for leakage using hydro test where water is filled. It also undergoes pneumatic test where 5 times increased pressure is applied.
In case a cylinder fails in any of these tests, it is turned into a scrap. About 1.25 percent of total cylinders is pulled out for testing and a few of these that fail the test are scrapped.
A resident of Perambur says she happened to receive a forwarded message about the dates mentioned on LPG. With this, she has made up herself to check the date while getting the cylinders delivered home every time.
