Traveling with a filled Gas Cylinder in your Vehicle

• 0 Comment(s)
• Author: Muyiwa Ige(LPG Stakeholder and Consultant)

Without mincing words, travelling with a filled Gas Cylinder in your vehicle’s trunk or cabin, is not in the overall best interest of your safety, especially in a country like Nigeria.

A fatal road accident that occurred last week in Odeomu, Osun State, was aggravated as a result of the filled gas cylinder kept in the trunk of the commercial bus involved in the accident.

According to credible reports at the scene, a Lexus SUV hit the commercial bus that had a filled gas cylinder in its trunk from  behind, resulting in a gas explosion that led to 16 people being instantly burnt to death.

Apparently, the impact of the crash made the gas cylinder to rupure, leading to the disastrous gas explosion that sent many Nigerians to their untimely graves.

Firstly, when you are transiting on some bad roads in the country, your vehicle undergoes some rocky movement, which makes everything in your vehicle, including your filled gas cylinder, to quake. The quaking of your gas cylinder increases the vapor pressure inside the gas cylinder, thereby posing a risk of a gas explosion (if certain conditions for explosion are met.)

Secondly, during sunshine in a tropical country like Nigeria, the intense heat emitting from the heated road your vehicle is travelling upon, combined with the heat shining on the vehicle from above, will heat up the interior of your vehicle(especially one that does not have a functional A-1 Air conditional).

The increase in the ambient temperature inside the vehicle will trigger a rise in the vapor pressure inside the filled gas cylinder, which presents the danger of a blast (if certain conditions are met).

Therefore, it is not safe for you to have a filled LPG cylinder in your vehicle when travelling.