Final Warning to Users of 12.5kg Camp Gas Cylinder

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• Author: Muyiwa Ige(LPG Stakeholder and Consultant)

Although I’m yet to set my blessed eyes on the updated list of the top 10 most horrific ways to kick the bucket, I have no atom of doubt in my mind that cooking directly on a fully filled 12.5kg camp gas cylinder, features prominently on the scary list.

The highly sagacious officials of the Standards Organization of Nigeria(SON), after deliberating extensively on the danger the inappropriate use of 12.5kg camp gas cylinder poses to the precious lives of the good people of Nigeria, made the right decision to outrightly prohibit it in the country.

Now, what constitutes the appropriate use of 12.5kg camp gas cylinder?

Fitting a gas regulator onto the valve of the cylinder and connecting it with an LPG hose or mild steel pipe to the gas cooker, is the appropriate use of 12.5kg camp gas cylinder.

Why is cooking directly on a fully filled 12.5kg camp gas cylinder very dangerous?

The 12.5kg camp gas cylinder is not equipped with a pressure relief valve, unlike a typical standard 12.5kg cylinder that is normally piped to the gas cooker.

What the pressure relief valve does is to relieve the pressure of gas in the cylinder when it approaches the cylinder’s maximum design pressure.

The implication of the absence of a pressure relief valve is that when the pressure of the gas inside the 12.5kg camp gas cylinder builds up beyond the maximum design pressure of the cylinder, it explodes.

At this juncture, it should be stated that an increase in the ambient temperature brought about by cooking directly on the filled 12.5kg camp gas causes a corresponding increase in the vapor pressure of the gas, which if sustained, eventually results in an explosion.

Another piece of relevant information is that the higher the quantity of gas in a cylinder, the higher the vapor pressure in that cylinder.

What this implies is that a 12.5kg camp gas cylinder filled with just 6kg of gas has a lower vapor pressure, and is consequently safer than a fully filled 12.5kg camp gas cylinder with a higher vapor pressure.

In addition, the likelihood of explosion rises exponentially in cases involving fake/substandard cylinders that have actual design pressures lower than their stated figures.

Conclusion

If you have decided to minimize to the barest minimum, your chances of ‘crossing over to the other side’ in explosive style, desist from cooking directly on a 12.5kg camp gas cylinder filled with LPG in excess of 7.5kg.

A word is enough for the cerebral.