Have you noticed the numbers painted on the inside of one of the three
steel plates which connect an LPG cylinder to its handle ring? Have you wondered what they mean?
According to the Indian Oil Corporation website,
all LPG cylinders have to be periodically tested to make sure that they
are working properly. New cylinders are tested at the factory to make
sure that they meet the standards specified in the Gas Cylinder Rules,
2004 and are released to the market. They are tested again after 10
years and every 5 years after this test. Cylinders which fail the test
are withdrawn and destroyed. But when they pass such a test the date of
the next test is painted on the inside of one of the three steel plates
which connect an LPG cylinder to its handle ring. The date is
represented by an alphabet and two numerals. The numerals refer to the
year and the alphabets stand for January-March(A), April-June (B),
July-September (C) and October-December (D). The code B12 shown in the
photo means that the cylinder should be tested before June 2012.
The empty weight of the cylinder is also painted next to the
date of the next test. It is 15.9 kg for the cylinder in the photo.
Since the weight of domestic gas is 14.2 kg, this cylinder when it is
delivered to a customer should weigh 30.1 kg. By weighing a new
cylinder, a customer can make sure that he is not getting short-changed
on the weight.
Supply of a cylinder past the period marked on it is a violation
of Sec. 26 of the Gas Cylinder Rules, 2004. It should be reported to
the Food & Civil Supplies Department (located in Deputy
Commissioner's Office building) or to S. Krishna on 99459-02135
(call or SMS).
A frequently heard complaint is that water is being filled in
LPG cylinders, thus cheating the consumers. We thought it was just a
rumour, but then we came across a scientific study which appeared in the
July 2006 issue of "Forensic Chemist" journal.
This paper written by Mr. K.M. Varshney, Assistant Director of the
Central Forensic Science Laboratory, Hyderabad, has found that in some
cases, as much as 36% of the gas in the cylinder had been replaced by
water. You can check whether there is water in your cylinder by weighing
it when empty. If this weight is more than the weight painted on the
cylinder, then the cylinder has water in it.
Asha Vombatkere, Mysore Grahakara Parishat