Featured

How to check expiry date of a gas cylinder

Published

6 years ago

June 18, 2019

Gas cylinders are essential components in our kitchens and almost every home owns it. it is important to know that a gas cylinder could be as dangerous as its importance if certain factors are not checked constantly.

There have been many cases of gas cylinder explosions and when this happens, lives are lost and properties worth millions are destroyed. It is alarming that up till now, so many people are not aware of the fact that gas cylinders have expiry dates.

Here are danger signs to watch out for and guides to help you ascertain when your gas cylinder is due for change:

Cooking gas cylinders must not exceed five years: most people using gas cylinders hardly remember when it was bought. It is important to keep track of the days and replace them as soon as possible.
Do not buy used Gas cylinders.
Watch out for the expiry dates: The steps to check the expiry date are very simple and basic. The expiry of LPG cylinder can be found on one of the metal strips that connect the body of the cylinder to top ring (handle). It is mentioned on the inner side of the strip. The strip has any of the alphabets from A to D painted on it along with a number. Decoding the expiry date is simple. The alphabet represents the month it expires while the number indicates the year. A year is divided into four quarters :

A – January to March

B – April to June

C – July to September

D – October to December

For example, your cylinder has ‘A 18 painted on the metal strip. The alphabet A represents the month March and 18 indicate the year 2018.

Use gas cylinders in a vertical position, unless specifically designed to be used otherwise
Securely restrain cylinders to prevent them from falling over
Always double check that the cylinder/gas is the right one for the intended use.
Before connecting a gas cylinder to equipment or pipe-work make sure that the regulator and pipe-work are suitable for the type of gas and pressure being used.
When required, wear suitable safety shoes and other personal protective equipment when handling gas cylinders.
Do not use gas cylinders for any other purpose than the transport and storage of gas.
Do not drop, roll or drag gas cylinders.
Close the cylinder valve and replace dust caps, where provided when a gas cylinder is not in use.
Where appropriate, fit cylinders with residual pressure valves (non-return valves) to reduce the risk of backflow of water or other materials into the cylinder during use that might corrode it (e.g. beer forced into an empty gas cylinder during cylinder change-over).
Ensure the valve is protected by a valve cap or collar, or that the valve has been designed to withstand impact if the cylinder is dropped.
Store gas cylinders in a dry, safe place on a flat surface in the open air. If this is not reasonably practicable, store in an adequately ventilated building or part of a building specifically reserved for this purpose.

· Cylinders containing flammable gas should not be stored in part of a building used for other purposes.
· Protect gas cylinders from external heat sources that may adversely affect their mechanical integrity.
· Gas cylinders should be stored away from sources of ignition and other flammable materials.
· Avoid storing gas cylinders so that they stand or lie in water.
· Ensure the valve is kept shut on empty cylinders to prevent contaminants from getting in.
· Store gas cylinders securely when they are not in use. They should be properly restrained unless designed to be free-standing.
· Gas cylinders must be clearly marked to show what they contain and the hazards associated with their contents.
· Store cylinders where they are not vulnerable to hazards caused by impact, e.g. from vehicles such as fork-lift trucks.

NAN

Share on Facebook

Featured

ELECTING A POPE: THE BURDEN OF MAKING CHOICES

Published

3 days ago

May 11, 2025

The Gleamer

By Olubunmi Mayaki

“Habemus papam!” which in the English Language means, “We have a Pope.” was pronounced by Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, a French Catholic prelate, His Eminence, Cardinal Dominique Mamberti from the iconic loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican City on Thursday 8 May 2025 after white smoke billowed from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel. Those Latin words proclaimed to a tensed global audience the result of the election of a new Supreme Pontiff after the death of Jorge Mario Bergoglio (Pope Francis) on 21 April 2025 at the age of 88 years.

The Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, Cardinal Robert Prevost (Pope Leo XIV) emerged as primus inter pares (first among equals) from the cardinals after undergoing detailed election rituals, which have been the process of selecting the head of the 2000-year-old Catholic Church for centuries.

A papal conclave, the process by which a new Pope is selected, was held consisting of one hundred and thirty-three (133) College of Cardinals, drawn from different parts of the world converged at St. Peter’s Basilica for a public mass before heading to the Sistine Chapel to cast their votes to elect the 267th Pope. During the mass, part of the choir renditions reminded voters to remember their last day when they would stand before God in judgment to render their stewardship on earth, which is to prevent them from rigging the voting process. At the behest of the senior cardinal deacon, voting formalities were read to the electors, which included- oath-taking- “I call as my witness Christ the Lord, who will be my judge, that my vote is given to the one whom I believe should be elected according to God”. Other processes are banning phones, jamming calls, forbidding speaking or contacting any of the candidates, voting rounds, spiritual pauses etc.

Looking at the voting process, one should be curious about how an election to pick a leader for a religious body could be so systematic and attract such global attention. It is a sharp contrast to elections where political leaders are chosen. Even in the so-called advanced democracies, we have seen electoral flaws and a dearth of political leaders. States are finding it difficult to pick genuine statesmen, giving rise to hegemonic leaders. These political imperia ums are emerging and stoking crises in their domain. Fallouts of elections are no longer favourable due to unpopular candidates forced on citizens.

Africa, as a case study, shows that no matter the rules put in place by the continent’s leaders, our election processes have been fraught with rigging, corruption and waste. In most cases, the leaders who set the rules are the violators of the same process. Governments conspire with electoral bodies to truncate election processes at will. Such political brigandage has destroyed the progress of the continent.

Closing this view, I hope that African leaders will take a cue from the Catholic Church’s election process to reinvigorate and rejig the continent’s faltering political process for the good of its people. Better still; political scholars from the continent can study the Catholic model. The common features of elections in most parts of Africa, especially sub-Saharan Africa, are riddled with vote rigging, violence, human rights abuse, repression, barbarism, crises, untold hardship, and sometimes, outright war. This is the bane of Africa’s development.

The burden of making good political choices should ordinarily rest on citizens. However, politicians have hijacked this process for selfish reasons. It has given birth to bad leaders. If we fail to get it right, what we see is what we get. That is the story of the world politics!

Share on Facebook