Africa-Press – Botswana. Botswana Energy Regulatory Authority (BERA) Engineering Manager-Petroleum, Mr Gift Bakumbi says keeping Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) cylinders inside houses for cooking is hazardous.
Addressing a kgotla meeting in Masunga on recently, Mr Bakumbi advised residents to keep their LPG cylinders outside their houses to prevent explosion or fire outbreaks caused by leakages or pressure.
Mr Bakumbi said heat causes contents of the cylinder to be under pressure and as such, cylinders should be kept where there is enough shade to reduce heat.
“In case cylinders are kept inside houses, there should be enough ventilation through opening of windows and doors for leaked gas to escape,” he said adding that they should be kept at least two meters away from the stove.
He advised that children should be taught about dangers posed by LPG as it burns faster and quicker than paraffin and as such, they be taught to have matches ready before turning the nozzle on the stove as gas would spread fast.
Mr Bakumbi told residents that they should ensure there were no leakages between the regulator and the stove adding that the smell of gas does not signify that it was getting finished. Instead, it a sign of leakage, which must be investigated.
He told users of gas to always inspect the regulator and hose pipes for cracks. They should replace hose pipes every two years.
Mr Bakumbi advised consumers to always know the amount of gas in the cylinder. Digits on the cylinder should be noted as the red number represents the amount of gas in the cylinder while black numbers are for the weight of an empty container.
“When buying gas the cylinder should be weighed in your presence and the total addition of the red and black figure should be the reading on the scale,” he explained. If the reading on the scale is high or low, one should ask for a different cylinder and the same process conducted until the addition equals the scale reading.
He said should you take the cylinder when the readings are low, you would be cheated as it is not full while higher readings put the consumer’s life in dangers because of the high pressure carried by the cylinder.
He observed that some licenses were offered to trade with gas being the wholesale license where one imports gas and fill cylinders to sell to retailers in bulk and not to individuals.
A cylinder would only be filled at wholesalers. The other license to be issued would be for bulk transportation and of cylinder transportation and the Storage Business License, which would assist as there were no enough storage in the country.
There would also be LPG consumer installation license. He said to construct LPS plant, one needs to apply for authorization, which is valid for two years renewable. “Requirements for construction would be valid land rights and if borrowed, a proof should be provided.
The land should be surveyed and set aside for business or change of land use provided,” he said. Mr Bakumbi said the applicant should have education and knowledge of handling gases, have environmental impact assessment for the area of operation, provide plans for the building, financial projection and statement.
“For small organized groups in the community who want to erect cages to sell gas, laws are relaxed, made flexible and set aside to allow them to trade with gases after completing a form guided by a provided checklist,” he said.
Mr Bakumbi said dealers in gas are forced to abide by the laws of Botswana written or spoken. They are not allowed to sell overfilled or half-filled cylinders and in the event of an accident, they should report within 12 hours or will face charges. Retailers were advised to issue consumers with a receipt to use in case of complaints, and if not would be liable to a charge.
The receipt, he said, should bear business name and address, size of cylinder, price of cylinder paid not the negotiated one, date of purchase, weight of cylinder at time of purchase, identity number of cylinder written on the receipt which will assist in case of theft. On the other hand, he said, every company has it’s colour for cylinder and seal but a consumer could buy at a place of choice using any colour. Cylinder owners would sort themselves out.
Mr John Monyamane, a resident, inquired about gas cylinders without markings or weight. He was told that it was a crime.
Mr Roger Nchochi asked about the price of a cylinder and was told that varied from one business to another and that the receipt be kept safe as it could be returned for cash if no longer needed.
Some asked if it was safe to bury the gas pipe or hose pipe underground or on the wall and the response was that only pipes specific for gas can but was not proper to burry hose pipe.
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