How to find Expiry Date of LPG Cylinder?

LPG Cylinder is integral part of our lives. In last 20 years, i have seen tremendous changes in technology and lifestyle. Many things of past have become obsolete in our lives which are replaced by new set of technological advanced options. One product which survived this mayhem is LPG Cylinder. Only change on LPG Cylinder front is reduced waiting period. When i was Kid, waiting period of LPG Cylinder was almost 2 months and Black marketing was very common. Now waiting period is 7-10 days & Black marketing has vanished. I remember we used to book next cylinder immediately after receipt of re-filled cylinder. When i used to visit Gas Agency to take delivery of refilled cylinder there was strict instruction from my mother that Cylinder should not be OLD and it should be NEW. Though her concern was that old and damaged LPG Cylinder kept in open does not look good. Unknowingly by doing this we always took delivery of cylinders in good conditions.

LPG Cylinders are banned in many countries as it is moving bomb. LPG Cylinder explosion is very common due to various reasons. In my post on 7 Free or Cheapest Inbuilt Insurance Covers i mentioned that LPG Cylinder from any Govt OMC comes with a Free insurance cover of upto 40 lakhs in case of any accident due to explosion of LPG Cylinder. One of the main reason for explosion is expiry of LPG Cylinder’s. Not many people know that LPG Cylinder comes with an expiry date. We always check expiry on food material but never checked expiry of LPG Cylinder at the time of receiving delivery.

How to Check Expiry of LPG Cylinder?

The expiry of LPG Cylinder is mentioned on one of the 3 supporting metal strips between body of cylinder and round ring on top. It is painted on inner side as we can see in following picture.

Expiry date contain 1 alphabet between A to D and 2 digit numerical e.g. C.17 in this case. Now how to read this expiry date.

The Alphabet represents month of Expiry & 2 digit numerical is year of expiry. Entire year is divided into 4 quarters as per following table

A = January to March

B = April to June

C = July to September

D = October to December

So in this case, C means expiry month is September. Similarly A means expiry month is March.

Last 2 digit numerical is year of expiry therefore 17 means year of expiry is 2017.

To summarize, C.17 means expiry of cylinder is September, 2017. Though there is always grace period of 3 – 6 months from date of expiry as it takes time to pull cylinder out of circulation. It is important to check the expiry of LPG Cylinder before receiving delivery else you will be compromising on your safety. If you receive cylinder post expiry then you can complain to Regional Manager of your Oil Marketing Company.

One of the loophole is that expiry date of LPG Cylinder is written with paint which can be easily changed. Hopefully it will be metal embossed in future. For better safety, it is always advisable to keep LPG Cylinder outside the house in open area and pull out an aluminum pipe from cylinder to gas burner. Lastly, 2 or more cylinders should not be kept together to avoid any accident.

Hope next time before accepting delivery of LPG Cylinder, you will check the expiry date.

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