I Learnt The Lesson Easy Way

We learn and gain knowledge by hearing, seeing, reading and doing.  Our knowledge in protecting ourselves or family or others comes from different sources.  Society or experts in a field and government regulations provide guidelines or rules for safety of the individual and also society.  But flouting rules and not following precautions is quite common when law is not strict or dangers causing does not affect society at large. 

Every vehicle driver knows traffic rules.  Few strictly follow them.  Wearing helmet while riding a two wheeler or using seat belts while driving a car reduces the head injuries and deaths to a great extent.  Carelessness and overconfidence that nothing will happen to oneself, sometimes leads to catastrophic damages.  Loss of life and limb cannot be restored with money.  Physical and mental abnormalities acquired cannot be restored to perfect normalcy.  It may be near normalcy with great difficulty.  Simple precautions can avoid most fatal accidents and personal damages.

Whenever any equipment is used the manufacturer gives all the instructions.  In day to day life we use many appliances with scant regard for safety measures. Though we often hear of the fatal accidents caused due to failure of not practicing safety precautions we rarely learn a lesson from that.  Only personal experience will make us strictly follow the safety measures. 

In India most of the urban homes and many homes in rural areas have LPG stoves.  There are many precautions and safety measures to be followed when using these stoves. 

-The cylinder should always be placed vertical. 

-The stove should be at higher level than cylinder. 

-The regulator and the tubing should be checked by appropriate person for any leaks.

-The tubing should be changed every two years. 

-When the cylinder is brought in it should be checked for any leaks by connecting it to the stove.

-Turn off the LPG cylinder when not in use.

 Except the first two precautions, I don’t think even a 10% of LPG owners follow other rules.  I am one among the more than 90%.

I have double cylinders.  So if one is exhausted book for another and do with the one already stored.  I never checked the seal until once I found the seal torn and the cylinder lasted half the period it has to in general.  This made me to check the seal.  The biggest lesson I learnt with little damage is leakage of cylinder.  Once in the morning as one cylinder was exhausted, I immediately removed the regulator and connected to the other cylinder.  As I could feel the pungent smell of gas leaking I tried to adjust and readjust the regulator unsuccessfully.  I thought it was the fault with the regulator as it is old one.  As I had another new regulator (which the agent had forcibly made us buy and we never used it) I fixed it up and did not feel the odour.  I was happy to have the new regulator which had come handy and solved my problem.  Few days (4-5) passed uneventfully.  One night as I was watching primetime news and waiting for my spouse to return from his practice, I suddenly felt obnoxious odour.  I was wondering what it could be.  Just then he entered.  “Do you feel any odour?”  I asked him.

 “Yeah, may be because you have closed all the doors”.

“No, no.  It has started just now.  Oh! I feel it is increasing.  Let me check if it is from the kitchen.  It feels strong near the kitchen”.

We together entered the kitchen and near the platform I could hear a mild hiss too.

‘Zero’ bulb was lighting the kitchen.

He said, “Let me switch on the light to see what is happening”. 

Though I vehemently said no and was switching off the cylinder as first measure, he switched on the light. 

As I said it is leak from the LPG cylinder and in such circumstances we should never on or off switches.
 He said, “Sorry, I just acted instinctly.  Never should I do that again”.

 The next day I informed our gas agency and they came and checked it.  That person said the some fine ring in the cylinder where regulator is fixed is damaged and hence the leakage.  The fault was not with the regulator, but the fixture in LPG cylinder is damaged.

He took away the cylinder and replaced another one.

I was glad that the leak had happened when I was awake and I could act immediately.  Had it been in the middle of the night there could have been a blast and our life and home could have been destroyed.  Many times I read and seen in the news that leak from the LPG cylinder occurred in the night causing damage not only to that home but also the other houses in the neighborhood.  If the leak occurs when anybody in home is awake it can be detected and cylinder can be shut down.  But if it occurs in the night, when everybody is in deep sleep, will result in devastation.  The obnoxious gas will fill the lungs and causes suffocation.  It also results in dizziness, lack of coordination and loss of consciousness.  As LPG is extremely inflammable, and person who inhaled the gas in confusion making attempt to see what is happening by switching on light will result in blast causing damage to life and property.

I have made it a practice to turn off the cylinder before going to bed or leaving the house for more than 24hours which I never ever done in the past 20years   I also decided not to compromise when there is problem with the cylinder, but to inform the gas agency and rectify the problem immediately. 

If you do not have the habit of turning off the cylinder in the night please make it a habit from today itself and follow all the safety precautions while using any appliance.

'Prevention is better than cure'.