The attention of Gourmet  Guide food channel on Whatsapp was recently drawn to the lifespan of  the gas cylinder!

Cooking gas users in Nigeria have been warned against the use of expired cylinders.

This is  owing to its high risk of fire accident and explosion.

It would interest you to know that the Gas Cylinder has an expiring date! Many do not know this, but it is very true!

Reports say just like a vehicle tyre,  using an expired cylinder in the kitchen  can be a dangerous time bomb, ready to explode any time.

To verify the expiry date of the LPG cylinder – you would  notice  that the expiry date  of LPG Cylinder can be found on one of the metal strips that connect the body of the cylinder to top ring (handle).

You will find it on the inner side of the strip. The strip has any of the alphabets A to D painted on it,  alongside a number.

Decoding the expiry date is simple. The alphabet represents the month of expiry while the number indicates the year of expiry. 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, a cylinder that has ‘B 13′ painted on the metal strip means the alphabet B represents month June , and 13 indicates the year 2013. So a cylinder having B 13 mentioned on it means it will or already expire on June 2013.

Another example is a cylinder that has ‘D 18’ painted on the  metal strip – it shows that the  alphabet D stand for December while 18 represent the year 2018.

However, there is a limited grace period of three to four months after the expiration as the cylinder cannot be pulled out immediately out of the circulation.