Saturday, February 23, 2013

The Importance Of Cylinder Valves

By Paula Barron


The transportation and storage of industrial goods entails that certain standards must be met. This simply means that every manufacture is required to adhere to certain regulations when packaging their products for storage or transit. For producers of gas cylinders, it is very is very important that cylinder valves be installed on the cylinders to safeguard users from leakage occurrences which can be fatal.

There are quite a number of manufacturers who deal with the design and crafting of these gadgets for use in homes and factories. These manufacturers are usually closely monitored by the relevant authorities due to the sensitivity of the products which they handle. As expected, a valve designed for home use is not the same as that which is used on oxyacetylene tanks in factories. Therefore the type of valve placed on a tank is dependent on the use of your tank.

When you are looking to purchase a valve for your cylinders, it is important that you take the specifications of your tanks first. These include things like the diameter of the mouth of your tank, its pressure when fully filled and the contents the tank is supposed to hold. Such specifications would give the seller ideas on which type of valve to sell to you. Also by checking these specifications, one can end up recognizing other problems like damaged threads.

The numerous types of valves available in the market are made out of different materials as per the chemical characteristics of the contents they are supposed to enclose. It is never right to enclose a gas tank with a valve which would react with the contents being covered. This would result to leakages after a certain period of time since the valve would be corroded bit by bit over time.

Always ensure that you ascertain the quality of your gas tank valve before commencing with the use of the tank. Purchasing and installation of low quality valves is the major cause of gas tank accidents in most homes and industries. Also the regular checking of your valve for leakages is important since these gadgets are known to wear out with time.

A propane tank valve is usually likely to be made out of two types of materials. These include either the high density polyethylene or low density polyethylene contents. In every tank there is an overfill prevention plug which is mostly made out of high density polyethylene to prevent the cylinder threads from damage during transportation. Also it safeguards the threads from external chemical contaminants which can eat through the metal contents.

When it comes to gas cylinders and other materials of the same nature, different governments have diverse pieces of legislation which govern the way such products are produced, handled, packaged, stored and transported. Therefore, mismanagement or poor production which results to persons being injured while using their respective gas cylinders is punishable by law.

Tanks which carry petroleum products have cylinder valves made out of polyethylene. This substance fairs nicely with propane and butane which are the two major components found in petroleum. The polyethylene used is of two types, the high density type and the low density type. However, the high density type is most commonly used.




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