This Yuletide season, everyone is busy with various celebrations. Some go for Christmas shopping, travel for holiday or vacation, hold reunions with family and friends, and some prefer to stay at home and cook delicious Christmas meals for their family.
If you and your family traditionally spend the Holidays cooking and dining at at home, it is always important to keep in mind these Fire Safety Tips, especially for those who use LPG for cooking.
The term LPG is an acronym for Liquefied Petroleum Gas.One of the main domestic uses of LPG is to provide a flame for cooking or baking food. For the conservation of your LPG while cooking, use a broad bottom vessel to hide the flame for better heat transfer to the vessel. Which is better, a blue flame or red flame? I am actually curious which stove flame to use. As a mom who uses LPG for cooking, I prefer the blue flame. Based on my observation, the blue flame cooks just right with most dishes. The cooking pots or vessel’s bottom is cleaner too compared to when I use red flame. Because the red stove flame leaves black marks or stains at the bottom of the vessels. I made a little research and found out that blue gas stove flame indicates complete combustion, meaning your not wasting gas and money when using blue flame. The blue flame is environmentally-friendly and safer to use too.
It was actually my mom-in-law who taught me the proper use of LPG. Then, I learned more by reading consumer safety tips . Here are some safety tips that LPG users must keep in mind, most especially this Holiday Season:
LPG Tank Position: Set a permanent location for the stove. Always place your tank in an upright position to avoid liquid leakage. Store the LPG-filled cylinder in a well-ventilated and readily accessible area.
LPG hose: It should not be less than 1.2 meters, so that the tank has a good distance from the stove.
Regular Check: Always check LPG if there are leaks before using it. Make sure that the stove knob is switched off before opening the valve of the LPG tank. When leaving the house, always turn off the gas supply valve and the stove knob.
Safety Tips when Cooking with LPG:
- Keep alcohol, oil, plastic, or any flammable materials away from the stove flame or LPG. There should be an appropriate cabinet or place for these things.
- Ventilate your kitchen by keeping the nearby windows open or simply turn on the exhaust fan. In our kitchen, aside from the open windows we always turn on the exhaust fan when cooking.
- Keep the stove top or oven cleaner. Food particles and grease residue can ignite and cause a fire.
- Never leave cooking unattended. The liquid/contents of the cooking vessel could overflow and extinguish the burners, causing the gas to leak.
- Turn OFF the regulator knob when the cylinder is not in use most especially when leaving the house.
- Keep a fire extinguisher or fire blanket, baking soda and metal lids nearby to put out fires quickly.
How to check LPG leakage? One of the safest ways I know is something commonly called the “soapy water test”. It is a simple test by just coating all of the gas transmission gear (pipes, hoses, or valves)with soapy water and then pressurize the system.
You can do this by pouring some detergent soap in a jar with water or spray bottle. Using a brush, rag or sponge, apply soapy water all over the pipes,hoses, valves, and regulator. Then, turn on the gas (keep appliances turned off while you do this test). If there are bubbles forming and you smell the gas too, possibly there is a leak. You need to test the entire assembly from the gas valve all the way to where the gas hose attaches to the stove.When done, rinse with water to clean the solution. If there’s a leak, make sure to open all doors and windows wide to disperse the gas.Do not turn on any electrical appliance not even press a doorbell. Simply turn-off the gas supply at the pressure regulator switch. Disconnect the regulator from the cylinder if possible.
*It is best if you have a fire extinguisher or fire blanket ready in case of a fire.
*If the leak is something serious, better vacate the premises, inform your neighbors, and notify the fire department immediately and call the gas supply company’s emergency number.
I got some of these LPG fire prevention tips from the Department of Energy website at https://www.doe.gov.ph/sites/default/files/pdf/consumer_connect/lpg_consumer_and_safety_tips.pdf
Fire Station Contact Numbers
Manila Fire District
Rizal Avenue corner Quiricada St., Sta. Cruz, Manila City
Office of the District Fire Marshal SSUPT JONAS R SILVANO – (02) 309-9648 / 43 / 45
Commel INSP DANILO S GALANG – (02) 527-3653
SRU Manila INSP CHRISTOPHER E ANDRADE – (02) 523-2850
EMS Manila CINSP SHERYLLE MARIE G GUIYAB – (02) 711-6970
STATION I
San Nicolas Fire Station – (02) 243-2871
Tondo Fire Station – (02) 245-3403
Gagalangin Fire Station – (02) 253-9551/ 397-9068
STATION II
Tanduay Fire Station – (02) 310-0384
Sta. Mesa Fire Station – (02) 716-6426
Malacañang Fire Station – (02) 735-1894
Bacood Fire Station – (02) 714-6923/ 515-7793
STATION III
Paco Fire Station – (02) 525-4714 / 523-3402
Pandacan Fire Station – (02) 563-1074
Sta. Ana Fire Station – (02) 310-7667
STATION IV
Intramuros Fire Station – (02) 336-5136
Arroceros Fire Station – (02) 528-0641
STATION V
San Lazaro Fire Station – (02) 711-6924
Sampaloc Fire Station – (02) 749-7194 / 740-7480
For more list of Fire Station Contact Numbers, you may visit and search at http://fire.contactnumbersph.com/
In choosing an LPG cylinder for my home use, I chose Solane LPG. Why? It provides instant heat that you can easily control. It also burns completely and without soot build-up, keeping your pans cleaner. Through the years of using this product, I can say that is a safe and reliable LPG brand. It won’t let me down as my medium in cooking delicious meals for my family, whether in using the stove or the baking oven. Whenever we call for a refill, Solane LPG delivery guarantees a 7-point Safety Check of our LPG system by a well-trained Solane LPG riders, which is a service exclusive only to Solane LPG users. What we have at home is the 11 Kg Solane LPG cylinder POL type or what we called “de roskas”. The other Solane variant is the A/S type which boasts of an automatic shut-off safety feature.
Solane Contact Numbers:
If you want to order or replace your existing LPG tank with a new Solane LPG tank, just dial (02) 887-5555 for Metro Manila area or text Solane at 0918-887-5555 nationwide.
Let us make the holiday season merriest with peace, happiness, love, and of course safeness of our family! Happy Holidays!
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