There have been at least 6 reported incidents of lightweight regulators leaking through the On-Off valve in recent weeks, one of which resulted in minor burns to an engineer.

The Gas Equipment Testing Station (GETS) at Croydon has investigated the faulty items of equipment & identified the problem & precautions to be taken to ensure the lightweight regulators in the field are safe for continued use.

The action for all field engineers who use this kit is as follows:-

• Connect the gas kit to the gas bottle.
• Turn on the gas regulator and apply Solution Leak Detecting to all couplings. Check for any leaks.
• Apply Solution Leak Detecting to the ON / OFF valve control. Then holding it between the thumb & forefinger look and listen for escapes of gas while checking for both sideways and in and out movement. -The sideways movement is very important.
  All of these checks must be done BEFORE the torch is ignited

• Wipe off Solution Leak Detecting.

Any leaking items must be taken out of use immediately & your local Mobile Tester contacted for a replacement. (Mobile Tester details may be found on the front page of the Esitest [e-YP] system via Gatekeeper). The Gas Equipment Testing Station must also be contacted immediately to record data of any faults found & to enable supply of any necessary additional kits to the Mobile Testers.

Barry Gapes