Gas users should pay attention to gas safety when using domestic gas cooking appliances.
First of all, you must buy domestic gas cooking appliances, which are approved by the relevant authorities such as Standards Organisation of Nigeria.
You must also read and understand the user manuals provided by the manufacturers of the cooking appliances. Moreover, the cooking appliances must be installed and tested by registered gas installers employed by registered gas contractors before they can be used.
When using domestic gas cooking appliances, the gas users should:
• Use genuine parts supplied by the original gas appliance manufacturers;
• Make sure that there is adequate ventilation in the kitchen, for instance, open the window or turn on the exhaust fan;
• Follow the instructions given in the user manuals provided by the manufacturers of the cooking appliances and use cooking ware of a suitable diameter;
• If frying pan is used, place it over and close to the centre of the burner;
• Clean the grease on the burner and the trivet regularly so as to keep the burner holes unblocked, and in case something boils over, clean the burner as soon as possible;
• Check whether the flexible gas tubing is damaged, ageing (do check the service life expiry date on the tubing) or the gas tubing connection joint has come loose. If any problem is found, arrange for a registered gas contractor to replace or repair the tubing at once
• Let a registered gas contractor conduct safety checks on all gas installations at least once every 18 months.
The gas users should not:
• Place any item not supplied by the original gas appliance manufacturer (for instance, energy saving product, tinfoil covering and trivet) between the gas appliance and the cooking ware so as to avoid abnormal combustion, which may cause an accident;
• Use cooking ware of oversize diameter to cook food, so as to avoid the heat being reflected to the surface of the gas appliance, which may result in an accident due to overheating;
• Put any inflammable item or container (for instance, newspaper, pesticide, aerosol can and cigarette lighter) near the cooking appliance so as to avoid the danger of causing a fire or an explosion
• Leave a cooking appliance in use unattended
• Allow children to use the cooking appliances.
Source: emsd.gov.hk
To save on cooking gas, users are advised to:
• Check for leaks. It could be in your regulator, your hoses, or even your burner. With leaks, much of your expenses go to gas that goes up in the air. So better have this problem fixed sooner than wasting more precious gas.
• If you use hot water for beverages, make sure to boil water only once a day, not every time anyone wants a hot cup. Then store the hot water in a thermos bottle.
• When using cooking ware, wash them and then wipe them off before placing them on the burner. Do not allow the excess water to dry up using fire. That will save you a precious minute or two minutes every time you have to cook something.
• Thaw frozen foods completely before cooking. The heat needed to bring down the food’s temperature means using gas.
• For long cook items, such as those that need to be boiled for a long time, use charcoal. It may take some effort, but you get to save on gas and still enjoy your favorite slow-cooked meals.
• When cooking vegetables, do not overcook them. You can add leafy greens to your soups and stews last, stir, cover the pot, then turn off the burner. The heat inside the pot will be enough to cook your leafy greens.
• When boiling pasta, you do not really need to boil water in a big pot in order to cook a kilo of spaghetti. Estimate the amount of uncooked pasta and imagine how much it would become when cooked. Then fill your pot with that amount of water. It will save precious minutes in boiling so much water.
• When cooking, use a pot or pan that completely covers the burner, not the other way around. Using a small bottom pot on a wide burner just wastes the fire that burns on the sides of the pot. That is an awful lot of gas consumed.
• Do not overcook food. When cooking, watch what you are doing. Don’t answer the phone or talk to your neighbour. When you neglect your cooking, you not only waste on gas but also the food that was burned that has become inedible.
• When turning on the burner, make sure that you are ready to cook, meaning your ingredients are all ready at hand. Do not turn on the burn and put oil while you still have to chop the garlic or wash the vegetables while the pot or pan is already all heated up.
Source: yahoo.com