Liquigas says faulty regulator caused gas burner incident

George and Marcelle Montanaro earlier this week filed a judicial protest against Enemalta and Liquigas, saying they had been told by Liquigas technicians that excessive pressure in their gas cylinder had caused the explosion in their Birkirkara home. A second gas cylinder was also found to have excessive pressure.

In a statement issued by Liquigas, the company said that it believed the most feasible explanation for the explosion was that a higher volume of gas passed through the first defective regulator and forced its way through the cooker valve, accumulating under the hob to produce a small explosion.

Regulators are freely sold on the Maltese market and these should normally be able to take a pressure of 10 bar or more.

But Liquigas said that the original regulator used by Montanaro was leaking. “This leakage happened on the roof, in open air, not in the kitchen. He changed the regulator for another one used on a heater which according to him was not faulty and did not leak. Mrs Montanaro later tried to use the cooker when  the incident occurred.

“In such case the cooker valve could either return to normal, or, as is most likely, suffer permanent damage. The use of a second regulator by Mr Montanaro could not have resolved the situation already created with the cooker valve,” Liquigas said.

The company established that the pressure located in the two cylinders at Montanaro’s house was not problematic.  “Many cylinders, including Mr Montanaro’s, are exposed to the sun all day or part of the day and it is very usual for cylinder pressure to go up to 5 or 6 bar, due to solar heat. The cylinders are produced to withstand a pressure of 65 bar.”

After an appropriate test by an Enemalta engineer, the cylinder in question was found not to be overfilled, nor was it at a pressure which presented any hazard. The cylinder in question was fully tested and certified abroad by Liquigas according to EU regulations, as part of an ongoing exercise initiated by Liquigas last year.

“The rest of the equipment involved, namely the regulator, piping, hobs, cookers, heaters, geysers, are the user’s responsibility,” Liquigas claims.