Following significant revisions to IGE/UP/1B, Peter Mason assesses how the changes will impact on the procedures for tightness testing and direct purging of certain types of installations.
IGEM/UP/1B Edition 3 – Tightness testing and direct purging of small Liquefied Petroleum Gas/Air, Natural Gas and Liquefied Petroleum Gas installations has been published.
As the title suggests, the standard now additionally includes tightness testing and direct purging procedures for Liquefied Petroleum Gas/Air (LPG/Air) and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) installations. The tightness testing procedure for Natural Gas (NG) is slightly altered and the purging procedure for NG remains essentially as that described in IGE/UP/1B Edition 2.
LPG/Air is in use on Guernsey and Jersey. The Isle of Man (Manx Gas) is currently undertaking a gas conversion operation from LPG/Air (town gas) to Natural Gas (NG).
LPG/Air is a manufactured or derived 1st family Gas and is heavier than air. NG is a 2nd family gas and is lighter than air. LPG is a 3rd family gas and is heavier than air. The characteristics of the fuels need to be considered when releasing gas as part of any purging process.
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