Lite Cylinder "Emergency Safety Recall"

[LeaseOnLife]

For the ones with ADD, using a online pdf-ocr I convert the pdf images of page 5 and 6 to text. I tried to find and correct some of the spelling errors, but there are probably more, read the pdfs to see the original version.

PHMSA discovered that Lite Cylinder failed to report three cylinder failures in service and one cylinder failure during production testing, in violation of DOT-SP 14562. PHMSA obtained

(1) a copy of a settlement agreement Lite Cylinder entered into with Robert Nicholson on January 20, 2012 after a DOT-SP 14562 cylinder ruptured and damaged a gas grill in New Jersey, which Lite Cylinder's owner admitted was a result of a flaw in the seam,

(2) signed employee statements regarding an injury to an Independent Inspection Authority (IIA) employee during a low pressure test at Lite Cylinder's facility, and

(3) a report from Freudenberg Texbond regarding a cylinder that separated at their Macon, Georgia facility on September 7, 2012. Lite Cylinder employees also described a cylinder failure that injured several people in the Dominican Republic, which involved 33-pound DOT-SP 13957 cylinders.

In addition to the failures described above. PHMSA discovered that, from January 14, 2009 to September 25, 2012, approximately 19 cylinder owners had returned DOT-SP 14652 cylinders due to sidewall or bottom leaks. Lite Cylinder documented most of these returns in their complaint log, but failed to report them to PHMSA. Failed to comply with PHMSA Notice of Suspension dated May 10, 2007, which required Lite Cylinder to cease the sales of all DOT-SP 13957 cylinders. On May 10, 2007, the PHMSA issued a Notice of Suspension of DOT-SP 13957, which prohibited the manufacture and continued use of 33-pound DOT-SP 13957 cylinders. PHMSA's investigators obtained an Invoice # 2070, dated July 17, 2008, which shows that Lite Cylinder sold and shipped one thousand cylinders to Cocigas SA in Canabacos, Santiago Dominican Republic. The invoice listed the cylinders as "33# Composite Lite Cylinder Complete" and provided instructions on how to obtain a copy of DOT-SP 14562, the special permit that PHMSA issued which allowed resumed use of 10 pound and 20 pound DOT-SP 13957 cylinder under the authority of DOT-SP 14562 without remarking. Several Lite Cylinder employees, including Mr. Reifschneider, Lite Cylinder's President, provided signed statements saying that the cylinders sold to Cocigas were manufactured under DOT-SP 13957. Furthermore, PHMSA has obtained photographs showing that cylinders sold to Cocigas remained marked as DOT-SP cylinders. According to the statements, one of these cylinders subsequently failed during transportation and injured several occupants of the transport vehicle.

Since the full pdf wasn't accessible for some time yesterday, here are the first 12 pages, seperated, since the single 15 page pdf was to large to upload.

[LeaseOnLife]

pages 13-15:

[colemj]

Originally Posted by sabray

They passed inspection. Valves did not need replacing. No up charge. Tanks were well maintained clean horizontal tanks not vertical which makes some difference in how they vent.

I get it now. I misread your post to mean that you needed to get rid of your Al tanks and were looking for new ones.

Mark

[FSMike]

Thanks LeaseOnLife -

Interesting. Makes me wonder if my 10 lb. tanks may be ok.
Perhaps the manufacturer's specs aren't adequate for larger tanks like the 33 lb. variety.

[jgbrown]

Damn. I have a nice stainless holder for it and everything.

[Seafarer24]

Don't bother sending them in, as you have nowhere to send them now! I just received this in my mail:

Please be advised that The Lite Cylinder Company is no longer in business and is currently evaluating its legal options. The company’s facility is now closed and unable to receive cylinders returned per the instructions detailed in US DOT – PHMSA Emergency Order No. 2013-002. Furthermore, the company is financially insolvent and will not be able to recompense cylinder owners, dealers and distributors for the expenses incurred in complying with this Emergency Recall Order.

If you have any questions concerning the Emergency Recall Order you should contact John Heneghan, Regional Director, at (404) 832-1140, john.heneghan@dot.gov, or Aaron Mitchell, Director Field Services Support, at (202) 366-4455, aaron.mitchell@dot.gov.

[SVNeko]

Wow. Just wow. Right out of business. I hope my Ragasco doesn't meet a similar fate. All y'all with Lites ought to suck it up and dump it, even if it looks ok.

[bobconnie]

AHHH, The Old " Im from the Govt. Im here to Help you!!" LOL another company gone away! I seem to have seen a bunch of these out there, cus being down the Bayou is just like being at sea ! And folks buy a lot of marine stuff to use at home! And these tanks are all over the place! and I not heard of a problem as yet ! They fill em all over the place down here ! I guess they only mess up aboard maybe ??

[janice142]

I know mine was "overfilled" (3 gallons versus the usual 2.5) when it was cold one winter and there was no "air" showing at the top of the tank, but it worked fine -- I used it (with no issues) so will continue to do so.

It read like (the report) that the company was told not to sell any more 33 pound canisters and they didn't sell any more IN THIS COUNTRY. So, shipped out of the country a problem occurred and then the wrath of the government came raining down.

For me, I'm satisfied and like bob and connie, have never heard any reports of problems. Indeed, someone on the trawler list posted a story about seeing one engulfed in flames at a dockside fire, and the tank did not explode. That's good enough for me.

That said, I do see the potential for an overfilled unit sitting in the hot sun and the propane expands... well, it's possible something will give. Protected in a locker I'm satisfied though I will be certain the tank is never filled about 2.5 gallons in the future.

Thank you Seafarer24 for the initial head's up. Knowledge is helpful.

[Seafarer24]

Probably the last e-mail I will receive from the company. This came today:

To all our valued customers,

Sending the [previous] e-mail was the hardest thing I have had to do. I have worked with this company 9 years and have been the contact most of you have worked with. It was never the intention of this company for this to even remotely occur. We had some internal problems and PHMSA was working with us to get all this resolved. We did not ever feel any of you receiving this e-mail were in any danger. They wanted new management and new ownership. We gave them all they asked for after being shut down for 8 months with no sales. We worked diligently to address any internal issues we had in the past that resulted in a failure in the field. After an incident which involved a cylinder that none of you have they did the mandatory total recall of all cylinders ever made by Lite Cylinder. All companies experience issues but I stand by this company and its product. Whether you were just a single order customer or one of our large customers it didn’t matter. I cherish you all. We all lose in this. On our side it’s our jobs and on your side it’s also financial. I would only hope that if Lite Cylinder could ever get past this recall all of you would still be our customers. Even though we won’t be here we are appealing the recall but we don’t know what the outcome will be. I have enjoyed working with you and consider you my friends. May God bless each of you.

Sheree Pierce
Lite Cylinder Company

[MarkJ]

Another company goes bust

[bereznai]

I read the PHMSA report and the specific failures seem to be leaks and sometimes ruptures with significant failure rates. More worrying is a whole litany of failures of the manufacturer to test their products to required standards.
I searched the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC - Home) for mention of this issue, but was unable to find any corroborating information.
Assuming the PHMSA report is real and not some elaborate hoax - and I think it's real - I would empty and destroy any tanks made by Lite Cylinder Company, regardless of age. Yes, you could have bought a good one, but there's no way to know.

[Annie in WA]

We have two Lite cylinders, a 20 lb and a 10 lb one and we've been happy with them. That being said, the first Lite cylinder that we bought in 2006, a 20-pound one, leaked at the seam the first time that we partially filled it. This was seven years ago, but I remember contacting the company and they asked me to send it back in to them to examine, which I did. They sent me a replacement which is the 20 lb cylinder that I have now. I was satisfied with their response but my direct experience is that the cylinder did leak.

[MarkJ]

Hi Guys,

I dont have one of these propane bottles but...

Could the tanks be preasure tested and rendered safe to use?

Refills would be outside the USA.

[SV Demeter]

I just got one filled here in st Thomas even though they had the notice posted on their wall. The guy outside doing the filling sure didn't care long as I had the purchase ticket...

We will probably replace the tank at some point but as long as its not leaking and I can get it filled here in the Caribbean I'm in no rush. I love the thing.

Does anyone seriously think one of these will just spontaneously explode? We're talking about 150psi here it's not like a scuba tank. If it springs a leak what's going to happen? All my gas is going to leak over the side out of my DOT ABYC over mandated locker...

I see the most likely event of a failure occurring during the filling process and even then I'm hard pressed to see how someone gets hurt.

Man this is the sort of crap that made me leave the US in the first place. Friggen nanny state...