What are Hydrogen Gas Cylinders ?

Hydrogen gas cylinders are containers in which hydrogen gas is stored.  Because hydrogen gas is so dangerous when people are not aware of what they are doing it is recommended that people do not attempt to use it or mess with it in any way unless they are a trained professional.  Hydrogen gas cylinders are specially designed to make sure that they are safe and easy to use; most people are unaware of what to look for in a hydrogen gas cylinder.

Using Hydrogen Gas Cylinders

There are a few important things to know when you decide to use a hydrogen gas cylinder:

• You must store all the cylinders in an upright position as the last thing that you want is to have one of these cylinders containing the gas knocked over.  This could cause a big problem and be potentially dangerous.


• Before you use a hydrogen gas cylinder you want to make sure that the pressure has not been reduced.  You should make sure it has been done by a regulator that you can trust and who knows what they are doing.  Make sure that you use regulators that are used with hydrogen and never try to force connections that don’t fit with each other.


• Even if you need to remove dirt or dust you don’t want to crack a hydrogen gas cylinder.  Most people will do this when they are trying to remove something from one of the fittings before attaching it to a regulator.  Many times other gases will allow this to be done without a problem, but because hydrogen is highly flammable there is a risk of self-ignition.


• One common mistake that people make is that once they attach the regulator they forget to make sure that the adjusting screw is closed before opening the cylinder valve.  In order to make sure that you do this properly you need to make sure that you check this.  Once you open the valve make sure that you turn the hand wheel very slowly as you don’t want the hydrogen gas to enter the regulator at a fast rate or too suddenly.  You also need to remember that you never want to use a hammer or wrench or any other tool to open or to close the hand wheel.


• If you need to open the cylinder valve to get content then make sure that the hand wheel is all the way open and then turn it back towards the closed position one quarter turn.  When you are finished with the work you need to remember to turn the cylinder valve off and bleed any remaining hydrogen from the regulator before you remove it from the cylinder.

These are very important safety tips to remember.  They are so important that they have been issued by the Compressed Gas Association, to help people when using hydrogen gas cylinders.  If you make sure that you follow all of these guidelines then you can make sure that you stay safe and get the job done.