I will try to answer the points raised by Mr Martinelli about the gas contents in a cylinder (TMID 11 January).

“Bathroom scales are not very reliable.” Agreed. But once you use always the same scales the problem does not arise.

“It is difficult to calculate exactly how long a cylinder lasts because the amount of cooking is not always the same”. Agreed, but I do not make my calculations on cylinders used for cooking. All my long married life I have always made use of a gas fired water heater for my bathroom. In the past, and for many long years, I have always noted – I like to keep records – that a medium gas cylinder always lasted for 8 weeks, plus or minus a couple of days. Suddenly these 8 weeks went down to 5/6 weeks.

Weighing a gas cylinder is a useless exercise. I explain why Mr Martinelli’s suggestion does not work. A new cylinder is delivered to me. I weigh it and find that it weighs exactly 30 kgs (15kgs gas and 15 kgs cylinder). I weigh it again when it is completely empty and I find that it weighs 17 and not 15 kgs. This means that I was given 13 and not 15 kgs of gas. Complaining to Enemalta would be useless because they’ll tell you what they told me already: The weight of the empty gas cylinder does not affect the amount of gas inside the cylinder. You can do absolutely nothing. The fact that many people made the same complaint makes you think that something, somewhere is wrong. The number of matchsticks in a box are always getting fewer; the weight of a loaf of bread is going down everyday; soft drinks bottles are never completely full... who knows? Maybe the same thing can happen here.

Giovanni De Martino

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