What LPG Sense is not
The LPG Sense sensor measures how much gas is left in your cylinder. That is all it does.
It is not a gas leak detector. It is not a gas alarm. It is not a safety device. It will not warn you about a leak, a fire, a failed regulator or a perished hose, and it must never be relied on to keep you or anyone else safe. If you want to be warned about a leak, fit a separate, purpose-built LPG leak detector — this is not one, and no setting or update will make it one.
If you ever smell gas
Do not look at the app. Close the cylinder valve, do not switch anything on or off, keep away from flames, sparks and cigarettes, open up to ventilate the area, move away from the cylinder, and call your gas supplier or an installer registered with SAQCC Gas. LPG is flammable and stored under pressure, and a leak is an emergency that a phone reading has nothing useful to say about.
Fitting it is not gas work
The sensor magnets to the outside of the cylinder, under its flat base. It never touches the valve, the regulator, the hose or the gas itself. So it is not part of your gas installation, it does not need a registered gas installer, and fitting it does not change or invalidate your certificate of conformity.
Do not loosen, adjust, disconnect or interfere with the valve, the regulator or the hose in order to fit the sensor. You never need to, and you may not: work on a gas installation is reserved by law to a person registered as competent through SAQCC Gas. If anything about your installation needs attention, that is who to call.
Where to mount it, and where not to
- Mount it on the flat base of the cylinder, on clean bare steel, with coupling gel on the sonar pad. The reading is taken straight up through the flat base, so never fit it to the curved side wall — it will not work from the side.
- Fitted to the base, the sensor sits well away from the valve, the regulator and the hose connection, which is where gas would escape if anything were wrong. Keep it there: do not move it up towards the valve to get a better signal.
- Keep the area around the cylinder clear and ventilated, and keep the cylinder upright.
- The sensor is a battery-powered electronic device. It is not certified explosion-proof and it is not certified for use in a classified hazardous area. Do not use it on a cylinder kept in an unventilated room, a cellar or a basement, or anywhere the installation itself does not comply with the South African standard for gas installations. If your installation is not compliant, have it corrected by an SAQCC Gas installer before fitting the sensor.
- It works on standard steel cylinders. The magnet will not hold and the reading will not work on aluminium or composite cylinders.
What the readings can and cannot tell you
The percentage, the kilogram figure and the days-left number are estimates, not certified measurements, and they can be wrong. They depend on the cylinder type and wall thickness, the temperature, how squarely the sensor is seated against clean steel, and — for the days-left figure — on how steadily you have been using gas. Change how you cook and the estimate changes with you.
Treat it as a planning aid: something that tells you it is time to order a refill. Do not treat it as a reason to run a cylinder down to the last few percent, and do not rely on it where being wrong would matter — a medical device, a business that cannot lose heat, or anything else where running out is more than an inconvenience. Keep a spare cylinder if that describes you.
Battery safety
The sensor contains a sealed internal battery. Because it lives outdoors on a gas cylinder, the safe-handling rules matter more than they would for a device on your desk:
- Do not puncture, crush, drill, cut, burn or open the sensor, and do not put it in a fire or an incinerator.
- Do not leave it in direct sun in an enclosed space where it can get much hotter than the air, and do not use it outside the temperature range in the instructions.
- If the sensor swells, gets hot, leaks, discolours or smells: stop using it, take it off the cylinder, move it well away from the cylinder and from anything that can burn, let it cool in the open air, and then tell us. Do not put it in your pocket or in a drawer.
- Never put the sensor or its battery in a household bin.
The full battery specification, the operating temperature range and the charging instructions are supplied with the product. If you have lost them, email support@lpg.africa and we will send them.
End of life: free take-back
Electronic waste and batteries may not lawfully go to landfill in South Africa, so they must not go in your household bin. We will take any LPG Sense sensor and its battery back for recycling free of charge — whether or not you bought it from us, and whether or not you still have proof of purchase. That is your right under section 59 of the Consumer Protection Act, and we are glad to honour it.
Email support@lpg.africa and we will give you the return address and cover the cost, or point you at the nearest e-waste collection point. Packaging can go in normal municipal recycling: the box is cardboard.
Reporting a safety concern
This is separate from ordinary support, and we treat it that way. If your sensor overheats, swells, leaks, or behaves in a way that worries you, stop using it, take it off the cylinder and tell us at support@lpg.africa or on 073 461 4604. Include your order number and, if the unit has one, the serial number on the back.
We investigate every report, we will tell you what we find, and if we find a fault that could affect other units we will contact every customer we can identify and recall the affected batch. We would rather hear about ten things that turn out to be nothing than miss one that was not.
Approvals
The sensor contains a short-range Bluetooth radio, which requires type approval from the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa before it may be supplied in South Africa. We will publish the approval number here, and it will appear on the sensor and its packaging, before we sell a single unit.
To be precise about what we do not claim: the sensor is not an SABS-marked product, and it is not certified under the South African standard for gas installations — that is an installation standard for the cylinder and the pipework, not a product standard for an external accessory. We hold our test reports and will share them on request.
This page is part of our terms
The limits described here are part of our terms of sale. Nothing on this page reduces your rights: if the sensor is unsafe, fails, or comes with inadequate instructions or warnings and that causes injury, illness, death or damage to property, we are liable for the resulting harm under section 61 of the Consumer Protection Act, whether or not we were negligent, and we do not ask you to give that up.