Industry Standard Update 127: LGUK Code of Practice 17 2025

Industry Standard Update 127: LGUK Code of Practice 17 2025 – LPG vessels: Preparing for and Removing from Service
Date issued: 24 April 2025

This Industry Standard Update provides an overview of the key areas of change arising from the revision of LGUK Code of Practice 17: 2025(1) LPG vessels: Preparing for and Removing from Service.

Introduction
In February 2025 an updated version was released of LGUK Code of Practice 17: 2025⁽¹⁾ LPG Vessels: Preparing for and Removing from Service. The revised procedure supersedes the UKLPG Code of Practice 17:2001, Amendment 1:2005⁽²⁾ Purging LPG Vessels and Systems, which has been withdrawn. The revision to this Code of Practice comes into effect immediately.

Scope
The Code of Practice has been updated to restrict the scope to LPG vessels and update the code to the current Liquid Gas UK (LGUK) format from the UKLPG format. Also included in the update is the procedure for purging directly with air. Added to the code is a section for decommissioning.

The following is a brief overview of the amendments made in the update to LGUK Code of Practice 17: 2025.

Notable updates
Within the opening pages of LGUK Code of Practice 17: 2025 a section denotes all the relevant changes as stated, the most notable being that the code now covers only vessels and no longer covers systems.

Purging with air is a completely new section to cover this procedure and is found in Section 5. The section covers the methods of purging and venting the system to air with or without burning, depending upon the situation. It also makes references to the number of times the procedure is conducted and the monitoring of the gas levels to be achieved.

This leads on to the omittance from the main document of the appendices for the practice of purging with water and steam.

Another addition is Section 6, covering the decommissioning procedure for a vessel. This includes the removal of the vessel or, if this is impractical, the preparation for the permanent storage of the vessel and the requirement to fill the vessel with a suitable substance.

Within the appendices is guidance for the replacement of fittings without purging: guidance is given for different procedures that fittings can be exchanged without the need to empty the vessel where no service valves are available.

Summary
This Industry Standard Update is an overview of the information contained in the amended standard. Gas Safe registered engineers/businesses should be aware that they have a responsibility to ensure that they are fully apprised of all the requirements of the whole published standard and their practical application.

You can purchase LGUK Code of Practice 17: 2025  – LPG Vessels: Preparing for and Removing from Service here.

Bibliography
⁽¹⁾ LGUK Code of Practice 17: 2025 LPG Vessels: Preparing for and Removing from Service
⁽²⁾ UKLPG Code of Practice 17:2001, Amendment 1:2005