# Fire Protection Certification — Hazardous Materials Safety Interpretation

- **operation:** document
- **citation:** 05-0270
- **title:** Fire Protection Certification — Hazardous Materials Safety Interpretation
- **source type:** guidance
- **agency:** Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration
- **status:** guidance
- **official:** true
- **published on:** 2005-12-30
- **effective on:** Not available
- **summary:** 05-0270 response to Fire Protection Certification concerning 180.215.
- **machine formats:** - **json:** https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-05-0270.json
- **markdown:** https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-05-0270.md
- **app url:** https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-05-0270
- **source url:** https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/sites/phmsa.dot.gov/files/legacy/interpretations/Interpretation%20Files/2005/050270.pdf
**body:**

<<<PAGE 1>>>

Mr. Edward O'Brien
Ref No.: 05-0270
President
Fire Protection Certification
8719 Pete Wiles Road
Middletown, MD 21769
Dear Mr. O'Brien:
This is in response to your October 12, 2005 letter requesting clarification of the record
retention requirements for cylinder requalifiers under the Hazardous Materials
Regulations (HMR; 49 CFR Parts 171-180). Specifically, you ask which number a
requalifier should maintain in his records as the serial number when recording the
performance of a 12-year hydrostatic test on a DOT 4B cylinder used as a fire
extinguisher. You indicate that two numbers are marked on the cylinder - a batch
number that applies to an entire lot of cylinders is stamped on the shell, and a serial
number is displayed on the manufacturer's label. The cylinder was manufactured by
Amerex Corporation.
Section 178.35(f) requires each specification cylinder to be marked with a serial number.
For the purpose of cylinder identification, § 180.215(b)(2) requires the person performing
cylinder requalification to record and retain the serial number of the cylinder that was
tested.
In the situation you describe, it is likely that the cylinder was manufactured by Amerex
Corporation under DOT exemption DOT-E 9837. The exemption authorizes Amerex
Corporation to stamp the lot number instead of the serial number on DOT 4B cylinders.
The lot must consist of less than 500 cylinders and each cylinder must have a volumetric
capacity not exceeding 170 cubic inches and a service pressure not exceeding 200 psig.
Assuming that your cylinder meets DOT-E 9837, your records should display the lot
number that is permanently stamped in the cylinder. The serial number may be entered
as additional information to clearly identify the cylinder.
I hope this information is helpful. Please contact us if you require additional assistance.
Sincerely,
John
Gale
Chief, Regulations Development
Office of Hazardous Materials Standards
180•215(61(3)
050270

<<<PAGE 2>>>

ширко
October 12, 2005
$180.2156(2)
U.S. Dept. of Transportation
Office of Hazards Materials Standards OHMS
Cylinders
Attn: Edward Mazzullo
05-0270
400 Seventh Street, SW
Washington, DC 20590
Ref: Interpretation of serial # recording
I conduct DOT Haz Mat training for Fire Protection Companies
throughout the U.S.. It has been brought to my attention several times that
there are 4B cylinders manufactured as fire extinguishers by Amerex Corp.
that have the same serial number stamped into the shell. I contacted Amerex
and they advised me that they have made batches of these units with the
same serial number for the batch. When it is finally assembled and filled as
a fire extinguisher it gets a label attached with a serial number that identifies
The request for interpretation is as units are due for their 12 year
lydrostatic test, what number do cylinder requalifiers put on their record:
hen they requalify these units, the batch number stamped on the shell o
the serial number on the label attached to the shell?.
Sincerely
FPC LTD
Stado Bone
Edward O'Brie
President
C.C. Linda Cooper
Ryan Posten
Raymond LaMagdelaine
Colleen Abbenhaus
Daniel Derway
Billy Hines
John Heneghan
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