How to blow up your garage in two easy steps!

I think I'll go buy a fire extinguisher for the shop.

Think those anti-flashback valves are necessary in the newer Victors?

 

getting killed is one thing, but getting killed DEAD?, man that's a whole 'nother thing!

 

Put the anti-blowback valves right at the regulators, not at the torch end, or they will just melt if there's a backfire.
As for the regulators not fitting tanks, up here in Canada there are at least two suppliers and they use different fittings.
A neighbor had a shop fire and two torches were in the shop. When they blew, the flames went hundreds of feet in the air, blew shingles all over the place, and started a bale stack on fire that was 300 yards away! The firemen just about had heart attacks! Lucky all the flames went straight up, nobody got hurt. Oxy-acet is nothing to mess with, be safe or (If you are lucky!) be sorry.

 

I thought that you WANTED them, at the end with the torch, to stop the carnage from traveling back down the hoses.......

 

So you really DIDN'T blow up the garage?

Well get your ass back out there and do it RIGHT!

AND with pictures!!


(glad you're ok)

 

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.Anyone want to chime in on the two grades of hose and why one of them is better?

 

You need them at BOTH ends of the hose on every torch, new or old. The ones on the torch end keep a blowback from going into the hose. The ones at the regulators keep anything from getting into the regulator or the tank if you cut your hoses by dropping something on them or burning them when you are careless with your sparks. Make sure you put the sets at the correct ends or no gas will flow.

Remember to turn the tanks off. In the 1960s there was a farm machinery shop near Holmen Wisconsin in a concrete block building. They had a timer on their oil furnace to start at 6AM. They left the tanks on with some leaky hoses. At 6AM the building blew up leaving concrete block fragments stuck in the wall of a building 50 feet away.

 

It's difficult to find good hose these days. One type is supposed to be more flexible in the cold. The crimp on ends seem to leak when the hose gets cold. The stiffer hose becomes a coil spring in the cold.

 

something seems odd for the acetylene to find its way up the oxygen hose, oxygen doesn't burn on it's own, anti-flashback valves i dont think would of stopped this as they don't stop fire just explosions.

 

glad your OK.

 

even the cheap ass DRY-CHEM ones from wallyworld/harbor freight will save you ass or even more your toys & tools,i used a $ 10 el-cheapo to save my ride when it back fired & blew gas every where, best $10 i spent!!!!!!

 

It sure looks cool though. THAT, has got to be worth something.

 

I'm glad after reading this whole post that someone finally mentioned that you need them on both ends of the hoses. They are cheap insurance.

 

Been there.....about 40 years ago, my brother in law was notching the back panel of a 36 ford cab to channel it over the frame. He was inside cutting outward,the torch hoses were laying across the frame right up against the cab. He cut into the hoses and it made a big bang when it lit up.......blew itself out. I was laying on the ground laughing so hard I almost pissed myself....and yes..it scared the living sh*t out of both of us!

 

I don't know why they don't include them in torch kits. They don't build them into torches and regulators because they do fail. They need to be checked from time to time by trying to blow through them.

 

Good to know.
I picked up an extinguisher last night (I've needed one for some time).
I'll talk to the Oxarc guys this next week to get the real skinny on the valves.
I have a very small shop, so if something were to go wrong, it would probably go wrong in a big way.

 

That's why I use a plasma torch. I hate O/A torches. I had one pop the top (blew a hole in the top of the torch head) about 14 years ago. It was brand new, I wasn't using it, another guy was, but I was sitting next to him, half-under the truck we were working on. I have hated them ever since. I have one, but I rarely use it.

 

You guys missed all the fun on blowing things up.

Try starting a flooded engine that has blow by, with pure oxygen in the carb.

It blew out all the engine gaskets, oil pan, valve covers and vally cover. I never found the oil fill cap!

 

In the winter, before multi-viscosity oils, people would have 30w oil in their cars when temperatures dropped to -20. The engine would barely turn over. Then they would pump the accelerator to try to start it and completely flood the engine. We'd tow them in, put it up on the hoist and use a torch to heat the oil in the pan so we could drain it. My boss got in a hurry once and took out the drain plug before heating the oil. When it was draining slowly, he heated it with the torch without re-installing the plug. When the gas on top of the oil came out, it started on fire and exploded inside the pan, blowing the valve covers and valley cover off and seriously bulging the oil pan.

 

Repeated popping or whistling from your torch means it is on fire inside. Turn it off immediately!

Interesting comments about using a flash back arrestor each end of the house, I never thought of that before. A burning hose can still cause a hell of a bang. I guess you'd use the slimline ones on the torch end, rather than the resettable ones that are quite bulky.

It amazes me whenever I go to use the torch at work, on my ship, it is usually set to 15psi acetylene and 100psi oxy.......

A. It should be turned off, regulators zeroed and hoses de-pressured after you finish using it.

B: You don't ever need more than 5 or 6 psi on your acetylene, however big your tip is. Acetylene will spontaneously combust if you abuse it, either in the hose or inside the bottle. Letting it out to fast can cause it to catch fire too.

 

I think my @$$hole would have turned square and I would have $hit a gold brick , on the up side I could then afford a brand new one

 

scary,,,man id have to change to a up to date one

 

Its illegal to have an oxy / acetylene setup here without flashback arrestors. If you get caught in a workshop by workplace health and safety using an oxy set without them you may as well get out your cheque book for the fines they will hit you up for.

This is what they look like.

 

They are cheap and simple to use, but I still haven't got round to fitting any myself.

I really ought to because the gear I have, and the bottles, are pretty crappy, and there is no 911 or 999 to call if I do burn myself up.

 

The old guys always just called it the chuck when I was comming up. Although I do suppose chuck key is the proper nomanclature.

I walled around with one hung on a chain around my neck for about a month once, it was the one they picked out of the shop wall and became my own personal tool after that. It was a pain to use that way but I never leave the late without pulling it any more for sure.

Something that needs to be said about torches new or old is that what normally cause them to blow back is air getting into it where it shouldn't get in. they should actually be pulled down quarterly at the very least and inspected. O rings are cheap, fingers are pricless. I wooked with a guy called 3 finger willy for a while, caused by a rose bud accident. One of my jobs at that place was a montly equipment inspection, all torches dismantled, all welding machines checked for bare wires or bad ground clamps etc.

 

In construction, I was cutting a bunch of old sprinkler pipe25 ft in the air. A piece of red hot pipe bounced and sheared the hose. Instant fire!!! I jumped down, closed the valves and nothing happened except we had to get the hoses fixed.

 

Ah yes the old chuck in the lathe trick, damn that hurts, blew upa few torches, so I know how that feels, best one cleaning solvent in a plastic bucket, grinding a few feet away, you probably know the outcome

 

When I was at college the chuck keys had a spring on the end so you couldn't leave them in the chuck.

It worked, but it was a real ballache trying to wind the jaws in or out any distance as well as press/hold the chuck key in the hole.