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Acetylene tanks-old style?

Machinery_E

Titanium
Joined
Aug 19, 2004
Location
Ohio, USA
I have an acetylene tank I took in to our local welding supply place to get it tested and filled, since I need to get my oxy/acetylene rig going. Got the tank at an auction, and its out of date. (The only date I can see on it good is 1950-which I assume is when it was made) When I took it to the LWS, the guy at the dock didn't like the looks of it...said it has the "old style" base and those-he thinks-gets condemned when they get sent in for testing...hmm...I wasn't aware or that...I'm curious now...any thoughts?

Thanks!
Eric
 
I have an acetylene tank I took in to our local welding supply place to get it tested and filled, since I need to get my oxy/acetylene rig going. Got the tank at an auction, and its out of date. (The only date I can see on it good is 1950-which I assume is when it was made) When I took it to the LWS, the guy at the dock didn't like the looks of it...said it has the "old style" base and those-he thinks-gets condemned when they get sent in for testing...hmm...I wasn't aware or that...I'm curious now...any thoughts?

Thanks!
Eric


So I don't get your question. Either the tank is good or bad...thats about it.
 
Acetylene Tank

My supplier told me they weren't filling the older acetylene tanks with the steel band
around the bottom, seems the're all rusting out behind the band from moisture,where it can't be seen. Dave [acme thread]
 
Thanks Dave! That must of been what they were talking about...

behindpropellers, that's what I was thinking too, but apprantely if its a certain style tank they don't even test it? Hopefully we'll find out something in about 2 weeks...:toetap:

Eric
 
If its the old style bottom they will probably not even test it, just condemn it.

I have recently had one tested with a '56 test date but it didn't have the band. The supply guy kinda chuckled when we looked at it. He said "haven't seen one that old in a long time, but I imagine it will test good".
 
I don't think they test acetylene bottles. I have an MC bottle that is 100 years old and nobody ever look at the dates when I have swapped them for full ones. MC bottles were for motorcycle headlights, so they went out of production a loooong time ago. I see the chinese are making them again. No acetylene bottle that I have ever seen had cert dates on it.
 
Tanks

I know when I went through dive training they told us the following about steel scuba tanks. I imagine their care would be similar.

-The tank's interior surfaces must NEVER be allowed to be exposed to ambient (outside) air. Users are supposed to always leave some pressure in the tank to prevent this from happening (100 to 300 psi). If a tank is allowed to drop to 0 psi it's assumed to be exposed to ambient air and it's supposed to be sent in for inspection and possibly cleaning and re-cert. Dropping pressure down to 10 to 50 psi is frowned upon as cutting the reserve too close as along the way, as people service it, they will quickly crack the valve to check for pressure. If it only has 10 - 50 psi the first couple of people cracking it (to check pressure) could deplete the tank to zero. 100 to 300 psi gives enough buffer to prevent this.

-The reason for this is corrosion and contamination. Even if a small amount of ambient air, with it's small amount of humidity gets into the tank, it can start corroding it out from the inside. The inside of these tanks are squeaky-clean bare steel and not meant to be exposed to moisture of any kind. Moisture contamination is not something you want to happen. In the scuba world, you also want to keep the tank clean because your breathing the air that's put in there. As far as welding goes I imagine you'd want to keep from contaminating whatever gas you have in there too.

-Tanks should be hydro tested every 5 years (used to be years ago, this may have changed). I believe once the tank has been re-certified it's hydro date is stamped into the tank near the top.

-No dent's or outside damage. Steel tanks are less prone to this.

-Never leave a tank sitting up vertically without being solidly restrained somehow. If the tank falls over and the the fitting/valve breaks off, you'd better be somewhere else as that thing is going to do some damage.

Hope this helps-
 
Acetlyene tanks cannot, to my knowledge, be hydrotested. They are filled
with acetone in an inert filler (diatomaceous earth, or asbestos on the older
ones) and so there is not much chance for air to get in there in any event.

:)

MC, that's right. It stands for 'motcycle.'

The larger B tanks were prestolite, that was for mounting on the
running boards of cars. This is why some of them have the valve
stem mounted offset. You put the stem on the very top because
those tanks were mounted horizontally.

Not a recommended practice for welding use! :)

Jim
 
Acetlyene tanks cannot, to my knowledge, be hydrotested. They are filled
with acetone in an inert filler (diatomaceous earth, or asbestos on the older
ones) and so there is not much chance for air to get in there in any event.

:)

MC, that's right. It stands for 'motcycle.'

The larger B tanks were prestolite, that was for mounting on the
running boards of cars. This is why some of them have the valve
stem mounted offset. You put the stem on the very top because
those tanks were mounted horizontally.

Not a recommended practice for welding use! :)

Jim

Close, Jim. B tanks were for busses, same as MC tanks were for motorcycles.

metalmagpie
 
The "B" in B tank may stand for bus, but if you inspect photos of touring cars
of that era, you'll see the prestolite tanks on the running boards, mounted
horizontally. Closer than close. Correct!

Jim
 








 
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