6 Pack welding bottles? OK to draw from outside?

Looking at moving to 6 pack welding bottles. I would like to store them outside, then route lines inside for use. Anyone doing this? Environmental issues with the gas having outside temps? We see some freezing weather but not consistently and only for a few months part of each day.

Experience?

What type of gas?

Temp shouldn't be an issue, outside in the open? Not a good idea. A leanto shed type that protects the rack and bottles from the elements OK

If you use the gas in short order consider a dewar for cryo much better pricing and fewer thing to worry about.

Steve

I would say it depends on what you are doing with it.

If this is to make room in the shop and you are using a lot of has at one time, that sounds like a bad idea (heavy use).

When I was at votech, 20 years ago, our oxy, acetylene, and argon was outside in a manifold setup. It was never under heavy use as we were only running 6" beads or 6" cuts at a time. But even then, it would freeze sometimes. Mostly depended on freezing rain getting onto the top of the tanks and icing up.

Other then that, there is no reason not to, besides the obvious like, turning the tanks on/off, UV resistant manifold and connections, not detecting leaks.

This is also in southern NJ where we get weird winters at times.

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Steve in SoCal said:

If you use the gas in short order consider a dewar for cryo much better pricing and fewer thing to worry about.

Steve

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That doesn't sound safe for any welding gas (oxy or fuel) storage...

Milland said:

That doesn't sound safe for any welding gas (oxy or fuel) storage...

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Why ?
Been in several shops that have the small "handtruck-able" ones.
Gas supplier swaps them out like any other bottle.
Both oxygen for cutting, and Argon for welding shield.

Milland said:

That doesn't sound safe for any welding gas (oxy or fuel) storage...

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What safety aspect would be your concern? Fuel gases are not stored cryogenically normally LPG bottles are not what I was talking about. LOX, nitrogen and, argon are the gases you generally see as liquid products. These all require a well ventilated area but, so do compressed gas bottles. I have 4- 330 CF bottles and a 500 liter dewar. If I need to use a lot of argon in a relatively short time period, under a week the dewar is far more practical.

There is a scrap guy that uses a LOX dewar with a giant cutting torch to cut stuff up from the bed of a pick up. Yes, liquid "air products" require a bit more attention than a compressed gas bottle. A consumer of industrial gases with a high volume need should be capable of managing the handling and safety protocol of liquids with minimal extra effort. A manifold of high pressure gas poses it's own safety concerns.

Steve

Interesting, I'd only seen dewars used inert gas like nitrogen. And I did specify fuel or oxidizer gases, not shielding. Still would prefer a closed tank with oxy, but if it's not a big deal then so be it.

Milland said:

Interesting, I'd only seen dewars used inert gas like nitrogen. And I did specify fuel or oxidizer gases, not shielding. Still would prefer a closed tank with oxy, but if it's not a big deal then so be it.

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My neighbors fab shop uses bottles of Ox on the burning machine, as they mostly plasma cut.
They got in a job doing 4" thick plate and inquired to the LWS, and they went with the smallest
dewar.

He told me the cost goes way down versus even a 12 pack, but you need to use it all within 1 month.
It occasionally "Vented off" when not in use.

Totally fine for the pack to be outside in severe cold. Bunch of large fab shops here have them outside in a cage with a little sloped roof on it. No issues.

RC Mech said:

Totally fine for the pack to be outside in severe cold. Bunch of large fab shops here have them outside in a cage with a little sloped roof on it. No issues.

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Totally agree with RC Mech, Thousands of shops store and use compressed gases outdoors. Just keep in mind that if you have employees or OSHA inspections then there must be a divider between Acetylene or other fuel gases and oxidizers such as Oxygen when in storage as well as when used in service multi cylinder manifold systems.
You can see just what is required online, there are many articles on this.
If you are going to go towards Liquid gases (cryogenics)Just be sure and use the correct regulators for Liquid gases. I have seen folks that use standard H/P regulators for liquid but this is not recommended. As far as outdoor storage of liquid gases, the liquid gases held within a cryogenic state are far colder than any outside temperature would be. Multi cylinder racks are great for extra volume and in most cases are cost saving, in both gas cost and labor required in switching out single cylinders. And yes some type of overhead weather protection is strongly advised.