birdus
Plastic
- Joined
- Nov 24, 2013
- Location
- United States
I was just out in the garage welding some 4130 with my oxy-acetylene setup. I'm a bit of a neophyte, but this was unexpected. I was getting some popping from the tip, but that wasn't the first time. The tip had gone out a couple times, but I just turned off the oxygen, stuck the tip next to the hot metal, got re-lit, added the oxygen back in, and kept going. No biggie.
The last time the torch popped, I heard a sound come from the tanks. I glanced over, then glanced back at the torch (which was still running), then glanced back at the tanks. I'm guessing it's a good thing that I could see the acetylene tank ON FIRE through my dark mask. I flipped up the mask to see if I really saw what I thought I had seen...and I had.
I killed the torch, then walked briskly over to the tanks, reached into the f*&#ing fire and turned off the acetylene tank. The fire continued to burn (presumably the gas still in the hose) as I tried to blow out the fire. I grabbed the valve just to make sure I had turned off the tank. I had. I blew on the flame some more, expecting my head to get blown off at any second. Finally, the flame went out. I turned off the oxygen. Then I bled the hoses.
Then, I decided I would go into the house because I still didn't want to die in a gruesome explosion. I figured I would find out what happened so that I wouldn't die finishing the welding later on.
Two things. First, the flame was coming from the joint where the regulator attaches to the tank. It would seem I didn't tighten that enough. Second, isn't the blowback preventer (or whatever it's called) supposed to prevent this kind of thing? In the photo, you can see where the flames were (it's black) and you can see the thing that I thought was supposed to prevent this.
WTF?????
The last time the torch popped, I heard a sound come from the tanks. I glanced over, then glanced back at the torch (which was still running), then glanced back at the tanks. I'm guessing it's a good thing that I could see the acetylene tank ON FIRE through my dark mask. I flipped up the mask to see if I really saw what I thought I had seen...and I had.
I killed the torch, then walked briskly over to the tanks, reached into the f*&#ing fire and turned off the acetylene tank. The fire continued to burn (presumably the gas still in the hose) as I tried to blow out the fire. I grabbed the valve just to make sure I had turned off the tank. I had. I blew on the flame some more, expecting my head to get blown off at any second. Finally, the flame went out. I turned off the oxygen. Then I bled the hoses.
Then, I decided I would go into the house because I still didn't want to die in a gruesome explosion. I figured I would find out what happened so that I wouldn't die finishing the welding later on.
Two things. First, the flame was coming from the joint where the regulator attaches to the tank. It would seem I didn't tighten that enough. Second, isn't the blowback preventer (or whatever it's called) supposed to prevent this kind of thing? In the photo, you can see where the flames were (it's black) and you can see the thing that I thought was supposed to prevent this.
WTF?????