Acetylene Safety

[Dwight S]

Is it ok to lay an acetylene cylinder on its side?

[Bob Willman]

I believe that you can for a short time but not during use. I heard that it should be upright for at least as long as it was lying down or for 24 hours. The acetlyene is disolved in liquid acetone and it needs to settle so as not to get into the regulators. I have transported tanks in my pick-up bed lying down and fastened in place - with all safety valve covers securely in place.

[Ed Radtke]

NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!

[pegasuspinto]

AFAIK all DOT approved cylenders like this are to be transported upright, and not in the passenger compartment of any vehicle. If it is laying down, the safety valve will be under liquid (liquid oxygen or propane in those cylenders, or the acetone in a acetylene cylender). A lot of gas dealers won't let you load or off the lot unless you are transporting legally.

Robert

[MoRo]

I understand the regs against transport in a horizontal position, but, I was taught by my welding instructor in HS that it was okay to do so, but, as was said before, had to stand upright for 24 hrs before opening the valve.

[welderskelter]

I am new here but I seen this and just had to reply. I dont know where all this safety stuff came from but I would bet from a welding school. For one thing you dont buy liquid oxygen in a cylinder that says compressed oxygen. You can lay it down turn it upside down while cutting and it wont hurt anything. Except your back. As far as the acetylene. An acetylene bottle isnt empty. It is full of a bunch of stuff that looks like asbestos and some white chunks. There is no liquid in the bottle to dump out. I know because I cut one into with a cutting torch I was going to make a sandblaster out of it but had to cut up a hundred pound propane bottle instead. I use mine laying down in my pickup out here on the farm all the time. In the 80s it wasnt against any ordances to haul them laying down so thats how it was done. I only have to make sure my propane is standing up or it will squirt liquid and burn something up. Maybe me. I dont like getting hurt anymore than the next guy but if you listen to everybody you will wrap youself in bubble wrap before leaving the house to go have coffee. Have a nice day and God bless. Harold

[Craig A]

Over 99% of the acetylene, oxygen, argon, co2, argon mix and any other cylinders we ever handled left us either in the trunk of a car or lying in a pickup box.......without incident.......over 3 generations of ownership and still going........

Any LAWS regarding the TRANSPORT of such cylinders regard UNCAPPED cylinders......not their position during transport.

[pegasuspinto]

the safety regs were written in blood, as usual, so ignore at your own risk

if you cut open a acetylene bottle and lived to tell about it....well, you missed your chance-shoulda bought a lottery ticket instead

the odds on russian roulette are pretty good too.

it's called acetylene, dissolved, because it's dissolved into acetone soaked in asbestos. acetylene usually won't blow up when compressed to more then 15 PSI without the acetone and asbestos-usually. the odds are much better then russian roulette, even.

I suppose the guys in ohio thought working safety valves, accurate gauges, thick fireboxes, and water on the crownsheet, were all sissy stuff too.

go ahead and leave your shirt untucked while doing some lathe work-

go ahead and cut open acetylene bottles, and weld without goggles, leave your seatbelt off, and smoke around the gas pump-but DON'T ridicule those of us who think it's worth the 5 minutes or so a day to work a little safer, and up our odds of not ending the day in a hospital room, or a morgue

Robert

[JHFoster]

Pegasuspinto, what is it with the referances to the Ohio explosion?

[Ray Freeman]

Originally Posted by pegasuspinto

it's called acetylene, dissolved, because it's dissolved into acetone soaked in asbestos. acetylene usually won't blow up when compressed to more then 15 PSI without the acetone and asbestos-usually. the odds are much better then russian roulette, even.


Robert

Thats exactly it Robert,saved me writing it.

[MoRo]

Originally Posted by Craig A

Over 99% of the acetylene, oxygen, argon, co2, argon mix and any other cylinders we ever handled left us either in the trunk of a car or lying in a pickup box.......

Any LAWS regarding the TRANSPORT of such cylinders regard UNCAPPED cylinders......not their position during transport.

One outlet for welding supplies, here, tried to give some guys grief for hauling cylinders out, lying down, but were sorta unhappy when they had to wheel the cylinders out to the street and load 'em there. Guys told the manager that since the city street wasn't ******** property, they couldn't tell 'em how to haul their gas home.
I don't think they're quite so anal now.

[MoRo]

Originally Posted by JHFoster

Pegasuspinto, what is it with the referances to the Ohio explosion?

What he said!

[welderskelter]

Pegasuspinto, you must be my neighbor to have known me so well. I do all those things. But I have spent my time in the gas plants, made hot tie ins , welded inside fuel tanks. If you think about things and rationalize a bit then you can do lots of things that people say you cant do. Oh, that propane tank I cut up had some liquid in it, the only way to insure it couldnt blow. Thank you.

[Dempster]

Transport it upright and secure with valve cover on it. All the regulations came about being changed because of the NTSB recommendations and rash of accidents in recent years. Check your state DOT regulations on what is allowed or what the laws are all may not have been changed yet.

http://news.thomasnet.com/companystory/557173

http://www.ntsb.gov/recs/letters/2009/H09_1_2.pdf

[jdunmyer]

Dwight,
It is OK to haul an acetylene cylinder while it's laying down. If it was required to be upright, I can't imagine very many people getting their own from the supply place, as few of us are equipped to haul one that's standing up.

The others are correct that the cylinder should be standing up for at least a short time before connecting the regulator and using it, but I'd bet that very few people pay any attention to that if they need to use their torch right away.

Don't EVER use acetylene from a cylinder that's laying down. Yeah, I've seen it done at a junkyard, but that is a real no-no. Also, if the cylinder isn't secured to a torch cart or some stationary fixture such as a wall or column, there must be no regulator attached and the safety cap MUST be in place.

If you do a search for Medina, OH steam engine explosion, you should find what pp was talking about.

[dr fusion]

if you really cut up an acet. bottle with a torch it must have been empty with the valve open for the last 50 yrs your lucky you didnt blow your self up and every body around you next time you do that let me know i want to be at least 1000 miles away you must have a death wish think about what your doing

[J.B. Castagnos]

I have one of the mini oxy acetylene rigs. It's tempting to make up transfer lines to fill them from large bottles, but my better judgement tells me not to do it. I realize the lines would have to be oil free and purged, what other dangers?

[pegasuspinto]

off of wiki at:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acetylene

Acetylene is not especially toxic but when generated from calcium carbide it can contain toxic impurities such as traces of phosphine and arsine. It is also highly flammable (hence its use in welding). Its singular hazard is associated with its intrinsic instability; samples of concentrated or pure acetylene will explosively decompose. Acetylene can explode with extreme violence if the pressure of the gas exceeds about 200 kPa (39 psi) as a gas[11] or when in liquid or solid form. It is therefore shipped and stored dissolved in acetone or dimethylformamide (DMF), contained in a metal cylinder with a porous filling (Agamassan), which renders it safe to transport and use, given proper handling.

Good luck, and have the camera rolling-it will make for a great safety video.

Robert

[pegasuspinto]

here is another intresting site, that has a cutaway of several gas cylenders, and why an acetylene bottle shouldn't be abused
http://www.ehss.vt.edu/programs/CGC_cylinders.php

[OTTO-Sawyer]

Whether transported upright or laying down, I assume (dangerous, I know) that everyone cracks the valve open to clear the nozzle before hooking up the regulator.

If there were any liquid in it from laying down that would clear it out. I'm sure that applies to any gas bottle, not just acetylene....

We've always hauled them in the trunk of the car laying down , and now that I'm driving a car with too small of a trunk, I haul them partially reclined in the front passenger seat. Wouldn't want to get in an accident that way, but then again I wouldn't want to get in an accident with one securely chained down in the upright position in the back of a truck either....

When I get home with a new bottle, I crack the valve, hook up the regulator and start cutting or welding right away. I've never waited for anything to settle for 24 hours or even the short length of time it took to haul them home.