Oxygen and Acetylene bottles

[Tiny]

This is floating around the net;

First of all, GO HUG YOUR WIFE/HUBBY and tell them you love them.

i had an acetylene bottle in my truck, the valve was bumped so slightly and over night the truck filled with the gas. i noticed the smell, and opened the doors to air out the truck. i drove the truck out of the garage to get some more air movement. i went to roll the pass side window down and as soon as i touched the power windows. BAM. with me in the truck. i lost all hearing out of my right ear and got a scratch on the back of my head. all things considering, im alive.

 

[John C.]

If true, the guy who lived that story should broadcast what church he goes to.

I'm sure he will make a large donation on Sundays.

 

[excavator]

Anyone who would put an aceylene bottle in a vehicle like that should not be handling it in the first place. They would have had to lay it down to haul it, then they parked it in the garage overnite, when they smelled aceylene they still got in and moved the "truck" outside and rather than just opening the doors they tried to roll down the power windows. Makes you wonder if they knew that acetylene is explosive.

 

[tonka]

Just for the record that is not my truck!!!!! A MC sized acetylene bottle is 7" by 15" so no need to lat it down... my friend is a plumber he has a small MC sized bottles in his work van, he parks inside a garage. Tho he doesn't leave the gauges on them when not in use...

 

[Trashman]

If that had been acetylene, it would have burned the truck to the ground as well as the garage. Looks to me like a pressure vessel of some type did vent pretty violently.

 

[Greg]

Rule one: when transporting any high pressure tank have the regulator and gauge set removed, the valve securely shut off and the cover, or cap if you prefer, screwed on the top of the tank.
Rule two: when transporting any high pressure tank have the regulator and gauge set removed, the valve securely shut off and the cover, or cap if you prefer, screwed on the top of the tank.

 

[hvy 1ton]

It sure as hell looks like some kind of pressure vessel let go inside that FJ. That said, I'm with you guys that acetylene would have burned everything to the ground. I'm betting it was a CO2 bottle used to run air tools/air up tires.

 

[770G]

Rule one: when transporting any high pressure tank have the regulator and gauge set removed, the valve securely shut off and the cover, or cap if you prefer, screwed on the top of the tank.
Rule two: when transporting any high pressure tank have the regulator and gauge set removed, the valve securely shut off and the cover, or cap if you prefer, screwed on the top of the tank.

Rule 3 transport in an upright secure position

 

[Scrub Puller]

Yair . . . Quite apart from the fact that SOMETHING non flamable vented violently in that vehicle there are some conflicting views on this thread.

1/... My gas axe bottles are always secured in the upright position in my ute or trailer with gauges on the bottles ready to go . . . as is the case with most plumbers and tradies around here. Bottle valves are off of course.

2/... I am quite aware of the requirement to transport bottles "in a secure upright position" but believe it to be BS. I have a set of old wooden cradles and ALWAYS carry my spare bottles laying down . . . and have done so for fifty years. Many years ago CIG gas supply delivery trucks were configured with a unique shallow "V" built into the bodies so bottles laying on their sides wouldn't roll around.

3/... The introduction of of hand wheel valves (instead of requiring a key) was a potentialy dangerous and retrograde step but I suppose it helps to sell a bit more gas.

Cheers.

 

[John C.]

The only bottles that need to be kept upright are acetylene gas bottles. That is because the gas is carried in acetone to keep it from becoming explosive. Propane or other flammable gasses do not require bottles being stored up right as far as I know. Oxygen, CO2, argon and nitrogen bottles are pure gas and the biggest danger is the valve getting broken off turning the bottle into a rocket. Transport in the US is regulated by the states and everywhere I've been there are regulations requiring protective caps be installed on the bottles when ever being transported over public highways. Mining regulations require protective caps be installed over the valves even when regulators are attached.

As to the damage to the vehicle I think there needs to be some more information as to what actually happened. What type of gas, vessel type and size, accident and so on.

I haven't heard of anyone using bottled CO2 for running tools or filling tires. As far as I've seen only dry nitrogen is allowed to be used in tires.

The stuff is powerful no matter what kind of gas or bottle. Please be careful.

 

[rare ss]

there was a plumbers van which let go in simlar fashion in Oz afew months ago, tore the car apart, pretty sure the driver died

 

[Nige]

Rule one: when transporting any high pressure tank have the regulator and gauge set removed, the valve securely shut off and the cover, or cap if you prefer, screwed on the top of the tank.

OP story says that valve got "bumped". That would not have happened if the cylinder had been properly secured, the gauges removed, and had the safety cap screwed on top. I agree with Scrub Puller that the design change from cylinders that needed a key to the use of a handwheel valve was a retrograde step, although TBH it was also easy to not completely close a cylinder using a key then remove the key itself with the valve still "leaking".

I disagree with SP about leaving cylinders with the gauges fixed to them for the simple reason that if anything falls on the gauges or if the cylinder itself falls over for whatever reason it could knock off the complete valve/gauge assembly thus venting the cylinder whether or not the valve is in the OFF position or not. I have personally seen this happen twice. If a cylinder has the gauges off and the metal safety cap installed then I have NO PROBLEM with it lying down so long as it's properly secured against rolling around. That opinion has brought me into conflict with numerous Safety germs over the recent years.

I'd agree with other posters that it was most likely a pressurized cylinder that vented. What about an improperly secured compressed air, CO2, or nitrogen cylinder that fell over and knocked the valve off ..?

If the person responsible for the fcukup described by the OP has no children then he could have done us all the favour and removed himself permanently from the gene pool, thus qualifying himself for a Darwin Award ........... I realize others here may not feel so strongly but IMO idiots like him have no place being near the equipment we all run & maintain.

 

[Scrub Puller]

Yair . . . Nige. I'm not with you on the following quote . . .

if anything falls on the gauges or if the cylinder itself falls over for whatever reason it could knock off the complete valve/gauge assembly thus venting the cylinder whether or not the valve is in the OFF position or not.

If the bottle valve is "off" you could break the regulator/gauge assembly off and the bottle won't vent . . . what am I missing?

Cheers.

 

[Nige]

SP, sorry I ddn't word it very well. I have seen 2 specific instances. One where a falling object hit the gauges- it broke not only the gauge assembly off the cylinder but took the cylinder valve with it at the same time. The other was a cylinder that fell over with gauges installed, that one also broke off the valve as well as the gauges. In both cases the cylinder vented explosively.

It's for that reason I'm now convinced that when not in use gauges should be removed and the protective cover should be in place over the valve, plus the cylinders should be correctly & firmly secured in a vertical position to a support frame.

John C is 100% correct when he says the only cylinders that in the strict sense of the word need to be kept upright all the time are acetylene cylinders because the gas is dissolved in a liquid. However to me it makes sense to store all cylinders upright because by doing that you are using up the least amount of floor space in your vehicle. I personally would have not been too keen on hauling pressurized gas cylinders in that FJ Cruiser simply because the rear of the vehicle is an enclosed non-ventilated space.

 

[hvy 1ton]

I haven't heard of anyone using bottled CO2 for running tools or filling tires. As far as I've seen only dry nitrogen is allowed to be used in tires.

The stuff is powerful no matter what kind of gas or bottle. Please be careful.

http://powertank.com/ This stuff is popular with the 4x4 and desert guys.

 

[Dualie]

I would say its possible for this to be an acetylene explosion. as it would be a very violent BANG with very little residual heat.

 

[r_steven]

You can transport both cylinders (not bottles!) Laying down, and use the oxygen laying down aswell but as stated above never use an acetlyene cylinder laying down. I generally take off the regulators aswell, they are quite delicate and not the sort of thing to be treated roughly.

 

[Nige]

You can transport both cylinders (not bottles!) Laying down, and use the oxygen laying down aswell but as stated above never use an acetlyene cylinder laying down.

Not if you work on a mine site you can't .............unless you want to fall foul of the Safety germs.

 

[roughrider]

This was on a recent Mining Mayhem post.

From the MSHA report:
This incident happened on Monday the 29th of September 2003. A fitter with a work van left an E size Ox and Acetylene cylinder on the back seat of a Toyota dual cab over the weekend. The Acetylene cylinder v was not fully closed and a leak occurred.

Over the weekend the Acetylene accumulated in the van. On Monday morning the fitter approached the va opened the door, a large explosion took place. The ignition may have been caused by either the circuitry, the automatic door control, mobile phone which was on the front seat of the van, or lighting a cigarette. The fitter was also a smoker. He has damage to his ear drums and facial damage. As you can see by the att photo he was very lucky. Don't let safety be something you learn by accident.

 

[Scrub Puller]

Yair . . . roughriders post is VERY interesting.

If the circumstances as outlined are correct ( and also for the wrecked Toyota) it seems you can have an acetylene explosion with out a fire . . .I would have thought that was unlikely as we used to make acetyene bombs in dry cleaners bags and they always started grass fires.

Any one care to comment . . . some of the fireys on here would surely be in the know.

Cheers.