Hi folks, 2 questions...

Taking full advantage of this website's international usage, I bought an old gas forge a few months back off a farrier mate & decided to replace the regulator as it's seen better days. My new British Standard regulator arrived but the hose (already attached to the forge) wouldn't screw on, that baffled me a bit until I noticed the regulator is American (Lister) and the hose fittings are too small.

The O/D of the threads on my new British reg look to be 5/8" and the O/D of the threads on the old American reg look to be 9/16". (Close up pic of the two side by side illustrates the difference). I rang the supplier I got the reg from to ask if they did a step up/down fitting which I could just screw on, they said there isn't such a thing, sounds unlikely to me. I'm new to gas gear in general and clueless with Americam fittings, can anyone offer some advice as to which items I need? Considering that the current hose fits the forge I'd like to keep that if poss.

The other thing the supplier said was that by law I MUST have a flashback arrestor on the hose. I know the rules vary if you're working on your own VS working with others, but even still that sounded suspicious to me. He then went on to say that if I bought a flashback arrestor he'd throw in for free a variety of British fittings that I could crimp onto the narrower diameter American hose if I cut the existing fitting off. That really made me think he's just trying to flog me a flashback arrestor. By UK law do you need a flashback arrestor on a propane forge? I've got them on my oxy-propane gear.

Cheers in advance!

With no pressurized O2 there isn't a way that propane can flash back---can't burn without oxygen and no way for O2 to work it's way back up the hose....  Unlike acetylene which can exothermically disassociate even without the presence of O2.  

were it me, I'd be heading to the local plumbing supply with both regulators and just say that I need a reducer to get from the Larger to the smaller. They should take care of you really quickly.

were it me, I'd be heading to the local plumbing supply with both regulators and just say that I need a reducer to get from the Larger to the smaller. They should take care of you really quickly.

That would be ideal but I think UK stores will only carry UK standard thread fittings so it'll probably have to be an eBay job. I'll try a plumber's merchant anyway.

UK threads are referred to as "BSP", what are American propane threads referred to as? If I Googled a reducer or went into a plumbers merchant to ask for a reducer I'd be looking to get a  "BSP to .... propane fitting".

forbidden

 

fuel gasses are normally left hand thread, there are quite a few threads but bsp is the most common

1/4" bsp is about 9/16 outside on a male thread

note the notches on the brass nut denoting a left hand thread

 

Here we get all sorts from all over the world, and I have gas kit more than half a century old! I have found that the best places are the hydraulic supply houses as they carry  a large variety of " tail ends" and that way you can easily connect two differing threads with a short bit of hose between.

tail pipe adaptors, threaded male or female or with separate nut, other end barbed to take a hose

Hitting the hydraulic supply is a good idea I've never been in one that didn't have just about everything. One in a port city is likely to have fittings to any country's standards.

We have a rubber and hose supply that is THE place to go for oddball fittings.

Anchorage is a port city and air hub.

Frosty The Lucky.

Thanks for the tips folks.

forbidden

What's forbidden? If I'm being slow I blame my cold & snotty brain.

Haven't been on here for a while Joel ?

forbidden is Glenn's latest tool to control bandwidth ;-)

no it seems to be a quirk that was introduced with one of the recent upgrades 

what it normally means is that you missed out on a indepth and informative reply when the software disappeared the reply and instead told the poster that he/she has been forbidden 

the poster will try to reply but doesn't allways work so they type forbidden 

poster will usually go in later and change reply or start a new thread with forbidden in the title that the admins then manually merge with the thread (sucks to be you guys but keep up the good work)

We have gas shops over here that usually have a small range of odd fittings. There normal business is selling bottled gass 

if that doesn't work like the others said try a hydraulic shop or a gas fitters wholesaler 

fergy

 

What is wrong with the old regulator? Does it leak? Maybe it just needs a new gauge...

And I'm surprised no one else has pointed out that regular white Teflon tape is a NO-NO with propane.

What is wrong with the old regulator? Does it leak? Maybe it just needs a new gauge...

And I'm surprised no one else has pointed out that regular white Teflon tape is a NO-NO with propane.

Yeah it leaks. I'm surprised no one has said it too, I didn't put it on there. The farrier I got it off believes a little bit of tape is safe but the fabricator I work next to says it's a bad habbit. Either way it's going in the bin!

The 'tape' isn't the 'bad' thing its the fact that it's WHITE tape for propane and LPG  should be YELLOW ! 

White ptfe is for water and breaks down when exposed to the gas causing leaks which is thought to be hazardous to your health and has been known to adversely effect the 'longevity' gene.  

US propane is listed as fil or flare fittings

Cut off the hose fitting and fit a new one. The barbed tail bit will need sizing to suit the hose bore and the nut to suit your regulator fitting. You'll also need the appropriate hose clips. This is the sort of thing:

http://www.gasproducts.co.uk/acatalog/4.8mm_Blow_Torch_Gas_Hose_Nozzle_x_3_8__Left_Hand_Thread.html

I think you've got a 1/4" US thread on the old reg and a 3/8" BSP thread on the new one, judging by the photo.

I always use an anaerobic pipe seal with gas. Test for leaks with a washing-up liquid solution.

The flame arrester is a very good idea with Acetylene, which can dissociate exothermically in the absence of Oxygen. I'm pretty sure it is not a legal requirement even on Acetylene and it doesn't seem likely to provide any benefit at all in this application with Propane.

Ianinsa's advice is the easiest way to go; I have fit up a British regulator to American hose by cutting off one fitting and running the barb from the British fitting into it, and then cranking down a worm screw hose clamp; works like a charm.

I appreciate this thread is a few months old but just wanted to point out that gas sealing tape is white in the UK, however the packaging is yellow. The tape itself is thicker than standard water sealing tape and is produced differently but that would not be easy to identify once is has been applied to a gas or water pipe!