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Confusion about gas.


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Hello, i recently found an old turbo torch in my dead grandfathers workshop. The torch works fine and i also found a sparker with it. The problem im having is, i dont know for sure what gas it is. I know its either propane or acetyline. The sticker on the tank is old and rotted mostly off. Is there a way to check for a difference? Some of my friends tell me its acetyline and some of my friends tell me its propane. I dont know much about welding but i know the basics. I mostly only do blacksmithing.

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Does the tank sound hollow?

Acetylene is not stable at high pressure and to get around that they fill the tank with acetone (usually) and the gas is dissolved in that similar to a carbonated drink.  Therefore an acetylene tank would always be "full" of what is usually a liquid of some sort.

I doubt it's acetylene unless there is an O2 tank or similar to go with it.  Acetylene sucks on it's own.

Propane will smell like...propane (actually the stinky part is the mercaptan that is added).  Acetylene won't have that.  In short, it'll smell like a gas leak.  People describe it many ways and you only need to smell it once to fix it in your mind.  Propane is compressed to a liquid in the tank so will be a bit like the acetylene above..but with room for sloshing.  Propane tank will slosh, acetylene won't.  Acetylene will also be a much heavier tank than propane.

 

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