Oxy Acetylene set up

[philip in china]

I hate short hoses on OA. Is there any limit to the length I can use? I have just bought a new OA rig and actually bought 2 complete spools of hose. Could I use a whole length on each bottle? It would be ideal because I could chain the bottles just outside the shop but still get to cut anywhere inside.

Edited January 15, 2009 by philip in china
Ambiguities

[Frosty]

Sure if by pipes you mean hoses. You'll just have more gas to vent after the safety valve if one is punctured.

Frosty

[jimmy seale]

if hose is a small diameter id put the larger hoas off the regs and smaller closest to the tourch,just my thoughts,jimmy

[krisfaeth]

yeah htat works we did the same at my friends place our torch set up was just shy of 75ft long. we used 3/8'' hose the only thing you will want to do special is to put a hose reel in to roll it up when done. coiling it gets to be a mess!

[Glenn]

Pressure drops with long hoses. O/A is usually portable and moved to the job site. If there is a distance from the tanks, larger diameter hoses are needed to get workable pressures. Check with the gas supplier for the distance you hose diameter can reach and still provide good service.

While your at the gas suppliers, get a good set of flashback arestors, a safety feature that should be required when using Ox/Ac.

[philip in china]

I got it all set up and it is working well. I got the amount of hose needed to be able to cross the width of the shop. From memory I think the shop is 7 metres wide. The bottles are at the back but I can cut on the front apron outside.

I specifically don't want MY oxy acetylene to be portable. Somebody will take it if it is! If anybody wants something cutting they can bring it to the shop or hire their own bottles!

[Woody]

Remember the longer the hoses the more gas you will loose when turn off the tanks and bleed the hoses after use. If you do not turn off the tanks and bleed the hoses, acetylene can deterioriate the hose after time and cause it to leak. The leak is usually found when the first person thru the door in the morning hits the light switch which ignites a room full of flammable gas.

[Ten Hammers]

I have been around gas welding most of my life. This makes me sound like an old salt but really compared to Junior and some other fellas I'm pretty much small taters. This said, my thoughts on the subject are as follows:

My welding station at the home shop has access to MIG and gas bottles ( they are through a Smith gas saver ). I can easily reach either the argon or welding bottles from where I stand when I normally weld. THese are accessable from either side of the table although the acetelyne bottles are only accessable from one side ( torch reaches other side and beyond ). On a portable setup you can keep track of your hose when you cut and not let yourself get into a situation where you might burn a hose. If you have acetelyne hoses in a shop that have the bottles outside or in another location you might consider screwing some eye hooks into the ceiling to route the hoses. THis keeps them out of harms way ( thank you Gilmore Barbour ).

My hoses at the station are looped and hung on a hook under the edge of the table. Most normal welding takes place at this station and I have enough hose to weld nicely when it hangs on the gas saver. If I need more I just unloop it. I can also uncoil the hose form the bottles to the gas saver so it will reach away from the table. If you have no experience in acetelyne you may wish to become educated. This gas goes BOOM bigtime. It lights easier than LP and is lighter than air. Having hoses lying on the floor is inviting burn and abrasion issues. Even if you have burnback valves ( which you should have anyway ) it would interrupt your serenity to have a hose fire. I have attached a few pics. Call me picky but I have taken enough risks in life and still do from time to time. I have been lucky and I have also been injured. The fire dept knows the location of the hazmat in my shop ( which is pretty much when you open the door ).

Edited January 19, 2009 by Ten Hammers