All you welders please be careful

[Cambuster]

I'm sure this made a loud pop... http://forums.performanceyears.com/forums/showthread.php?t=614921

 

[cwstevens92]

DAMN, bet that was way loader than just fillin a dixie cup up and settin it off. Glad everyone is ok.

 

[dragginbalz]

Thank you for posting the link. I work for a welding / industrial gas supplier and we are always on the look out for these types of accidents.

We like to keep some of the dramatic ones on the counter to give the customers something to read while waiting for their paperwork.

 

[Benw455]

Wow! That was a lot of damage.

 

[Iroc-Z]

I am almost positive that they instruct people not to keep those bottles in enclosed vehicles. At least every welding supplier has big signs up stating not to do that.

 

[jjsound]

Airgas will not load cylinders into an enclosed vehicle and if you want to do it yourself they have you fill out a waiver.

 

[Torque1st]

I used to have to transport my refill cylinders in a Ford E-150 but I had to load them myself and I kept all the windows open. It made for a cold ride occasionally.

 

[Red Green]

Airgas will not load cylinders into an enclosed vehicle and if you want to do it yourself they have you fill out a waiver.

They won't load a cylinder for anybody. I used to have my mom or grandma exchange a cylinder for me at AGA. The workers would lift the cylinder. But Airgas bought them out. The Airgas emploiyees are so lazy your lucky if you get them to roll the cylinder to the door of their shop.

 

[djd99]

Wow that must of shook the neighborhood, I would never transport my tanks with anything connected to them. I always transport mine with the cover on them.

 

[fatboy99]

They won't load a cylinder for anybody. I used to have my mom or grandma exchange a cylinder for me at AGA. The workers would lift the cylinder. But Airgas bought them out. The Airgas emploiyees are so lazy your lucky if you get them to roll the cylinder to the door of their shop.

+1 here we cant even get them to show up on a regular basis at work to swap out the emptie's


Ill guarantee the van owner didnt have clean underwear after hitting the button on the key fob WOW

 

[nissan_crawler]

Wow that must of shook the neighborhood, I would never transport my tanks with anything connected to them. I always transport mine with the cover on them.

Still doesn't mean they won't leak.

I saw pictures of an ****** that a guy transported a bottle in without a cap...it looked like you rolled the car down a mountain, then launched a few ICBM's at it.

 

[babzog]

I am almost positive that they instruct people not to keep those bottles in enclosed vehicles. At least every welding supplier has big signs up stating not to do that.

First thing our welding 101 instructor told us and he used a very similar story (which didn't end as well) to drive home the point.

 

[rwhite692]

From the looks of that plumber's yard, he sure doesn't seem to be a detail-oriented, (and therefore safety-oriented) type of guy...place is a dump.

 

[GreyOwl]

Yeah he's got van and boat parts all over the place.
Charles

 

[tdkkart]

This is how we end up with those ridiculous homeowner's association rules that don't allow work trucks in your driveway overnight.

I saw a house in Fridley MN blown up by a natural gas leak back in about '84 or 85. Nothing left but toothpicks.

 

[Lippyp]

There was a case in the UK in 2007 where a mobile welders van exploded in a suburban street in County Durham killing him and hurling parts of the transit van up to quarter of a mile, damaging houses, blowing in windows etc. Fortunately it happened in the early hours of the morning so no one was on the street otherwise it could have been way worse.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-457898/Welder-killed-gas-blast-fireball.html


We had no gas or electricity last christmas because a contractor fixing a leak in a gas main managed to set it on fire, the flames were hitting 40 odd feet high and crisped a main powerline, partially melting the pylon and knocking out power and gas to tens of thousands of homes.

 

[coppermouse]

Another reason to never carry a bottle in an enclosed vehicle

 

[dragginbalz]

They won't load a cylinder for anybody. I used to have my mom or grandma exchange a cylinder for me at AGA. The workers would lift the cylinder. But Airgas bought them out. The Airgas emploiyees are so lazy your lucky if you get them to roll the cylinder to the door of their shop.

I can not say anything for getting the cylinders to the door, but as far as loading them in vehicles, it is probably more of an issue of liability rather than laziness.

I do not work for Airgas, but our company also does not load cylinders, enclosed or otherwise.

 

[e-tek]

I am almost positive that they instruct people not to keep those bottles in enclosed vehicles. At least every welding supplier has big signs up stating not to do that.

Airgas will not load cylinders into an enclosed vehicle and if you want to do it yourself they have you fill out a waiver.

Another reason to never carry a bottle in an enclosed vehicle

I can not say anything for getting the cylinders to the door, but as far as loading them in vehicles, it is probably more of an issue of liability rather than laziness.

I do not work for Airgas, but our company also does not load cylinders, enclosed or otherwise.

Sorry for being ignorant - the photo's are down - are you talking about any welding bottles? Acetlylene? My gas supplier loads my bottles (O2, Acetylene, Mig Mix) in any vehicle. I drove around with one in my van for 3 days - but it was just Mig Mix.
Guess every compnay has different rules.

 

[scofo]

Yea, I can see why his next door neighbors had the FOR SALE sign up.

 

[Iroc-Z]

They won't load a cylinder for anybody. I used to have my mom or grandma exchange a cylinder for me at AGA. The workers would lift the cylinder. But Airgas bought them out. The Airgas emploiyees are so lazy your lucky if you get them to roll the cylinder to the door of their shop.

No offense but I don't blame them. What if they scratch the vehicle while loading the cylinders? Who do you think is on the hook for that? All Toll Welding supplies around where I live won't load into your vehicle. They will roll them to the door and that is it. To much liability.

 

[Red Green]

No offense but I don't blame them. What if they scratch the vehicle while loading the cylinders? Who do you think is on the hook for that? All Toll Welding supplies around where I live won't load into your vehicle. They will roll them to the door and that is it. To much liability.

I could understand if the vehicle was nice. These vehicles wouldn't matter about a scatch. I roughed them up pretty good putting in the cylinders. At Airgas it's more of you have to drive by the office window to get to the loading dock. Then they watch you unload the cylinders but you still have to walk to the office and tell them you have cylinders to exchange. The previous place would see what you needed and have the full ones to the truck before you got done unloading the emptys.

 

[srmofo]

I know this has been around for a while but its one of those things that some didnt know about, inlcuding myself before I read this. Im not a professional welder and Im not a chemist but it certainly could of happened to me.

http://www.brewracingframes.com/id75.htm

I figure this is as good as any thread to post this in

 

[Lippyp]

They're getting twitchier and twitchier over here in the UK about home users having Acetylene gear in domestic garages due to the explosive potential in a fire, I can see them banning it soon. I don't gas weld but would like some heating gear so I'm thinking about going oxy-propane as I have a 47kg propane bottle that someone dumped at the side of the road that I liberated. Just need to get a torch and rent an O2 bottle.

 

[galwaytt]

...on a related subject, when I worked in the UK in the '90s 2 young mechanics were killed in a garage welding (oxy/acet) a car from underneath, in a pit.

It's one reason I'd refuse to work in a pit, and I'm paranoid about gas leaks.

 

[krooser]

When I was in high school my buddies cousin owned an acetylene generator (used carbide pellets and water to make the gas). His big thing was to fill a LARGE balloon with acetylene and tie 10' of fuse to it and launch it into the air behind his body shop... huge fun until the FAA/FBI began looking for the source of the airborne explosions since his shop was in the flightpath of a large airport ( and Air Force Reserve Refueling Group).... oops!!!

 

[srmofo]

umm Im no expert but I thought aceytele was heavier than air...meaning it wont float into the sky. I have however seen that done with hydrogen

 

[JBurgess]

Acetylene has a vapor density of .91 so it is lighter than air. One of the things that makes acetylene so hazardous it is flammable from 2.5% to 81% by volume in air. Propane by contrast is 2.2% to 9.5%

 

[Elroy]

The Airgas emploiyees are so lazy your lucky if you get them to roll the cylinder to the door of their shop.

Agree

The local Airgas branch in town is next to useless. Elroy believes is not a case of being lazy just being stupid.

We approached them a while back looking for a replacement ****** and nut for a nitrogen regulator and they claimed up and down you had to replace the whole regulator because of the flammability. Idiots don't get any of Elroy's business

 

[Coach James]

Flammability of nitrogen? The National Fire Protection Association assigns a flammability rating to nitrogen of zero. I wonder if the Airgas folks assummed anything that was a gas was flammable?



Coach

 

[lomonte]

Oddly, my Airgas guys are great. But then i just get small bottles of migmix.

 

[Lippyp]

I used to do some caving when I was younger with the scouts and we used acetylene lights as well as electric ones, simple things, you put lumps of carbide in the bottom, water in the top and then a valve lets the water drip onto the carbide making acetylene that comes out of a jet in the middle of an aluminium reflector which you then light, gives a very bright white light. Not so much fun when you're crawling somewhere tight and you stop suddenly and the guy behind gets a bit too close to your ****.

Anyway, we used to make bombs by dropping lumps of carbide into a tin with a close fitting lid (golden syrup cans worked best!) , splash of water, jam the lid on and stick a burning bit of rag on top, gas builds up, lid blows off, gas escapes and ignites into a big fireball, kaboom!