[Jewelry making - Article 00151] - Re: [Orchid] O2 Little Torch on big tank

[Peter W . Rowe]

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Cathy,

    that may seem like a small "squatty" tank to you, but PLEASE tie it
    or chain it or otherwise restrain it.  Even small little 20 c.f.
    tanks, half the size of yours, can have a valve damaged when knocked
    over just wrong, and that situation, while rare in any size tank,
    amounts to a bomb in your shop.  You said it yourself.  The full tank
    pressure is about two thousand pounds per square inch.  How many
    square inches across would a broken valve opening represent?  How
    many square inches are on the inside of that little tank? Think about
    the math, girl.  Imagine that little squate tank with a broken
    valve, and an opening exposed with a square inch of area.  That
    amounts to a rocket motor with a full ton of instant, explosive, 
    thrust.  Not something you want to be near too.  Even the smallest of
    full pressure tanks needs to be handled with due respect, and that
    means being sure it's secured somehow.  You don't need heavy chains
    perhaps.  But you need something to be absolutely sure it CANNOT tip
    over.  It's not enough to look at the shape and figure it probably
    won't tip over, or woudln't be falling far..  The chances of an
    accident are extremely remote, true.  But the results of an accident
    are sufficiently catastrophic and potentially deadly that it's dumb
    not to take easily available precautions. 

    An illustrative tale may be helpful in visualizing what even a small
    tank can do, regardless of it's shape, when pressurized at these
    pressures.  I recall, about 20 years ago while on vacation in
    florida, seeing a scuba dive shop nearby with what appeared to be
    construction to rebuild a whole back wall.  A scuba tank is also
    about 40 cubic feet, if i recall, and pressurized to about the same
    pressure ranges.  They'd been filling tanks with air, and someone
    had dropped a tank while removing it from the concrete "well" they
    placed the tanks in while filling.  It had hit on it's valve,
    cracking it, and turning it into the above described rocket motor. . 
    the tank blew through the cinder block back wall of the shop (making
    about a five foot diameter hole) , through an outer chain link fence
    around the shop's yard, and flew an additional 300 yards (1.5
    football fields) before hitting the ground, digging quite a gully,
    and sliding another fifteen feet into the seawall, leaving a 4 foot
    gap in the concrete seawall, and ending up another fifty feet or so
    out in the ocean.   It was a visual lesson I'll never forget.  I
    don't mind keeping tanks and working with them.  But I make very sure
    their properly secured.  You should too.  even small ones. 

Peter


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