[TheForge] cutting propane cylinders- fuel-air mixture

[Ron Childers]

Darrell, 

I think you are right; the young lady with my propane supplier was changing
the valve on my 500 gal tank and she said "Fire it off"! It did roar like a
jet engine and flame shot out pretty far, but no explosion. I guess she's
just a pyromaniac, and not a mad bomber.

Ron C 

-----Original Message-----
From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Darrell
Sent: Wednesday, March 30, 2005 8:19 PM
To: Sponsored by ABANA
Subject: Re: [TheForge] cutting propane cylinders- fuel-air mixture

Other than the possible exception of abused acetylene tanks, all of the
horror stories involving exploding tanks involve sheet metal tanks or
barrels. The only propane tank explosions that I have ever heard about
involve tanks with a significant amount of propane in them and a BIG fire.
The flame front on propane is slow enough that what you hear on ignition is
WHOOMP where as acetylene you hear BLAM. With the valve out of a 5 to 10
gallon tank, even with a good fuel/air mix in the tank, all you would get is
a jet engine roar. Of coarse you would NOT want to be in front of the
opening.

Darrell