[TheForge] RE: Fact or urban myth?

[Michael]

There is a safety rule that everyone learns in welding school about only
cracking the valve on high compression cylinders, so as to keep the contents
from hitting the regulator with explosive force. There is also a rule about
completely closing regulators on shut-down of operations. Both of these
rules are meant to keep the extremely unlikely event of a regulator
explosion from ever happening. Over a forty year career, I saw lots of men
break both of those rules with impunity. I also met one who ran out of luck.
What was left of his jaw was attached to his head with metal levers and
springs; part of the mechanical gizmo pierced the skin on both sides of his
face so that the jaw could be supported from the outside. The company was
far from sentimental, but they let him hand out tools to other tough guys as
an object lesson...

People are not maimed or killed very often from breaking the rules, and most
of the people I've met were only passing through the metal trades. But for
people like me, who spent a lifetime working in them, there are lots of
grizzly memories collected, and many more near misses; times when we got to
watch scoffers get very still while they waited to see if they--and the rest
of us--would be spared. I could go on like this all day, but thinking back
on that stuff makes me feel a little sick.
Mikey

-----Original Message-----
From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Lon Humphrey
Sent: Wednesday, August 30, 2006 7:40 AM
To: Sponsored by ABANA
Subject: Re: [TheForge] RE: Fact or urban myth?

it was widely recognized in the industry that acetylene
>equipment used to store and handle the bulk product

me thinks the key word there is BULK

i have been a welder for 19 years and have been smithing for 22 i see so 
many of these posts and wonder how many of the folks really have any real 
world experiance with this stuff
Just to clarify i learnded the old way.... gas welding first then stick then

tig then mig
i cant see using hydrogen gas being any more dangerous than accetlane 
.....oh yea never ever use a accetlane bottel while its lying on its side 
....BULLSHIT do it all the time and i still got all my fingies and arms and 
leggs


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Larry Brown" <lp.brown at verizon.net>
To: "Sponsored by ABANA" <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Wednesday, August 30, 2006 4:45 AM
Subject: Re: [TheForge] RE: Fact or urban myth?


> Thanks to Dave, as more and more people talk of hydrogen it is wise to 
> learn what you can do and shouldn't.
> Larry Brown
>
> At 09:33 PM 8/29/2006 -0500, you wrote:
>>Here is the answer from my friend who worked many years in the
>>compressed gas industry.
>>dave mudge
>>--------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------
>>I don't have the reference's any more because I left my library with the 
>>job
>>However, it was widely recognized in the industry that acetylene
>>equipment used to store and handle the bulk product should be burned
>>when decommissioned. One of the first cousins of Acetylene was
>>determined to be so dangerous that our corporation finally refused to
>>accept any orders for products containing it.  The hazard of metal
>>acetylides is real but may not be the culprit here.  Acetylene as
>>produced is actually a mixture of a number of compounds which in
>>combination make a kind of microscopic varnish film with the acetylene
>>on all surfaces of the equipment. Exposed do high pressure, not
>>necessarily hydrogen, or friction from high velocity gas movement, it
>>may decompose.  Hydrogen is a particularly good candidate to stimulate
>>decomposition because of its unique thermal properties as a compressed
>>gas.
>>For the view point of a former member of  a safety committee
>>responsible for specifying the equipment and safe handling procedures
>>for compressed gases I conclude with the following statement:
>>In the normal course of events  no equipment suitable for acetylene
>>service  is also suitable for hydrogen.  Both are chemically and
>>physically dangerous to handle.  The compressed gas industry has in
>>its over one hundred years of experience  developed, in conjunction
>>with federal regulators and  industrial manufactures, a set of rules
>>of thumb and equipment specification that allow most sensible people
>>to use materials that are wildly dangerous without injury.  Do not use
>>acetylene equipment for hydrogen service.  The specifications of the
>>equipment are incompatible
>>--------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------
>
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