[TheForge] old propane tanks

[Ron Childers]

You must have been in the military- it sounds like you are talking about
tetramine cu i/e. I
 had an old acetylene generator in 1956. Daddy admonished me not to let
it get over 15 psi. 
The calcium carbide looked like whitewash when the calcium carbide was
depleted

-----Original Message-----
From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Mike Spencer
Sent: Monday, September 26, 2011 2:01 PM
To: theforge at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [TheForge] Re: old propane tanks


> I'm scared of things that can potentially go "BOOM" so I wouldn't
trust
> just washing it out with water.

Same here.  After removing the valve and washing, I do as Ron said:
fill with water nearly to the threads and then torch out the
valve. Then I wash it again and let it stand (dry/empty) for a week.
Then fill water and cut with an abrasive wheel or a sabre saw.

> A friend of mine set an old acetylene tank in his band saw, turned
> it on and left the shop. Nothing exploded so we don't know if this
> was a safe procedure or luck...

In my only slightly humble opinion, *nothing* to do with acetylene is
a "safe procedure". Did you know that acetylene bubbled through a
copper sulphate ("bluestone") solution will precipitate out tiny
particles of copper acetylide, a compound that's highly explosive and
very impact sensitive?  In the days of water/carbide acetylene
generators, they sometimes made the tank from copper. Copper acetylide
would accumulate in the seams. If the tank developed a leak, it would
go to the tinsmith for repairs.  The tinsmith (if he didn't know about
this) would try to hammer up the seams to tighten them and **BLAM!!**
Seam turns into razor-edged moderny metal sculpture with unpredictable
collateral effects on tinsmith.

Similar can happen with some other metals.

FWIW,
- Mike

-- 
Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada       .~. 
                                                           /V\ 
mspencer at tallships.ca                                     /( )\
http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/                        ^^-^^
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