Subject: Re: cylinders

From: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 23 Sep 1996 18:33:47 CST

Yeah, let me shout, too!   I had a friend who blew himself to smithereens when
he was blowtorching an old fuel tank which had been out of use for over twenty
years.  This death was unexpected, as I guess most deaths are, because he was
stunt pilot of old WWII aircraft, and, of course, everybody thought he'd "buy
the farm" coming out of a loop rather than in this senseless and avoidable
way!!  SO DON'T FOOL WITH OLD CHEMICAL/FUEL/ETC. TANKS, or at least have some
expert do it for you or check it out for potential danger.

Sorry for the sad story, but it bears retelling from time to time.

Ed Brinson

---

From: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 23 Sep 1996 18:33:08 -0500

> Sorry for the sad story, but it bears retelling from time to time.

There's a fine line between brave and insane... no?

Cynthia
TX

---

From: Steve Herrick <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 23 Sep 1996 21:01:27 -0700 (PDT)

Sorry about your friend...
That's why I preach safety so much in my welding class. Acetylene is
extremely explosive in pressures above 15 psi or in confined spaces. There
are unfortunately many injuries and death related to acetylene and
welding. I do a demonstration where a balloon is filled with a mixture of
oxygen and acetylene and then ignited. A small 6 inch diameter balloon has
enough power to equall an M-80. When you figure that conservatively there
is 1/4 of a cubic foot of acetylene in the balloon, and an M-80 is a 1/4
stick of dynamite, multiply the full cubic foot times the feet in your
cylinder (20 to 450 cu.ft.) your get quite a LARGE bang.

Hrolthgar -   [email-masked]
           Steve Herrick