propane acetylene oxygen

[Rodsmachineshop]

went over to a customer of mine she is a jewelry store owner and dose custom stuff tried her torch wow what difference with propane and oxygen when brazing and soldering , ask her why propane she said cooler and less contamination doing gold and silver

[performance]

Rod, propane is way cooler in temp than acetylene...It won't be as hot no matter what you try.

[Rodsmachineshop]

your rite i made boo boo lol dont know now maby she was rite by saying hotter read this http://www.cousesteel.com/AndysPlace...Acetylene.html it seamed a lot hotter to me when using her small torch BTU's of Acetylene is approximately 1470 btu's per cubic foot.
BTU's of Propane is approximately 2498 btu's per cubic foot.

[Rodsmachineshop]

when i worked at a wreck yard we used propane to cut since cut faster and hotter so say the wrecking yard owner we thought he was cheap and didnt want to pay for more pricy gas lol

[performance]

Propane cuts slower and the flame is much cooler, so much that it is not able to gas weld. You use more oxygen as well.

[Rodsmachineshop]

with the rite tip it cuts good and fast , have to use a propane cutting tip not a standard tip . worked good at the wrecking yard must be he had the torches fit with propane tips

[performance]

I've cut with propane, and have the tips...It requires a longer preheat time than OA as well.

[Brian Ski]

I tried that once... Since Propane is cheaper than acetylene. I got the right tip... Still have it somewhere. Usually the junk yards use propane because it is cheaper. Propane is a lot cheaper per tank, but propane does not seem to last as long. Usually I would go through 2 grill tanks for 1 acetylene. So if you use a lot it would benefit you. It didn't take more than a couple tanks to have me switch back. It didn't seem worth the trouble. IIRC the tips were more expensive and harder to find. I think I may have had to order one in. I think it was a 2 piece tip.

[Rambozo]

Once the cut is started, the fuel is irrelevant and can even be turned off. It is the oxygen that does the real cutting. Try it sometime.

[zoama]

Once the cut is started, the fuel is irrelevant and can even be turned off. It is the oxygen that does the real cutting. Try it sometime.

I've finished lots of cuts on steel after the acetylene ran out. Once that happens it helps to angle the torch toward the cut on thinner metal to get some preheat that the fuel would've provided when cutting normally.

[welderdude]

I too use propane with my victor torch. I haven't used either gas enough to figure out which one is cheaper or cuts quicker, but I do like the fact that propane is cheaper and much easier to get if you happen to run out. As long as I set the flame right, I cant tell much of a difference between the 2 gases. I usually use a #1 propane/CNG tip for cutting 3/4 inch plate. It cuts through it like butter. Also, I like to use an oxidizing preheat flame because it seems to start much faster. the only down side is that the tip will get hotter.

I have also used propylene and really liked it. It burns a bit hotter than propane, but is way too expensive to use.

The thing I hate about propane is that its a bit harder to light when its windy and you cant light it with hot metal like you can with acetylene.

[Rodsmachineshop]

i use a propane set up in a wrecking yard but mostly to cut sheet metal thin stuff sorta took along time to get thick stuff hot before cutting

[SeanMurphy265]

When I was working in structural steel (earlys 2000's) this was a debate because of the cost of acetylene. The benefits were having your shop plumbed for propane which saved time. I think I went through one bottle of acetylene every one to two days. One to two bottles of oxygen a day (depending on how busy). A welder would run through one to two bottles of argon a day (depending on how busy). You loose 15-25 minutes changing out bottles. By the time you unhook everything, round up a dolly, and haul your bottles all the way across the shop; the company would loose a significant amount of time. Some companies were looking hard into plumbing their plants to save money and lost time. The main benefit is that just about every town has a propane company or at least one close by.

[Brian Ski]

Something else I remember... If you use Propane you have to use a special hose. It had to be rated for alternative fuels. Standard oxy acetylene hose was not rated to use propane. I check with my LWS and they stocked both hoses. Just the alternative fuel hose IIRC was more expensive. You could still use it with acetylene but not the other way around.

[zoama]

Anyone ever try Oxy-Gasoline ?

[Rodsmachineshop]

thats cool

[EchoSixMike]

Anyone ever try Oxy-Gasoline ?

All the fire dept special response teams typically use petrogen torches. They can get gas at any gas station and oxygen out of the ambulances and firetrucks. We're talking major structural collapse type stuff.

We use oxygen and acetylene torches for working major truck crashes, and have a couple extra tanks on the major incident truck. Most of our cutting is done with gas chop saws: truck frames, springs, axles, etc.

FWIW. S/F.....Ken M