Oxy Acetylene or Oxy Propane?

I've been hanging my nose over oxy acetylene sets for silver soldering copper stays in confined areas such as inside the firebox.

I could just go down the ME Club and use theirs but sometimes it's just handy to have your own equipment.

I've read that house insurance may not be possible with acetylene and so wondered about oxy propane.

Does anyone have any experience on this?

Brian

Search the net? No contest. Only one really sensible option, IMO.

Try this. There will be lots of others.

**LINK**

Might need more heat, but not hotter.

The problem with acetylene is twofold from an insurance viewpoint

1- It burns at at least 2500 centigrade which is pretty amazing

2- It's ignition lower and upper flashpoint goes from 2.5% to 95%, so if you get any sort of leak it's going to ignite

So it's hairy stuff to have lying about

Just did a oxy LPG set up for the Menzshed last week, have not used it yet, I'll see what tomorrow brings.

Ian S C

I have had no regrets from moving from acetylene to propane. I changed the handset but some people don't even bother doing that!

Matt

Another consideration, especially if full size is the weight of the bottles, Acetylene bottles are stupidly heavy.

Same could be said for 47kg propane bottles which all up are just under 100kg

Any advice on what size? home or 'trade' kits with disposable cylinders are quite reasonable and very portable, but the replacement cylinders are £18.50 each (on one web site). How long would they last? And how hard to use a 9KG Propane bottle?

Oxy Acetylene is a hotter flame than Oxy Propane

About the only thing that Oxy Acetylene is necessary for is Oxy welding. You won't get a hot enough flame when using welding.

If you want to cut, braze including silver brazing then Propane is good. Propane is also more economical to use.

I have a number of oxy acetylene torches including welding/cutting and lightweight all with their nozzles. I also use propane wit sievert torch. Been thinking of getting acet again but can I use the oxy/acet torches with propane?

Mick

I use a rent free oxy bottle for my oxy propane set-up, in the long run I believe it will be more economical and would recommend giving this consideration. You pay a refundable deposit on the bottle, a oxy refill costs around £35 for a 9 litre bottle. My local auto spares supplies rent free welding gas and oxy. For hobby use you can expect one 9 or 10 litre oxy bottle to last a considerable length of time, after 1 year or so I've used 1/4 bottle. I mostly use my oxy propane for small fabrications and hot metal forming but have used it alongside a propane torch to silver solder a copper vertical boiler.

I did have an oxy propane set using disposable cylinders but found it too expensive to use regularly, this was some time ago though.

Nige

I have used oxy-propane and oxy-natural gas for cutting, brazing, and heating for many years. For cutting and heating the tips are different from those used for acetylene. When using a normal welding tip I find it takes a bit of finesse to keep the flame from blowing off the tip when first adjusting the flame.

Many thanks for all the helpful replies, is a special torch required or is it just the nozzle sizes?

Brian

I use oxy-prop in the business of making steam engine boilers commercially. I used to use acetylene but the price is prohibative to say the least, then there are the insurance considerations and god forbid there should ever be a fire resulting in the whole estate being shut down for 48 hours while the bottle cools! Same fittings, same torch, flame not as hot or stable but complete no brainer for me.

I beleive the hoses should be changes as there is something in Propane that can attack the lining of Acetylene hose so get an orange hose not red.

I think the hoses are rated type T for propane and type R for acetylene, this courtesy of YT, done a bit of research and seems I can use my oxy/acet torch but need to get a dedicated cutting nozzle for propane

Mick

Brian,

I use Oxy/Propane with standard nozzles and also a big heating torch but it requires a different regulator. For welding steel, I use Mig, Tig or stick.

Paul.

Edited By Paul Janes on 01/10/2018 20:38:22

Anyone (Fizzy?) interested in writing me an article about using oxy-propane in the home workshop (or it would be outside in a sheltered spot in my case, if I had the oxy bit)?

Neil

Excuse my ignorance and I dont want to get off track but can someone explain MAPP gas and if it has uses in the model workshop..?