Ned Simmons wrote:
On Mon, 01 Dec 2008 14:25:33 -0500, E Z Peaces
wrote:

Ned Simmons wrote:
On Sun, 30 Nov 2008 14:58:54 -0500, E Z Peaces
wrote:

The cylinders are a mystery. Seeing only a grayscale picture, the
trucker identified the tank near the passenger door as refrigerant. He
said that's where service trucks carry it. Its color corroborates this.
Why would a pipeline welder carry refrigerant?

The truck has welding hose on a reel beside the spare tire, but I see no
cylinders marked for acetylene or industrial oxygen. Could he get
anyone to put anything but medical oxygen in a tank marked for medical
oxygen? Carrying highly compressed gas in loose cylinders looks very
dangerous.
How have you concluded that the tanks do not contain welding gases? In
the US there's no standard color code for gas cylinders. The standup
tank behind the passenger door looks like a fuel gas cylinder (MAPP if
I had to guess), and there's no reason the green tanks lying down in
the bed can't be welding oxy.

When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras.

MAPP isn't used for welding. It makes steel brittle.

There's an arc welder on the truck. The fuel gas is for cutting and
heating, perhaps for bevelling pipe.

OSHA 29 CFR 1926.350(a)
(4) "When cylinders are transported by powered vehicles, they shall be
secured in a vertical position".


DOT CFR 177.840 (1)
(1) Cylinders. To prevent their overturning, cylinders containing
Class 2 (gases) materials must be securely lashed in an upright
position; loaded into racks securely attached to the motor vehicle;
packed in boxes or crates of such dimensions as to prevent their
overturning; or loaded in a horizontal position. Specification DOT-4L
cylinders must be loaded in an upright position and securely braced.

You've never seen OSHA or DOT regs ignored? Wouldn't those rules be
applicable to the gases you proposed?


I doubt the rules would apply to empty cylinders.

I don't know if there are welders who would consider it acceptably safe
to transport filled cylinders loose, but wouldn't it also be
inconvenient? When he wanted to weld, he would have to lift an oxygen
cylinder from the truck and find a place to secure it upright.