E Z Peaces wrote:

The tanks aren't loose. If you look closely at the picture Rob sent
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v8...DSC00015-1.jpg
you can see that they are stored in a rack that carries three tanks
with a system of three rings. The empty third ring is between the legs
of the ladder, and you can see the other ring (for the bottom of the
missing tank) securing the top of the ladder. It almost looks like a
wheeled cart, with a wheel showing just beside the big ring that
started this whole thread.

Moreso, on top of the spool of hose behind the driver's seat (the one
with the white arrow), there is a welded metal thingy that looks like
its the same material and patina of the gas cannister rack, which
could be the handle of the rack. If the rack is broken, it gives more
credibility that this is a 'catch all' truck where someone stashed
their oxygen and acetylene tanks. Otherwise, it looks like someone
secured their AX tank behind the passenger seat, took off the cart
handle and stashed their cart and OX tanks on the floor of the bed,
tossed in the handle, plumbing and ring, and headed off into the
sunset.

--riverman

Does AX mean acetylene? Why stash it behind the passenger seat?
Wouldn't it be heavy to get in there? In a closed space, couldn't a
leak cause an explosion?

Have you looked at the photo? The tank in question is outside the
truck, strapped upright to the truck body, just like you are supposed to
carry acetylene. It is behind the passenger only in the same way the
right rear turn signal is behind the passenger.



Your observations seem consistent with a catch-all from pipeline welding
or a catch-all for somebody getting set up to weld on a pipeline. I
wonder how likely it is that a pipeline crew would happen to be using a
pair of oxygen tanks painted for medical oxygen.

Those tanks look just like the tanks we used to get for welding oxygen,
where do you get medical ox from?


Does it appear to you that one tank has no valve cover? Well, I'm sure
being in a rack is safer than being loose.

Zoom in, they both have covers.


The tank behind the passenger door was apparently manufactured for
refrigerant.

No, it is an acetylene tank. Zoom in on the label, it is clearly
flammable gas.

If it were being used for fuel, wouldn't there be an
oxygen tank beside it?

those are in the truck bed.

I think the tank people thought was refrigerant was the propane tank in
the bed in the drivers side, clearly says propane if you zoom in.