Report in New Zealand news:-

Six students were injured when a blast ripped through an engineering
classroom about 1pm yesterday.

Four of the students were rushed to hospital in a critical condition
although all but one had improved by today and had been taken off the
critical list.

The blast is thought to have been caused by acetylene leaking from gas
bottles stored in a room behind the classroom.
__________________________________________________ _____________________
I set this metal shop up years ago and taught metalshop in it for
several years. I was terribly distressed today to hear of this
accident. It has made headline news on our national TV and the sight
of my beloved workshop with tin snips driven into the wall, all the
windows blown out by the blast and pools of blood on the floor had me
near to tears.

Question
If acetylene was leaking into the room would you not smell it and be
warned? Would it stay at floor level and not be detected?
It appears the blast was ignited by sparks fron an angle grinder.

I must replace my old rubber acetylene hoses which are cracking.

You're not supposed to store acetylene inside a building. They were
violating standard safety procedures. Bottles should be stored outside
under a shed roof to keep the sun off.
Acetylene has the widest explosive range of any fuel gas when mixed
with air/oxygen.
Bugs

An combo alarm for CO and explosive gas sells for less than $50. I'm
surprised that building codes don't require them in every building where
LPG, NG, or other flammable gasses are used. Last month a resort lodge
in Panoia Colorado was completely leveled, with 11 dead from a propane
leak in the basement. One of the guests complained about smelling gas,
but a teenager at the front desk told him not to worry, it was just a
little sewer gas...

And yes, they were idiots to store the acetylene tanks in the building.
That said, how many of you out there have BBQ grill bottles in your garages?

wrote:
Report in New Zealand news:-

Six students were injured when a blast ripped through an engineering
classroom about 1pm yesterday.

Four of the students were rushed to hospital in a critical condition
although all but one had improved by today and had been taken off the
critical list.

The blast is thought to have been caused by acetylene leaking from gas
bottles stored in a room behind the classroom.
__________________________________________________ _____________________
I set this metal shop up years ago and taught metalshop in it for
several years. I was terribly distressed today to hear of this
accident. It has made headline news on our national TV and the sight
of my beloved workshop with tin snips driven into the wall, all the
windows blown out by the blast and pools of blood on the floor had me
near to tears.

Question
If acetylene was leaking into the room would you not smell it and be
warned? Would it stay at floor level and not be detected?
It appears the blast was ignited by sparks fron an angle grinder.

I must replace my old rubber acetylene hoses which are cracking.

When I was in high school in Manchester Conneticut USA I did a
metalsmithing class and was told about a girl who had her hair burnt
off. She had been using a prestolite acetylene air torch and had some
mixture leak, it flashed and burnt her hair and eyebrows but luckily she
was otherwise OK as I understand it. How she didn't smell it wasn't
known except it was thought she had a cold. The acetylene bottles were
small and kept in the classroom on small trolleys.

wrote:

Report in New Zealand news:-

Six students were injured when a blast ripped through an engineering
classroom about 1pm yesterday.

Four of the students were rushed to hospital in a critical condition
although all but one had improved by today and had been taken off the
critical list.

The blast is thought to have been caused by acetylene leaking from gas
bottles stored in a room behind the classroom.
_________________________________________________ ______________________
I set this metal shop up years ago and taught metalshop in it for
several years. I was terribly distressed today to hear of this
accident. It has made headline news on our national TV and the sight
of my beloved workshop with tin snips driven into the wall, all the
windows blown out by the blast and pools of blood on the floor had me
near to tears.

Question
If acetylene was leaking into the room would you not smell it and be
warned? Would it stay at floor level and not be detected?
It appears the blast was ignited by sparks fron an angle grinder.

I must replace my old rubber acetylene hoses which are cracking.

On 12 Apr 2005 01:39:45 -0700, wrote:

Report in New Zealand news:-

Six students were injured when a blast ripped through an engineering
classroom about 1pm yesterday.

One of the volunteer volunteer firefighter's found his stepson was one
of the 7 injured by the explosion.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?...ectID=10120046

wrote in message
ups.com...
Question
If acetylene was leaking into the room would you not smell it and be
warned? Would it stay at floor level and not be detected?

I don't know about acetylene, but sometimes we miss smells when they
come on gradually. Once, many years ago, my friend and his wife came to
spend a few days in my home. At one point, I left them to go do some food
shopping. When I returned, I was horrified to find the house smelling
strongly of gas, with them sitting calmly in my living room. (they were
both smokers, but thankfully, had not chosen that moment to light up) When
we sorted things out, I discovered that they had decided to pop our supper
into the oven. They were not familar with old gas ovens and had no idea
what that pack of kitchen matches was for. I was very lucky to find my
friends still there and my house still intact!

Vaughn

wrote in message
ups.com...
Report in New Zealand news:-

Six students were injured when a blast ripped through an engineering
classroom about 1pm yesterday.

Four of the students were rushed to hospital in a critical condition
although all but one had improved by today and had been taken off the
critical list.

The blast is thought to have been caused by acetylene leaking from gas
bottles stored in a room behind the classroom.
__________________________________________________ _____________________
I set this metal shop up years ago and taught metalshop in it for
several years. I was terribly distressed today to hear of this
accident. It has made headline news on our national TV and the sight
of my beloved workshop with tin snips driven into the wall, all the
windows blown out by the blast and pools of blood on the floor had me
near to tears.

Question
If acetylene was leaking into the room would you not smell it and be
warned? Would it stay at floor level and not be detected?
It appears the blast was ignited by sparks fron an angle grinder.

I must replace my old rubber acetylene hoses which are cracking.


Could be the diaphragm in the regulator. We had one leak and burned a guy,
when he lit his torch again after returning from lunch. Company policy now
is to turn off all tanks and bleed the pressure off all regulators when not
in use.

Richard W.

"Richard W." wrote in message
...
|
SNIP
| Could be the diaphragm in the regulator. We had one leak and burned a guy,
| when he lit his torch again after returning from lunch. Company policy now
| is to turn off all tanks and bleed the pressure off all regulators when
not
| in use.
|
| Richard W.

That was one of the very first things drilled into my head when I was
taught to weld. Later I kept wondering why my neighbor, whose torch I often
borrowed, got miffed because I bled it down, and at other times folks gave
me a hard time about it. F*** 'em all if I'm still in one piece!

EveryONE should do a static bleed down check on their OA system when
they first turn it on. It could save you some singed gonads.G
Bugs

Bugs wrote:
EveryONE should do a static bleed down check on their OA system when
they first turn it on. It could save you some singed gonads.G
Bugs


How does one do that?
My dad gave me a small, older OA rig last year. I think I've used it once.

--
- -
Rex Burkheimer
WM Automotive
Fort Worth TX

Rex B wrote:
Bugs wrote:
EveryONE should do a static bleed down check on their OA system
when
they first turn it on. It could save you some singed gonads.G
Bugs


How does one do that?
My dad gave me a small, older OA rig last year. I think I've used it
once.

--
- -
Rex Burkheimer
WM Automotive
Fort Worth TX

I don't know what the other poster had in mind, but the way I checked
out my O/A rig when I first got it was as follows:

I cleaned off the cylinder valve threads and seats first

Mounted the regulators

Connected the hoses

Made sure the pressure adjustment handles on the regulators were
unscrewed

The torch handle valves were closed

I then cracked the acetylene tank main valve until the pressure showed
on the high-side gauge and turned it off again. When I initially did
this, it bled off fast to zero, I had a leak. Soapy water confirmed
this. I looked at the connector seat on the regulator's tank fitting,
it had a small nick or gouge. A trip to the welding supply got a
replacement CGA fitting. Repeating the test, the high-side gauge
stayed up for about a half-hour. I did this with the oxygen tank, too,
no problems there. The fitting was like a $5 part and it took about 10
minutes to replace.

To check hoses and handle, I cracked the tank valves again, screwed the
regulator pressure adjustments in until I had about 10 lbs on the
low-side gauges, then closed the tank valves. The old hoses were badly
weathered, so I had replaced them without checking them first, cheap
insurance. The pressure with the new hoses stayed up for as long as I
was willing to wait, so the connections and handle valves were good, as
was the regulator. If pressure had bled down, it would have been soapy
water time again.

It's really easy to pick up nicks on the seating parts of the regulator
and hose fittings, particularly if the outfit has been used by a
contractor's workforce. Some of the stuff I've seen come into the
welding supply for repair looked like it was used for playing football,
after dunking it in tar.

They used to sell screw-on caps for the tank-side fittings on the
regulators, I've seen them in old books, wish I could find a source.
I've got some old plastic pipe caps/plugs I use on mine, plus I keep
the regulators in plastic boxes to keep the dust off. I had some
plastic file card boxes that were just big enough to hold one
regulator. I don't store the tanks with the regulators mounted and I
stick the valve caps back on, too.

If you use quick-connects on your O/A hoses, these need the soapy water
check every so often, too. The O-rings can get worn and the fitting
will leak.

Stan