Anyone here know if my Victor gauges will mate up with oxy/acetylene
tanks in Australia? I rather suspect our inch thread connections are not
a global standard and I won't be able to use my setup down under. But if
they will, or if adapters can be had, I'll take everything except the
bottles. Otherwise I'll just sell my rig here and replace there.

Thanks,


Jon

Jon Anderson wrote:
Anyone here know if my Victor gauges will mate up with oxy/acetylene
tanks in Australia? I rather suspect our inch thread connections are
not a global standard and I won't be able to use my setup down under.
But if they will, or if adapters can be had, I'll take everything
except the bottles. Otherwise I'll just sell my rig here and replace
there.

Thanks,


Jon
Jon,

You'll also want to check the bottle pressure that the oxygen is
charged to. Some years back in the UK it was typically 200bar, then BOC
upped it to 230bar, meaning lots of old oxygen regulators weren't rated
for the new pressure.

On 2/19/2011 11:57 AM, David Billington wrote:

You'll also want to check the bottle pressure that the oxygen is charged
to. Some years back in the UK it was typically 200bar, then BOC upped it
to 230bar, meaning lots of old oxygen regulators weren't rated for the
new pressure.

Hmm, thanks for that heads up! And, measuring pressure in bar; maybe I
ought to go ahead and sell the set and apply it toward the move...


Jon

Jon Anderson wrote:
On 2/19/2011 11:57 AM, David Billington wrote:

You'll also want to check the bottle pressure that the oxygen is charged
to. Some years back in the UK it was typically 200bar, then BOC upped it
to 230bar, meaning lots of old oxygen regulators weren't rated for the
new pressure.

Hmm, thanks for that heads up! And, measuring pressure in bar; maybe I
ought to go ahead and sell the set and apply it toward the move...


Jon


Jon,

I don't know what pressure you get bottles filled to in the US but IIRC
it can be lower than what we get here in the UK from discussions I have
seen on RCM, no idea what they do in Australia but I would expect
similar to the UK. 200 bar about 2900 psi, 230 bar about 3340psi. IIRC
from the discussions on RCM you use a different bottle fitting. The
oxygen, argon, argon/CO2 mix, and acetylene fittings I have all look
like POL fittings. If your regulators are up to it then maybe you can
get the bottle connection stems swapped.

I believe that they have their tanks upside down for proper
orientation and have special fittings to accommodate this.

i

On 02/19/2011 04:58 PM, Ignoramus27971 wrote:
I believe that they have their tanks upside down for proper
orientation and have special fittings to accommodate this.

i


Rats! Now I have coffee spewn on my monitor.

Thanks for nothing, Ig.



technomaNge
--

On 2011-02-19, David Billington wrote:

[ ... ]

I don't know what pressure you get bottles filled to in the US but IIRC
it can be lower than what we get here in the UK from discussions I have
seen on RCM, no idea what they do in Australia but I would expect
similar to the UK. 200 bar about 2900 psi, 230 bar about 3340psi. IIRC
from the discussions on RCM you use a different bottle fitting. The
oxygen, argon, argon/CO2 mix, and acetylene fittings I have all look
like POL fittings. If your regulators are up to it then maybe you can
get the bottle connection stems swapped.

Here is a listing of the CGA fittings, and what gasses each may
be used for:

http://www.sisweb.com/referenc/tools/cgafitt.htm

And this site has a series of photos of the various fittings.
Note that the shape of the mating surface varies, the nut to secure to
the bottle valve may be male or female, right-hand thread or left-hand
thread, to make a large number of non-interchangeable fittings. (E.g.
you do not want the same fitting on a tank for medical (breathing)
oxygen and for ammonia. Lots of reasons for making sure that you don't
mix up the regulators (including the "use no oil" for Oxygen regulators.

O.K. And *this* site shows cross-section drawings of the tank
vale and the regulator fittings, with the proper use of each.

http://www.concoa.com/cgachart.html

For example, the nose shape and mating cone are the same for oxygen and
for fuel gasses but the threads are opposite.

Do any of these look like the ones in use in Oz -- or do they
use a different system? At least, it is likely that the stems on the
regulators could be replaced, since the first URL was a place which sold
the stems.

Good Luck,
DoN.

--
Remove oil spill source from e-mail
Email: | Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
(too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---

On 2/19/2011 2:45 PM, David Billington wrote:

no idea what they do in Australia but I would expect similar to the
UK. 200 bar about 2900 psi, 230 bar about 3340psi.

Well pressure will do me in if they run 230 bar down there, my oxy gauge
tops out at 3000psi.

Did talk to a salesman at an engineering supply in Wagga, and was told
they had a pretty good selection of quality inch hardware, drills, and
taps in stock or could order. Won't matter for the gauges, but I've got
a lot of air tools and other items with NPT fittings, so will be
stopping by again and asking further questions about what is really
available. They also sell welding equipment, so probably the place to
find out what an oxy/acetylene rig is going to cost me.

Thanks,


Jon

On 2/20/2011 6:32 AM, Jon Anderson wrote:
Anyone here know if my Victor gauges will mate up with oxy/acetylene
tanks in Australia?

A friend who served in the Australian army as an engineer in Vietnam,
said one of his jobs was to make adaptors so the USA supplied oxy/acet
tanks could be used with Australian supplied equipment.

"technomaNge" wrote in message
...
On 02/19/2011 04:58 PM, Ignoramus27971 wrote:
I believe that they have their tanks upside down for proper
orientation and have special fittings to accommodate this.

i


Rats! Now I have coffee spewn on my monitor.

Thanks for nothing, Ig.


Quite apart from being upside down, there is the added complication that we
Aussies rent, not buy, our cylinders.

The big gas suppliers, AFAIK, won't touch a cylinder you "own". They do a
strictly "swap-an-empty-one-for-a-full-one" business, and LPG bottles are
going the same way. Fewer and fewer stations will fill "your" LPG bottle -
most of them nowadays will only swap.

Now I could be wrong in terms of big biz - maybe they do buy and refill
their tanks. We rent about a dozen bottles on a yearly rental basis. Not
cheap, but it ensures that all cylinders are in good condition all the time.

In 30+ years playing with oxy, I've never seen an oxy/acet/argon bottle
being refilled on the spot. Always a swap.

YMMV.

--
Jeff R.

On 2/19/2011 10:18 PM, Jeff R. wrote:

In 30+ years playing with oxy, I've never seen an oxy/acet/argon bottle
being refilled on the spot. Always a swap.

I own my oxy/acetylene and C02 bottles, but not the specific bottles I
have on hand. When empty, I take them in and swap out for full 'owner'
bottles.

Leasing, or hiring a set, might be prohibitively expensive for the few
times I'd need one. Might be better off cultivating a good relationship
with someone that does keep a set on hand, swap off some services in
exchange for access...

Thanks!


Jon

"Jon Anderson" wrote in message
...
On 2/19/2011 10:18 PM, Jeff R. wrote:

In 30+ years playing with oxy, I've never seen an oxy/acet/argon bottle
being refilled on the spot. Always a swap.

I own my oxy/acetylene and C02 bottles, but not the specific bottles I
have on hand. When empty, I take them in and swap out for full 'owner'
bottles.

Leasing, or hiring a set, might be prohibitively expensive for the few
times I'd need one. Might be better off cultivating a good relationship
with someone that does keep a set on hand, swap off some services in
exchange for access...

Thanks!


Jon

To answer your original question, oxygen spigot is male 5/8 inch BSP RH
thread, acetelene spigot is male 5/8 inch BSP LH thread Australia wide. As
others have said, you may be able to buy replacement spigots for your
regulators. There are a small number of privately owned cylinders in this
country (I have a set), but no swap facilities for them that I know of. I
am only aware of one gas supplier which will fill them, and this involves
taking them to and from the filling plant. There is also the cost of a ten
yearly hydrostatic test/inspection.
--
Regards,

Chas.

(To email me, replace "xxx" with letters tango papa golf.)