Oxy/Acy tank leasing

[jeffm]

Last month I leased a 150 cu ft oxy and acy tank for five years. Still have some acy but the O2 is pretty much cashed (and probably will be empty if I do any cutting tonite). I was thinking of leasing another 150 oxy tank and here's why:

-Whenever the fuel bottle runs out, there will most likely be an empty O2 bottle laying around that can be refilled on the same trip to the gas store.
-I'm told you use more O2.
-Avoiding multiple trips to gas store.
-O2 is (somewhat) safer/easier to store then acy.

Does this make sense? I'm probably putting to much thought into this but it's some $150 for the lease and wanted some opinions. It might be an expensive nicety, but so is welding Besides I figure any free time I have (rare) is best spent at the torch instead of driving around town with compressed gas. Thanks, you all rock.

[ZACHV]

I am not sure about the sizes of your tanks, but most people that lease use a o2 bottle twice as big as the acetylene to accomplish the same thing. That way you don't have two o2 tanks being leased and the added expense.

[Hobart Expert Rock]

JEFFM.........HOW WE DOING........ I USE PROPANE WITH MY OXYGEN BOTTLES. HOWEVER MY OXYGEN BOTTLES ARE NOT TRANSPORTABLE VERY EASILY THEY ARE 12 PACK RACKS. WE USE A BUNCH BUT WE ALSO FOUND IT EASIER TO GET PROPANE THAN RUN TO THE WELD STORE AND GET ACCETYLENE BOTTLES.......... HOW'S THAT FOR AN ALTERNATIVE.................ALSO YOU DO NOT NEED TO LEASE PROPANE TANKS AND THEY WORK AT LEAST EQUALLY FOR OUR APPLICATION..........................ROCK
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[jeffm]

Yeah, the thought was that I'd only ever have to go to the shop for acy. I'm just afraid of wasting time getting the acy refilled then having to go back to the shop a week later when the O2 runs out. just an idea

I did goof my tank size. Looking around for what to get, everyone seemed to have equal sized tanks. So I leased them and now everyone I meet has a bigger O2 tank. oh well

Rock: I don't know much about propane. That's slick that it burns hot as acy though, I imagined it'd be a bit lower. Wicked!
My problem is that I only have like five hours a week to weld. Plus it takes me an hour to set up then tear down shop. The 150's last me less then a month at current burn and it doesn't seem timely to me to run across town to the shop to refill one bottle when they get "out of sync", that's like half an afternoon for me

[Snidley]

Talk to your gas supplier. It's just a new lease, so chances are that they will let you upgrade to a larger O2 cylinder, with the corresponding rates of course.

[AC/DC ROCKS]

I use propane and acetylene both, and I find that for the same job, one uses a little more oxygen on propane rig than with acetylene. I would upgrade your rig to the largest oxygen bottle you can put on your cart, if possible.

[Mark Whiddon]

I run propane with O2, If you are leasing at $150 for 5 yrs, why not just buy a tank? You can get them for about $200-240 already filled. That is a big 225cf tank. Then all you have to do is swap them when empty. It doesn't matter how closely you guage your gas, you will inevitably run out of one and not the other. That is the nature of things. Why not get as much burn time out of each of them and get the biggest possible tank you can. Oh and the propane doesn't burn as hot at acy. It cuts ok (not as cleanly for me), it is considerably cheaper though. You can run it right off your BBQ grill tank, just swich torch tips.

[jeffm]

sure, I'll have some cheese

I wanted to buy tanks but the gas store doesn't do that anymore... there's more money in it for them I suppose.

Big, bulbous tanks sound nice, but until I move, my setup has to fit in a tiny corner of a packed garage. And I have to drag the whole gig on a rickety cart out and around the house whenever I want to light up :/ Bigger is not better in my garage.

Wow propane sure does sound popular. I had no idea. Makes me want to give it a shot but I'm already confused enough with acy. Oh and my grill is charcoal (bad news for Strickland....)

Thanks for all the ideas everybody! jm

[Bobby]

when I got my C25 gas I inquired about 'buying' a tank. the gas store convinced me till I spent the time waiting for my tank to be filled and paid to have it tested regularly that it was not worth it. I paid a 'deposit' or lease or whatever you call it for my tank. I paid a significant amount of money and then just pay the small fee to have the gas filled. They just give me a different tank already full. I imagine that's the same that you did when you 'leased' your tanks. and I'm sure they'd let you upgrade to a bigger tank. I ended up wanting a bigger tank and they just let me pay the difference between them and off I went.

[Arbo]

I bought my tanks second hand. The shop where I go does the same thing though. I just swap them for a different tank when I need one. As long as I keep with the same supplier, they pay for any recertification on the tanks. It worked good for me, I don't have to pay a monthly lease fee that way.

[cope]

cylinder swap out

Around here you can take an owner type bottle to almost any welding supply for exchange. Some are **** about it if you didn't purchase from them, but I have a couple of good ones that are accomodating. I use one in particular that is 20 miles from me, but the owner is knowledgeable and refills my C-25 instead of exchanging. He also gives me good prices on supplies although he can't compete with the bigger dealers on equipment. Bottom line, if you refill monthly or thereabouts, lease is better. If you are a home/farm DIY weldor you may be better off buying your own cylinders from a good dealer.

[Stoney]

I mentioned cylinders in my other thread, so I won't go into that here, but I wanted to clarify the BTU output of propane vs. acetylene. The reason you would use more oxygen with propane, is that the gas burns "colder". It takes more oxygen to burn propane than it does acetylene. Propane is convenient because it's so readily available at thousands of outlets. To paraphrase from the Praxair.com website...

The flame temperature of the oxy-propane flame is lower than acetylene. The primary flame releases low Btu when compared to acetylene, which increases preheat time. The heat distribution in the flame can be an advantage with thick material.

Propane is commonly used by scrap yards where cut quality is not critical. Where cut quality is not a concern, propane may be a cost-effective fuel gas.


You will use more oxygen when cutting with propane, but us distributors don't mind that at all

Steve

[d.paulson]

I bet you distributors also note that acetylene users go though a lot more cutting tips and cleaners than the propane users.

[Ed Heimbach]

Just wandering if any body had any experience with this torch? www.petrogen.com