Cutting torch flash arresters or not?

Fred from MO · Sep 7, 2012

How many of you use or have flash arrestors on an cutting torch set up? Are they really needed? Or is this one of those OSHA things because someone did something silly a long time ago and the government stepped in? Educate me please!! I would like your experiences to help guide me in purchasing these or not?

JMS/.MN · Sep 7, 2012

Got mine before there was OSHA- just makes sense to lessen the chance of blowing the tank. Mine are on the torch- 50 feet from the tanks.

BDT in Minnesota · Sep 7, 2012

Fred,, I would not own a torch without these updates..... A friend and neighbor had a torch set blow on him some time ago...spent his share of time in a burn unit..... not fun........

AgmanWallistx · Sep 7, 2012

I taught H.S agriculture for many years and yes they are necessary. I would not use a torch without them.

Fred from MO · Sep 7, 2012

Thanks thats enough responses for me to be a believer in them.

JOHNNYfromMI · Sep 7, 2012

I lost all the skin on my right arm. Befor they were required. Use them!!! You never know they were there while operating the torch, but back feed a little gas into the high pressure side of the oxygen regulator and you have a hot problem. I know I've been there.

Rod in MN · Sep 7, 2012

HI. USE them I spent 8 day"s in hostpitl with 80%of my back burend with 2 and 3rd deg. burnes out of work for 30 day"s. Had to were a special vest for 2 years to keep scars from raiseing up scares are all smooth now not fun

Rod in MN

Puddles · Sep 7, 2012

We went years without using them, then the safety department started having little hissy fits! Go ahead and use them, why not be safe? Once they are on the gauges or the torch, you'll never know they are there. :wink:

Ken Macfarlane · Sep 7, 2012

They always have a display of blown up torches at the local welding shop hanging above the arrestors. More added every time I'm in there.

That said, I'm a bad guy and don't run them, propane runs such low pressure (I'm at 1-3 psi) it doesn't seem to mix back into the oxygen line. I should get a set on there though, they aren't gonna hurt anything.

RalphWD45 · Sep 7, 2012

I am 73, and been using a torch off and on , since adulthood. I have never heard of them, and probably still wouldn't know of them, if I hadn't read this post. They sound like good insurance to me! I use propane now days, except for welding. I will get those arrestors, for my torch, next time I pick up oxygen.

Dick L · Sep 7, 2012

Never heard of them until I bought a new torch set 35 years ago. The welding supply company told me they were a good idea and I had them put on the invoice. When OSHA came in it was the first thing they made a bee line for. At that time the fellow said it was unusal to find them on torch gages the first time in.

504 · Sep 7, 2012

Several of the new regulators have them built in now, good idea.

Bleeding Orange SW Iowa · Sep 7, 2012

I have them on both my oxygen/acetylene sets. I don't know about other types of gas torches. Cheap safety up front, versus expensive aftermath. Fortunately, I have no horror stories, just listened to an older, wiser man when he advised me to do it. Since then, no one has told me I wasted my money. I try to learn by others' mistakes when I have the opportunity, but I still make plenty of my own.

1950 MFD · Sep 7, 2012

I thought they were an added expence untill I watched my brother-in-law blow one of they hoses off his torch. If his hoses weren't old and ready to be replaced anyway, we could have had alot bigger problems.

Keith Molden · Sep 8, 2012

You really should have them on both the torch and the regulators. Saves the hoses from burning back to the regulators then to the cylinders. We require them in both places at American Electric Power. Most new torches made by Victor and others now have them built in. Just my thoughts, Keith

Dusty MI · Sep 8, 2012

How does one know if they are built in. I bought my carry around set about 25 years ago, it seems like that I was told the flash back arrestor was built in them.

Dusty

MarkB_MI · Sep 8, 2012

Note that there are both flashback arrestors and check valves. Check valves are an absolute minimum requirement, and are quite inexpensive. They will at least keep oxygen from flowing backwards into your acetylene regulator, and vice versa. Flashback arrestors will set you back around forty bucks, but are much better than check valves.

RodinNS · Sep 8, 2012

They're standard equipment on most torch sets today... Just use them. They wo't hurt you. I'd also keep them at the torch body and not the regs myself...

Rod

Mel in SW Iowa · Sep 8, 2012

I bought a new Purox 203 torch set in 1974 that didn't have them. I bought the arrestor set in 1976, but carried them in my torch tool box for several years. One day I borrowed a Purox 203 that looked like it had been cared for at a shop. After using the torch for about 5 minutes, the mixing chamber blew out on both sides of my right hand, sounding like a 12 gauge! Luckily, no shrapnel wounded me! My flash arresters have been installed on mine ever since! Those safety posters and pictures at welding shops aren't just propaganda.

Mel in SW Iowa · Sep 8, 2012

I bought a new Purox 203 torch set in 1974 that didn't have them. I bought the arrestor set in 1976, but carried them in my torch tool box for several years. One day I borrowed a Purox 203 that looked like it had been cared for at a shop. After using the torch for about 5 minutes, the mixing chamber blew out on both sides of my right hand, sounding like a 12 gauge! Luckily, no shrapnel wounded me! My flash arresters have been installed on mine ever since! Those safety posters and pictures at welding shops aren't just propaganda.

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