What's the issue with Acetylene?

[Jim Davey]

There were gas cylinders on my friends boat which caught fire last month, we put out the fire ourselves and when questioned by the brigade they were very surprised that we tackled it at all, they said they wouldn't have because health and safety wouldn't allow it. Apparently they would've set up a hose to spray water and stop the spread of fire lighting other boats, but they wouldn't have gone aboard.

And these burst discs or soldered in bungs may prevent instant structural failure of the bottle but when they go the cylinder empties itself in a matter of minutes by venting. It doesn't take a genius to work out what will happen if you add acetylene at a fairly decent rate into an area that's already on fire. You could easily get a vertical jet of fire 30 feet tall coming out the top of the cylinder when the soldered in safety plug fails. Sure it reduces the explosion risk but its still a worrying thing for a fireman to tackle.

 

[Mr shiney]

There is risk in fighting any fire. IF my house catches fire it's going to take out the 2000l pol tank as well as the stored fuel and LPG tanks. Acetylene is not the devils gas, it just requires correct handling just like LPG and petrol and hydrogen etc.

 

[Fergus]

Which I am guessing is the real reason my local fire brigade are not scaremongering?

I have no doubt that large scale storage of acetylene is of concern but I don't think that the gas deserves the rap that it gets. When I was diving commercially the hydrogen we used always made my bum twitch but again properly handled I never saw or heard of an incident.

As I keep saying perhaps we should promote safe handling rather than putting the fear of god needlessly into people?

I think the reason they didn't go bang was down to the way the fires were managed rather than any inherent safety feature. Finding unexpected cylinders certainly makes them twitch and would trigger a wider evacuation/cordon.

Gas cylinders are just one hazard faced by the emergency services at incidents. Frequently they are only known about when they become an issue.

 

[AndyStobbs]

I don't think anyone mentioned a course. There is nothing wrong with peer education. Instead of scaremongering why not give correct advice. Cylinder handling is no difficult. Don't use it lying down, if its been lain down let it sit upright for an hour or so before you use it. Don't store it near any sources of ignition such as grinding or welding near it. Do frequent leak checks, inspect hoses etc.

Jim Davey mentioned a course on page 1.

 

[pedrobedro]

with oxy&fuel (acetylene or propane) gas out the two cylinders its the oxygen thats mostly over looked as the most dangerous in a situation,and the first cylinder that should be shut down.

That's exactly the opposite of what I was taught and I will continue to do as my old welding teacher told me 40 years ago. Always shut the fuel gas down first.

 

[backpurge]

Interesting reading guys, I run gas cylider safe use and handling courses on a regular basis and some of the previous posts just highlight how much mis-information and urban myths there are out there around compressed gas cylinders