I've had several defective cylinders over the years. Take it back for an exchange, and always check the pressure when you get the cylinder home.

 

Air Gas is the supplier for our local HVAC/R supply house. Every tank is checked before it leaves the store. I had a few that were empty when I got them before the supply house started checking them. Uniweld has a little gauge already made up just for this. Its in the catalog.

 

I use liquid soap to check cylinder valves for leaks.

 

I bought some brass fittings from my supplier and put a gauge on it. I started checking pressures before I accepted the tanks off the dock.
I learned that from SCUBA diving where it is frustrating to pay for a 3000PSI fill and only get 2000psi, or whatever tank and pressure you are running.

Give some slack as temperature can and will affect pressure readings. But nothing is cheap and being shorted 1000psi of gas is a hazard when you accept something without confirming.

Can you imagine going to your local gasoline station and paying for 40 gallons and driving away only to discover you only got 20? Who would do that?
The task is on us. The LWS is not going to take our word after a month or so.

Just my experience bro.

 

If this is the second time you've experienced this, coupled with the fact that you don't use acetylene much ( "...a few months back"), I'd say you have a faulty regulator and/or the connection is not tight. Did you even check the tanks when you first brought them back to your house?

 

OP stated, " Tank was stored upright with the regulator sitting on the shelf next to it." My guess that would more or less negate the possibility of a faulty regulator or bad connection. As for checking the tank(s) when he first brought them back to the house...more or less a given that he didn't or he wouldn't be posting about the problem.

 

Us too. We get MC and B with the pretty red plastic caps on them. I would say there is at least two out of a dozen that were empty or close to it. Sounds like it is getting worse. Shop guy now checks them as they are unloading.

 

A "MC" tank only has 10 cuft of gas so a very small leak can drain a cylinder over the course of a few months. The acetylene cylinders are almost always filled at a different location that your LWS and the people filling do not check for leaks.

As everyone says, it is best to check cylinders when you receive them. We sell Test Gauges with Hand Tight Fittings and a bleed valve. Even with hand tight fittings, you still need a wrench to disconnect because of the pressure. The bleed valve makes it fast and easy.

We sell them in most of the common CGA fittings. The only one that is not hand tight is the one for a "MC" Acetylene. Western Enterprise list price is around $90.00 with out the bleed. We sell them for $75.00.

Jim
www.regulatortorchrepair.com

 

Not a bad price at all Jim since those Sherwood bleeders used to cost me almost $75 each retail IIRC the last time I got them. I'll have to keep you guys in mind when I run out of the last ones I got.

 

Yeah, I suppose the burden is on the customer to verify what they're getting is...in fact WHAT they should be getting. Still...frustrating situation. I wonder if the larger cylinders have an inherently better seal due to valve design or are perhaps checked more regularly due to their size?

Thanks for the responses everyone!

 

Aren't gas cylinder supposed to be filled by weight? I carry my 80s and I know when I pick up a new one it is filled by the weight. I'm never exactly sure but I've picked up some that I consider 'light' and have swapped a different bottle.

What about acetalyene? By weight? by volume? by pressure???

 

Acetylene cylinders are filled with acetone, to which acetylene gas is pumped in slowly allowing the acetone to absorb the gas. It's a very slow process and often the filler will neglect to ensure the MC style cylinders are properly filled, and/or leak-checked. CAUTION, when performing pressure checks on acetylene cylinders, use extreme caution. Acetylene gas is unstable over 23 psi, and can self ignite when exposed to air when venting.

 

I suspect it's because the employees at that location you picked up the tank, thought you were related to the Schicklings, and must have thought you were Mr. Schickling's younger, more musical cousin. While I certainly do not agree with the company called Airgas and their policies, I think it's safe to say you didn't inspect the cylinder before accepting it, and you surely did not pull up to the loading dock with your empty tank in an open air truck bed or open air trailer with properly secured cap.

When you do this, rather than informing you they cannot sell you a cylinder of compressed gas unless you are going to transport it according to DOT law, the only thing they will sell you, is an essentially empty cylinder, otherwise know as tank, with only residual amounts of the element and the characteristic missing safety cap.


Not only did they sell you an empty tank with a missing safety cap, all that snickering, laughing, and strange tones was due to you being an unsuspecting participant of mocking yourself, because they are laughing at you, they are making fun of you, they do tell others about your ignorance to include others on the inside joke, they do just about everything other than the courtesy of informing you what they are doing and why.

Next time, before you return the cylinder, go purchase a cylinder safety cap, and transport the cylinder (with cap properly screwed on) in the back of an open air bed, and not inside of a trunk of a car. And go any place other than Airgas (they are probably the ones that sold you a tank with missing cap instead of a cylinder with highly compressed quantities of specific gases)

had you purchased you cylinder from a different distributor, you would have been informed of the dangers of transporting compressed gas and the why a safety cap must be installed. Hope you read this quickly because members of the inferior little boys club for egotistical megalomaniacs doesn't take kindly to freely sharing of information, not even important info such as this. They place signs on the wall which state the criteria for safely transporting cylinders of compressed gas but conveniently leave out the Large Bold print with asterics that should say, IF YOU DO NOT PASS THE TEST OF REFUSING TO TRANSPORT A CYLINDER WITH A MISSING SAFETY CAP, YOU WILL BE SOLD AND EMPTY TANK, THAT TANK WILL COST SEVERAL HUNDRED DOLLARS AND NOT COME WITH A SAFETY CAP BECAUSE YOU FELL FOR THE DIRTY AZ TRICK OF CYLINDER OWNERSHIP, YOU EITHER HAVE TO RENT ONE FROM US OR FILL IT YOURSELF, OR IF YOU THINK YOU ARE READY FOR OWNERSHIP, WE WILL TEST YOU AND THEN MOCK YOU RATHER THAN SIMPLY EXPLAINING THE CODED LAW HANDED DOWN BY DOT

 

You may want to step away from the key board(and the bar) and get some sleep.

 

sorry about that vwguy3, in re-reading my reply I realize the entire tone I replied in would be taken as offensive, I should have simple written:

Make sure you are familiar with department of transportation laws on transporting hazardous material, if you arrive to pick up a cylinder and it's apparent you aren't going to comply with said laws, Airgas will sell you an near empty cylinder, in their defence, they do have signs warning customers what happens should you attempt to transport a cylinder in the trunk of an automobile.

if the OP transported the cylinder in the trunk of the car, I suspect that is why he received a near empty cylinder

 

My guess is the guy filling didn't leak check the valve. It was probably leaked out before the op picked it up. As far.As always transporting in open air vehicles. I know of.plenty of service vehicles That are enclosed. Leak test your cylinders and fittings. I have had the.misfortune of leaving a valve opening overnight or the weekend only to find gas has leaked out. Used to be.really bad swapping gasses on the mig welder because I was only going to weld a little and switch back so no leak test

 

I always have supplier check pressure of tanks before loading , could save a trip later.

'' MC '' and '' B '' tanks DO NOT HAVE CAPS or provisions for one. Many smaller tanks do not have caps either.

 

My Airgas supplier rolls the tank to the dock, then opens the door. He wouldn't know you are hauling it in the trunk.
Actually he can NOT legally put it in your vehicle. You are the DUMMY that didn't follow DOT requirements!