Oxygen/Propane torch?

C

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Jan 27, 2005
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A friend of mine works in barge repair and he recently used an oxy/propane torch for heating wheels and such instead of a standard rosebud on a o/a setup. i was wondering if anyone had used such a rig. he said is was amazingly hot.
i figure that might be better for some of us, one less bottle to buy and probably cheaper too. i imagine it must burn cleaner than o/a as well.
anybody got one, and if so,what are they good for?
jon
 
jon, propane works better for many applications, especially where high gas consumption is an issue. For example, when needing to do large amounts of flame cutting, propane is much more cost effective if you do not need the extra heat provided by acetylene. Junk and scrap yards usually use propane for this reason and because it leaves a cleaner kerf (cut) with less slag. An oxy acetylene torch gets up to about 6,300 F, whereas an oxy propane rig is rated at 5,700 F. While that seems pretty close in temperature, it is not as close as it seems. The BTU output of an oxy/acetylene flame is far higher than the oxy/propane flame making it far more efficient. It gets pretty complicated. The bottom line is that propane will work for many applications and if you have a propane rig there is no reason not to use it. I do not go through enough acetylene to make the cost noticeable and prefer the heat and efficiency of that gas.
 
thanks for the info guys, i'll look into it some more. i was mainly looking at it for heating and heat treating until i get a forge, not so much for cutting, so it might work for me, i hate the black cloud and the smell from acetylene
 
I think you can use the same basic torch set up if you already have one. You have to get a different tip for sure, and probably a regulator too. Definitely read up on it, but IIRC there isn't that much to do to switch over.
 
All I use is Oxy/Propane. Same regulator as acetylene.Same tips for most jobs.
 
do you cut with it, or just heat? i mainly need heating, but cutting would be nice, if it works well enough,
 
I have the oxy/propane set up also..works great for everything I need in the shop.Had to get a different tip for the cutting torch.Only thing I have heard is the propane eats up the hose,need special hose for propane I guess,and I keep loosing the seals on the guage.I also need to read up on this myself.
Will be curious as to what others have to say on this subject..
Bruce
 
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