oxygen tank question
 

So I have a quick question in regards to oxygen tanks. How many torch hours should an oxygen tank generally last? I have a size G tank which holds 10.3m of oxygen but this only lasted about 12 hours of torch time. I am not sure if my partner accidentally drained the tank or if that is all I get out of a tank. Is anyone with experience using oxygen tanks able to give any input? Thanks.

PS: I finally got to melt glass, had a ball! made some pretty impreessive beads for a first attempt!

ok, so I have done some further research and have found that oxy gets used pretty fast, but still feels like I should have got more bang for my buck so maybe we did something wrong to consume more than we should have. either way, this has now led me to research oxycons which although is more funds upfront is bound to save in the long run. If anyone is familiar with using oxycons could I please have advice on the suitability of a 5l Devilbliss oxycon (Oxygen Percentage 1–5 LPM=93%+/- 3%). would this be suitable to run with a nortel mega minor? once again thanks in advance for any help offered =)

I can not help you on a choice of oxycons but I do know that oxygen tanks have a problem with the valve stems leaking if the tank is only part way open.

They are designed to be either all the way open to the far end or all the way closed.

If you don't get to the far stop when opening it then the oxygen will leak out around the stem rod that goes up to the handle knob.

Put some bubble water on it and you will see if you have it opened up against the far stop.

This problem can lead some to think the leak is in the torch if you open the tank but shut down the torch for a while and your tank runs dry on you.

You wouldn't be the first this has happened to.

Good luck in your hunt.

That is extremely helpful, Thank you Phill, We are getting a new O2 tank dropped off tomorrow so I will definitely go ahead and follow that advice.

I don't have a mega minor but that doesn't sound like an abnormal amount of time for the oxygen to last. Oxygen burns fast. you will want a bigger concentrator than a 5. To get the most out of your torch you will want 10 lpm or more.

Go with the largest tank you can handle. I use liquid myself which is much cheaper and considerably safer than compressed tanks but when I was using compressed I was using T sized. As you move up in size the difference in cost is not proportional to the volume increase but significantly less. You can save a ton of money this way.

Biggest tank
 

You need at least 125 big k tanks for melting i use bigger 200 and a 300