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Tips, Techniques, and Questions -- Technical questions or tips

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  #1  
Old 2012-03-24, 4:09am
bignatesglass bignatesglass is offline
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Default can propane be dirty?

I have a Bethlehem pm2d, and have had excessive carbon build up on the head. This is not normal... Is it just a "dirty" tank? And is there some kind of filter or something that might prevent this In the future?
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  #2  
Old 2012-03-24, 5:27am
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Sue in Maine Sue in Maine is offline
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I don't know your torch or your experience level so maybe I'm out of line here but I wondered if anything in this thread would help you sort out what's going on.

http://lampworketc.com/forums/showth...=dirty+propane

Or info in here to help??

http://lampworketc.com/forums/showth...rbon+build+up*

And now that I've butted in, I've noticed this is Post #1 for you. I would like to take the time to tell you about LE's search feature. At the top of your screen you should see a line with headers ... User CP, FAQ, Member List/RAOGK.... to the right, you will see SEARCH and to the right of that is a drop box arrow. Click on the arrow to bring up the Search... type in the subject matter you want to research. If you are using less than 4 letters, you need to use the asterik (*) as a wild card, such as CARBON BUILD UP* and then click GO. LE will bring up a lot of threads that contain these words within and clicking will open up the thread for you. These 2 links I found by doing a search and was hoping it would take to somewhere that might help you with into.

Welcome to LE, btw. It's a great place to be. Oh, and RAOGK stands for Random Acts of Glass Kindness. Click on it and add your name to the list. You never know when someone is searching for someone to send an anonymous package to someone.

Sue
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Last edited by Sue in Maine; 2012-03-24 at 5:34am.
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  #3  
Old 2012-03-24, 6:31am
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When I am at the end of the gas in my propane tank, it will start to kind of "spit" a weird yucky haze over the bead. I try to be very aware of the fact when my propane is getting low.

Also, I read on an LE thread, that you should purge your tank completely before you get it refilled. Something about the smelly additive they put in the gas will cause an excessive build up in your tank if you don't purge it.

Another thing I do, is buy a new propane tank every few years. All of this might be just strange, unnecessary stuff that I do, but I like to keep the supply of gas being fed to my torch clean.

I don't know if my solutions have anything to do with your problem, but these are the precautions I take so that I don't have any spewing of yucky stuff on the surface of my beads.

Jeannie
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Old 2012-03-24, 8:13am
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Dale M. Dale M. is offline
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I have never experienced it....

A couple of things to consider..... Propane is vapor and it drawn off TOP of tank, so anything the will contaminate propane that is not a vapor will concentrate in BOTTOM of tank... Propane has a specific gravity of 1.5219 as compared to "air" which has a specific gravity of 1 (air reference), so its is heavier than air but by most standards lighter than any liquids (specific gravity of 1 (water reference)) that may be introduced in the propane...

The odor element of propane is Ethyl Mercaptan... It is a hydrocarbon and is a flammable gas so it should not introduce any oils or yuckie materials into flame.... IT is also placed into propane in the around of 1 pound for 10,000 gallons ( 1:42,500 ratio) .. Probably take 100 years of use of a propane tank to get any build up that would cause problem,...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethanethiol#Odor



Dale
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Last edited by Dale M.; 2012-03-24 at 8:29am.
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  #5  
Old 2012-03-24, 8:16am
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It's possible that the mixture of the various gasses that make up LP is slightly different, causing a richer mixture than you are used to. I would give the torch a thorough cleaning, including using the cleaning wires to clean each port. Also I would hook the torch up to some compressed air, being careful not to exceed the torches pressure limits, and open the valves while cleaning. Are you on tanked oxy or oxycons? if you are on concentrators then you may need to service them.
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  #6  
Old 2012-03-24, 8:37am
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When I first started out, I had this same problem. I turned down the pressure on my propane tank and made my candles smaller. Never had that problem again.

Rick
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  #7  
Old 2012-03-24, 11:55am
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Wow, I am confused! So it is NOT true that it is a good thing for you to purge the tank when you are going to refill it? The additive does not build up and cause bad things to happen?

And the other question is....Why when I am at the end of my propane, does the yucky haze appear on my bead? Every now and then, I have to toss out a perfectly good bead because of this issue.

Thanks,
Jeannie
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Old 2012-03-24, 12:31pm
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I have had gotten "dirty" propane cylinders. I finally gave up and just exchanged it for a nice new one.
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  #9  
Old 2012-03-24, 1:07pm
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You might want to change your hose too if it's been a long time. I changed mine after 7 years. It did help the build up that I was getting on the Cuda with the old hose.
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Old 2012-03-24, 11:49pm
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I have friends in law enforcement that tell me the meth maggots often use propane tanks to steal and transport anhydrous ammonia for their labs. It may be that at some point your tank was used illegally and not thoroughly cleaned when it was finally cycled through the prropane supply system. Just a remote possibility but people do put some strange things in strange places.
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  #11  
Old 2012-03-26, 7:53am
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elle elle is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Nimbus View Post
When I am at the end of the gas in my propane tank, it will start to kind of "spit" a weird yucky haze over the bead. I try to be very aware of the fact when my propane is getting low.

Also, I read on an LE thread, that you should purge your tank completely before you get it refilled. Something about the smelly additive they put in the gas will cause an excessive build up in your tank if you don't purge it.

Another thing I do, is buy a new propane tank every few years. All of this might be just strange, unnecessary stuff that I do, but I like to keep the supply of gas being fed to my torch clean.

I don't know if my solutions have anything to do with your problem, but these are the precautions I take so that I don't have any spewing of yucky stuff on the surface of my beads.

Jeannie
I get the same grey film when I get to the bottom of my tank. It starts earlier on dark transparents - black, cobalt, etc. - and when I get truly empty, my white starts to run and the grey film gets on everything. I tried everything under the kitchen sink to get it off. Comet, CLR, Mr. Clean, The Works... I should point out that this is not the same animal as the grey muck on turquoise glass, so Coke and toilet bowl cleaner won't do. The only thing I've found that actually works is the polishing compound for my lapidary machine. I put a dab of it on a wool felt polishing stick and it buffs right off. Make sure it's the consistency of slightly runny toothpaste. If it's too dry or too watery, it won't work.

http://www.inlandcraft.com/singlepro...&partnum=50037
Wow, the price has gone up on that quite a bit since I last bought it. No worries, it will last a long time, especially if this is the only thing you use it for. At least you have a solution when a low tank sneaks up on you, and you don't have to discard an otherwise great bead.

By the by, bignate, excessive carbon buildup can also be caused by running your torch candles too small. I have the same problem with my Minor, but I run my candles the size I do for a reason, so I just deal with it. I hear the PM2D is finicky... isn't that the model that makes a terrible noise when you turn the oxygen up too high? And I've had dirty propane before when I tried Blue Rhino for a while. That stuff was nasty, every tank, start to finish. Never again.

I hope this helps,
Sarah
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  #12  
Old 2012-03-26, 11:18am
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Nimbus Nimbus is offline
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Hi Sarah,

Well then, I'm not the only person who believes that the end of the propane in the tank can be yucky!

I just eliminate the whole problem of this issue by doing what I mentioned in my first post; Don't run the propane till you are at the very end, purge the tank before refill, and replace tank every couple of years. Call me crazy, but I think I'm gonna keep on doing that. It won't be the first overly anal thing that I do.

Jeannie
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  #13  
Old 2012-03-26, 3:05pm
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My beads get dirty about 2/3 of the way through the tank. I grab a fresh tank and use the leftover propane for our LP water heater and dryer. You could also barbecue a lot...
Lee
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