why is my flame changing on it's own?

[Leanne]

My flame used to do this on a concentrator but I am on bottled oxy now and have pretty much a FULL bottle. the flame keeps turning to a slightly reducing flame on it's own. I have had my torch for almost a year now (midrange plus with minor top) it is the minor part that is doing it.
Is it dangerous? what could be causing it?
Thanks
Leanne

[Wonker]

Hi Leanne,

I have no idea why you're having this problem, but it could be that as your torch heats up the valve supplying the oxygen is expanding and reducing the flow of oxygen so it gradually becomes more reducing. Does it continue to become reducing despite your readjusting the oxygen? If it does that, it sounds like a problem with your torch. I can't imagine that it's really dangerous if it's simply becoming slightly reducing, but it makes it difficult to work with glass if you can't control the flame chemistry. I'll be interested in seeing what you hear on this.

[beadsoncypress]

Regulators going bad???

[FlameFilly]

Did your recently fill your propane bottle? I've had it happen on new bottles and also the propane flow will increase sometimes due to ambient temperature fluctations...although you'd think that would be caught at the regulator? hmmm...

Maybe my reg isn't working properly either!lol...

Sorry I guess thats not really an answer.

[kbinkster]

To what pressure is your fuel regulator set?

[kbinkster]

Oh, and what size flame are you running on your Minor?

[Leanne]

i set the propane at 60 and the oxy at 100. It may be different here though the measurements in australia it has KPA written next to the measurements.
I did recently fill the propane and it had never happened before it was filled this last time.

There could be problems with my oxy regulator as it was dropped when I knocked my tank over but that was over 12 months ago. I can sometimes hear the oxygen hissing through the regulator. Is there somewhere I can take them to have them checked that they are up to scratch?
Also my lines are starting to perish and I am pretty certaint here is a teeny tiny hole in the propane line only because if I leave pressure in the line there is no pressure in the line when I get back. The leak is so miniscule (it takes an hour to lose all pressure in the line) I haven't bothered with it but I will be buying new hoses next payday.

Does anyone know what size hoses a midrange takes? I have smaller hoses left over from my minor on it at the moment with home made adapters so I need to buy the big ones.

thanks for all your ideas guys I am glad to hear it isn't dangerous!

[Wonker]

Are you using T grade hoses for your propane or R Grade? When you said that your hoses were degrading, well now, that could be dangerous. kbinkster would better handle the pressure settings, but that seems out of whack a bit, usually you see oxygen/propane at between 3:1 and 4:1. Regulators at low pressures sometimes aren't precise enough to deliver what you're looking for so that's likely it. Good luck.

[glassartist]

The Lynx I'm on does this also. All of a sudden, the flame will decrease. Sometimes, it will increase! Wakes me right up! It's less than a year old, brand-new regs...I've switched to a larger propane tank. I'm hoping this will help. I read on here somewhere that flame fluctuations may be caused by the gas being too low in the tank, so we'll see.

[kbinkster]

I can't believe I forgot to come back to this thread! Actually, now looking at the dates, that was when I was out of state and about to return home, so that's probably why I didn't. Sorry.

Anyway, I hope you got it figured out, Leanne. I'm curious, what ended up happening? I hope you replaced your lines with 1/4" i.d. T-grade.

And just for the record, 100 kpa = 14.5 psi and 60 kpa = 8.7 psi. I wouldn't think that that pressure setting would be too low for a regulator to handle. Did you get the regulators checked out?

Glassartist, what is your propane regulator set to? Are you on tanked oxygen as well? Where is your propane tank located? Is it somewhere where it heats up?

[Sarabella]

Ah, I am also searching for some propane regulator answers. Up until my propane tank ran out 2 days ago my set up had been working fine - a Lynx with a Regalia - [and yes the Lynx knobs does cause the propane flow to "drift" shall we say but all perfectly within the range of how Lynxes work according to the papers that came with it], but not this drastically. Then, yesterday, I had my BBQ tank refilled. And now, I get just enough flame to warm my hands, but not the boro. I squeeked out four beads yesterday before I lost the flame altogether even with the adjusting knob on the propane regulator cranked all the way in. The regulator is one of the good ones, and I have had it for over 2 years of low to moderate use. I did swap out tanks this morning by the way, with no difference in performance.

Any ideas?

Much obliged,
Sals

[kbinkster]

Check the connection between your stud lines and your hoses. There are little filter screens at the ends of the stud lines. Make sure that there is nothing blocking those filters. I'll ask Willy is he has any thoughts on what it could be.

[Sarabella]

Ah, bought a new regulator works like a charm, and I'm back in biz. Anyone know why regulators go bad? This one is a two dial, regulator from the oxygen/acetelyne supplier in town, so now I can see how much propane is in the tank.

Cheers,
Sals

[khammil]

I just had the same thing happen to my propane regulator. I was told that one very common cause of a busted regulator is not backing it off all the way when shutting down the system. If there's even a little pressure left on the bladder inside the regulator each time you work, it will slowly degrade.

-- K

[Sarabella]

Hmmm. I thought I was careful, I will try to be more so in the future - thanks for the info K!

Sals

[Cathie]

I think I need a new propane regulator too what did you tell the gas place you needed?

[simvet02]

My regulator is only a few months old. Heck, the whole system is only a few months old and My Lynx does the flame changing routine too. I set the regulator at 800lb and the psi at 6, I have an oxy con M10 so the oxy is at 10. I have to continue to turn up the flame as I work, it starts going down.
Could this be because the propane tank is only about half full now? Very strange.

[FlameFilly]

Try upping the psi on your propane regulator. My regulator gets funny if it is below 10psi now, but it's an older regulator.

For some reason some regulators perform better at higher psi.

[simvet02]

Thanks, I'll try that. It did it again today to a lesser degree.

[bgurden]

my minor does that when the propane flow from the tank is a little low. increase the flow a little bit and it will improve. i get it when the flow is less than 5 from the regulator.

[glasshouse]

When I was using a Bobcat, I had the same problem and I blamed it on the torch since everything else was brand new. When I talked to Craig at Arrow Springs about it, he said it was "operator error" because I was really tightening the knobs after turning off the torch to make sure they were shut off.

Some torches have a gasket/o-ring (not sure of the technical name) in the knob that can compress if you tighten it too much. Then as you're torching it starts to uncompress/relax, restricting some of the oxygen flow so you have to re-adjust your flame as it relaxes. Gently turning off the torch and not giving the knob that last tight twist solved the trick for me with that torch.

I didn't have that issue with my minor or National- all metal, so nothing to compress. I think this tip works mainly with the GTT torches.

HTH!

Kelly

[simvet02]

Now that makes perfect sense, I will go down and loosen the knob now. The other thing I finally figured out I was doing was tightening down the PSI knob when I was done for the day, the next time I turned the gas on the PSI shot up and I had to go burn off the gas before I could get it adjusted right. Now I loosen it before turning on the propane so that the PSI can build gradually. Lessons learned, one at a time.

[Miss Kate]

When you are finished torching for the day, loosen up the PSI knob all the way, so that there is no pressure at all. Turn off the propane tank, and burn off the remaining propane in the line by lighting the torch.

When getting ready to torch, turn on the propane tank, then adjust the regulator to the pressure you want. That should help with the wear & tear on the regulator.

[LauraLou]

Just recently, I've been having simalar issues with my torch. The flame will slowly get larger and go back down. Now, the last 2 times I've used it, the propane will really increase. I know it's the propane and not the oxy because when it does this, I'll stick my head out the window to see what the regulator reads and I can see the needle going up and down. This is not constant. It fluctuates. It also doesn't seem to start until after an hour or 2 of torching. I got this regulator in February, so it's only 3 mos. old. It's a Smith regulator. Do you think I need a new one already? I usually run the propane at 5. My torch is a mega minor, also purchased in February '08. Any advice would be appreciated!
Thanks,
Laura

[LauraLou]

Anyone?

I replaced the regulator and it was fine for about 10 minutes. Then the propane flow increases up about 4-5 pounds and then slowly goes back to 5 pounds, (where I have it set.) I'm so frustrated with this thing! I guess I'll try setting the psi at 10 pounds and see how that goes.....
BTW, I have cleaned out the nozzle of the torch with the wire tool that came with it.

I'd sure like some advice...

[FlameFilly]

The only advice I have is bump up the pressure. Many of these regulators just don't work well at the lower psi's.

[LauraLou]

Suzanne, I bumped up to 10lbs and it was better. This is on the new regulator I just bought. What confuses me is; my original regulator was purchased in feb '08. It worked fine up until a couple of weeks ago. This new regulator was doing it right off the bat and when I turned it up to 10lbs, it was better, but slightly fluctuates. I have changed tanks of propane too. Could it be my oxycons? Mind you, the balls on them do not move at all when this happens.
thanks,
Laura

[Shane]

Don't have a bench burner yet but I thought I read somewhere that the hoses needed drained every so often. Have you tried disconnecting them from the torch to see if they have anything to drain from them?

[LauraLou]

I'll give it a try! Thanks,
Laura