O2 CYLINDER EXPLOSION

[donnyp1966]

If the cylinder was defective, the maintenance worker should've called the gas supplier immediately. They could've disposed of the cylinder and no one would've gotten hurt.

[heyeveryoneimcool]

Metal.

[davec128]

Hence why these should not tampered with while onboard an aircraft.

[weWILLskate]

@300tunes your such a dick! But that was funny so you've been redeemed.

[doctormoose6]

One of my best friends works with this stuff everyday. That's pretty scary.

[BarelyBen]

This is where the mans severed arm landed

[NatureGuyProductions]

could this happen with a 20oz paintball co2 canister?

[aForkandaSpoon]

@NatureGuyProductions yea, but it wouldn't last very long do to its smaller size.

[deluxedookie]

that guy lost his job i know.

[TheSolarmike]

Aluminum is used in the space shuttle solid rocket boosters with ammonium perchlorate as an oxidizer and it is extremely energetic. Aluminum is not a good choice to contain pure high pressure oxygen. Knowledge is very important! He did not know.

[lordmat666]

taking out a valve of a pressurize cylinder yea not the best idea

[droidclone]

To sum it up, don't mess with cylinder under any pressures, empty or not, unless YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING!

[wallysmi]

@ginnidorka Not sure what you saying Friction?

[wallysmi]

@ginnidorka Not sure what you saying Friction?

[Metalloys]

However distressing, the worker's arm being severed and all, yet this video is so informative and re-awakens the sense of SAFETY in the field. In IBM we always had a sign "SAFETY FIRST" to be hung in every field location. Another interesting motto that we hung in the workshop regarding safety glasses was trailed "REMEMBER - THEY ARE YOUR EYES"

[KrazyJak90]

@Metalloys or what my metal work teacher says SAFTEY NEVER TAKES A HOLIDAY

[pepsigoodman99]

omg ......... i am afraid to use compressed air in my paint ball gun now thanks

[sniperA2]

@pepsigoodman99 that was oxygen not compressed air, O2 is extremely combustible. air is not combustible obviously. if the tank is in one peace then it is safe if it over fills the pressure valve will release and let out some pressure. you have nothing to worry about using compressed air as long as you have a PSI meter and dont over fill your compressed air tank.

[meangene7525]

bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbblllllllllll­lllooooooooooooooooooddddddddd­ddddddddddddddddd

[300tunes]

Some one needs to give this guy a helping hand...

[dstrats]

Wow, this is really scary. I'm glad I'm on an oxycon.

[GoodEvenings]

Where are the pictures of the guys severed arm?

[hameedmkhs]

I had an experince of nearly 36 years in Oxygen line. My opinion for this accident is as follows. The material used in the tread of the O2 cylinder valve may be incompetent for O2 service. say may be coperlactum compound or a oil based compound. If the leak is not there , it will work fine. Since he opened the valve to escape the gas, gas must be coming thru the threads fast and created tremandous amount of heat which in turn melt the cylinder. and it exploded.

Hameed Sultan

[guyhowepharr]

So in a nutshell, the bloke made a bomb and let it off while he was standing next to it.

[egnite2500]

where did this happen cuz this sounds similar to a story my boss told me on my first day. and said he worked down the street at the time. im just curious.

[drchen054]

@wallysmi He's saying that the oxygen rubbed so hard against the aluminum nozzle when released by the wrench that it heated up from friction and caused the oxgyen to react with aluminum to cause combustion leading to detonation. I think if you were involved in the investigation, you should report to somebody that the aluminum container was a reactant in the explosion and that perhaps e-cylinders containing oxygen should not be made of pure aluminum which is a highly energetic fuel.

[ldragonheart]

his arm is gone! poor guy! did he get back?

[kolettoo]

Terrible

[americaneagle791]

That was crazy!

[Mlwtca]

Use "Thermal lance" in the video search to get a better understanding how oxygen and metals burn.

[Mlwtca]

I can see from the broken valve and the shiny area where the wrench he was working that valve hard.He may have been using a cheater bar on the end of the wrench.He probably used enough force to twist/shear the valve in half at the tank which would have exposed raw brass or copper to pure oxygen resulting in a fire which would begin to burn the aluminum tank,and weaken the tank resulting in a explosion.Black soot on the inside top tank and valve indicates fire for likely a few seconds before exp

[notawebot]

My mistake, different incident with very similar photos ( I'm studying forensic engineering). A few things the narrator says is incorrect, the melted stuff is not from friction but from combustion. Aluminum is flammable, especially in the presence of pure oxygen, and the friction of turning the valve was enough to start combustion.

[clustro]

oh my god

blood all over the place

icky :(

[notawebot]

I read about this in a safety notice, the cylinder valve stem broke off and the dead guy was trying remove the valve with 2250 PSI in the tank.

[wallysmi]

The Guy did not die

[vejet]

@wallysmi You seem to know a lot about this incident. Where you a part of the investigation or did you know the individual involved? If so I just wanted to know how he is doing now. I would assume its extremely doubtful his arm was reattached. Did he sustain any other serious injuries? And what is his condition now?

[mariehansler]

@notawebot "the DEAD guy was trying to remove the valve"???!!!! If he was dead then he would not be moving. I know what you meant...sorry I was being obvious for future mockers that might read it.

[mikeykany1973]

this is why you should only use the wrench supplied with the gas bottle,there was too much leverage with the wrench used thus forcing or over heating the threads on the valve

[jerdeb4evr]

Grease on the fittings. As soon as the high pressure oxygen hit the hydrocarbon it went unstable resulting in the flash fire and resulting depressurization.

[LizzyAston]

but why did the metal melt?

[eamh2002]

Still wondering what exploded from the oxygens help?

Did the container rupture having amazing pressure, or did the oxygen help something else explode?

[VREDFOX]

well, sometimes the explosion is purely caused by high pressure, the compressed gas energy of an 150 bar cylinder is equal to 700 grams of TNT, and this is only potential energy, by the way you don't need termite or something to have an explosion, in pure oxygen atmosphere the steel will burn itself when ignited

[Alexwalker4]

Im scared :0

[clustro]

me too :(

[jimmypoulincriket]

This what happen when rust form inside a oxy bottle. it even worse when aluminum and iron are present together. Rust mix (oxidation) with pure oxygen need just a heat source to create a thermite reaction. If it happen under pressure pure oxygen, it gonna flash burn. Rust form inside from previous use of the bottle when left empty and ambient air get inside. That why they ask to NEVER let a bottle left with a open valve when empty.

[eamh2002]

Why cant one just empty the gas first...

I bet he used GREASE that's a big no no.

These cylinders can fly even a kilometer away if they are in a loose enviroment, and fly through concrete walls.

[miken132]

The valve was defective. He should have opened the burst disk nut slightly.

[tcpnetworks]

I'm unsure about in the US, but in Australia, there are release side valves for the purpose of bleeding gasses from the cylinder when this situation occurs. - The theory being that it is unlikely two valves will become inoperable simultaneously.

[sooner49]

It appears that the actual explosion was just a release of high pressure caused by when the valve was loosened . The root cause of this accident was an untrained person doing a job that he obviously did not know how to do, in a manner that was VERY, VERY unsafe. There are ways of discharging compressed gas cylinders safely with no hazzard to anyone.

[borri317]

release of high pressure causes temperature to drop but those photos had marks of high temperature

[d5kenn]

This wasn't just a release of the pressure stored in the cylinder when loosened, it was a true oxygen explosion, likely caused either by a spark or heat at the threads from the wrench, or from the release of gas at pressure. A tank that holds 2k psi of O2 isn't going to burst just because that 2k is suddenly evacuated. The rest of your comment seems right on.

[GhostofRazors]

Should have done the safe thing and shot it in an open field.

Or called up the manufacturer. Either way he would have not lost a hand.

[andros1984]

Unscrew the safety.  That's the only safe option here.

[sparkyy0007]

Hows this for a theory

Fresh aluminum when exposed to air or O2 almost instantly grows an oxide film. This is an oxidation reaction that produces heat.

The bottle had about 3000 psi trying to push out the valve. Attempting to remove the valve with 3000 or so lbs friction force on the threads exposes fresh aluminum which will then go through an exothermic reaction with the pure oxygen. Reaction rate doubles with every 10 c increase in temp which may have caused thermal runaway .

Just a theory.

[jandk045]

@sparkyy0007 I agree this was not a result of O2 being released . This was a reaction with out a dout,

[jandk045]

@sparkyy0007 I agree this was not a result of O2 being released . This was a reaction...... without a doubt.

[MrPeanutBailey]

@sparkyy0007 No doubt there was some intense heat from a lot of oxidation but it was an explosion as well. In high concentrations of O2, grease is spontaneously combustible and when the valve was opened it exploded.... atleast thats what i see happening.

[sparkyy0007]

@MrPeanutBailey

Grease is forbidden for any O2 service.

If the aluminum burned, even at a relatively slow rate it still would have resulted in an explosion once the cylinder over pressured from the heat. Think thermite.

Aluminum is oxidized by oxygen in the rust.

In the tank environment, the oxygen is freely available, very hot due in part to ongoing compression and at high pressure, no thermal reduction necessary, the oxygen is right there to combine with the aluminum.

[analyzingfunny]

@sparkyy0007 pretty good, but did you think about why the oil industry uses spark-free tools? In case they drop a wrench into an area that is dangerous, or the item they are working on. They a make an entire series of non-sparking tools.

[sooner49]

I believe part of what you saying but would question it. The flow of high pressure gas through a small orifice would induce t a JT effect reducing the temperature of the gas not increasing. If you increase the pressure the the temperature will rise. You find this when you fill high pressure gas cylinders, the cylinders always rise in temperature as you fill them.

[sheraz91244]

I would like to mentione some precautions here that never never open a ful cylinder valve.Always conform that cylinder is empty.

Thanks

[wallysmi]

Thats 20.9% O2 in the atmosphere...The guy is not dead, not blind, not deaf and had no burns.

[santoviousdedrin]

O2 in the atmosphere is actually 21%.

[wendal2020]

I call bullshit on what happened.

when you allow a high pressure gas at room temp to escape from a sealed container it cools down rapidly to a very cold temp as the compressed gas expands and escapes. It does not heat up. simple refrigeration principle.

[wallysmi]

What you say is true....however add the blow torch that was being used to loosen the valve from the cylinder.......?

[you238]

Why was he removing the valve stem while it was pressurized?

[wallysmi]

The Valve would not open so he thought he could loosen the valve assembly to a point that the O2 would leak out depressurizing the cylinder....I guess he wanted to replace the valve assembly.

[freedomisntfreeffs]

wo wow wow, backup! Did they mean a oxygen tank that you use for like welding? Then it's just stupid to attempt something like that! 200 fucking bars is not a toy!

[wallysmi]

No Not welding for patient use

[freedomisntfreeffs]

Can you reformulate please? I didn't really understand completely what you meant.

[wallysmi]

This is not an tank for welding. It is a tank to deliver oxygen to sick people......

[freedomisntfreeffs]

Yes but I don't think there's much difference between the two.

[bucko60]

i bet the genius doing this repair wishes he did things differently

[Jambafromhell]

"and this is were the served arm landed"

[1Dlamb]

Interesting. Its not liquid oxygen, its a high pressure cylinder. I work with these every day and can't imagine how he could have done this. He was obviously mis-using this product.

[kronicman69]

There is no possible way this happened without a constant heat source. Oxygen will not burn on it's own. Imagine bringing a match in contact with a stream of oxygen, the match will vigorously burn out, but when it's gone...no more fire. If this guy tried to loosen the valve on this E-cylinder by applying a torch to it, he obviously had no business working with oxygen in the first place. The previous post is correct, this "E-Cylinder" was a compressed gas cylinder, not liquid oxygen.

[fisc251]

When he twisted the valve the temp went above 37C causing the threads to melt. Al exposed to HP O2 has a combustion temp of only 37C. He should have vented via the burst disk rather than remove the valve.

[wallysmi]

BoSJo99 There was no liquid oxygen in this cylinder.

[lexichronicle]

are you sure he didn't try to warm it up to release the thread? if he did, i think the damage may be from th epressure ripping the top out. he may also lie about that, as it'd be kind of embarassing + void any claim against the manufacturer

[lexichronicle]

it's always great to see these videos and thanks for putting it up - it's really important. I'm left wonder though, if those marks are where the cylinder melted or was simply mangled by pressure. if it was alloy, it's more likely it was oxidized than melted

[NiCadRacer]

Did he have the Vice to tight and fatigued the bottle itself? Possible best on it with something trying to knock the valve loose?

Either way that is a terrible accident.

[adx721]

Thank you for keeping this video posted.  It is a good reference point while attending classes for respiratory care.

[joelstoltzfus]

It is possible for the mechanical friction caused by loosening the valve to heat and ignite the Teflon tape. It is also possible that the oxygen flowing past the Teflon tape as the valve was being loosened could heat the tape to ignition. Either way, once the tape was ignited, it could kindle a fire in the bottle threads. The valve threads would then fail mechanically, releasing all the stored energy in the pressurized gas in an explosion-like manner.

[VanDeGraaff]

The video states that the threads and inside of the bottle melted, i find that hard to believe. Because even pure oxygen cannot burn alone, it needs a flammable material. I believe those markings are from extreme chill, because of the gas laws stating that pressure reduction = temperature reduction. If this was liquid oxygen that chill would have been even greater.

What propelled the cylinder to fly around like a missile was the amount of gas and the speed at witch it exited the bottle.

[BoSJo99]

Oxygen don't burn alone, that is correct.

But pure oxygen can make a spark grow into a fireball.

Pure Oxygen is like putting High Octane fuel on a small fire....It will literally explode.

[NiCadRacer]

High Octane fuel has a lower flash point.

It requires to be compressed to get a bigger pop.

Low octane fuel will flash much quicker....not like either is safe though. They both go guwoosh or BOOM when lit.

[wallysmi]

Look at the photos again and believe. The metal reached it's melting point inside the cylinder.

[VanDeGraaff]

No, listen to me. Due to the massive pressure reduction taking place in the nozzle, the temperature dropped to -150 C or lower. At these temperatures steel becomes brittle and cracks up. The threads and top of bottle did not melt, it crumbled into dust.

joelstoltzfus says that the oxygen ignited the teflon tape. I do not doubt that, but remember that the small amount of combustible material present would burn away in less than a second. There is no way that would melt steel.

[BoSJo99]

VanDeGraaff

We are listening to you ;-)

watch?v=174_ivcc73E

A good example of what Pure oxygen will do to fire.

I agree with you, the rapid evaporation of the liquid oxygen will have created huge sub zero temperatures, but the explosion itself could have been caused by a spark from the mangling of the valve.

Melted or just blown apart?? good question, but i think that it's just blown apart, and the metal just went through such big shock waves that it looks melted.

[VanDeGraaff]

Aha, so you are suggesting that the shockwave itself did this damage to metal of the threads and inner walls. Interesting theory.

[ladbrey]

...and so then the movement of the oxygen past the threads and the top of the bottle simply eroded the material away. This is believable and consistent with the pictures.

[ke6gwf]

@VanDeGraaff

First, the cylinder was Aluminum, and the valve either hard brass or stainless steel.

Alu. will burn quite well. Look at Thermite.

You get Alu in contact with high pressure oxygen, and provide a little heat (from friction) and you will ignite the Alu. (Thus melting it)

Oxygen never burns, it Oxidizes a Fuel. In this case it looks like the Alu was the fuel.

You can tell from the shrapnel that there was a massive over-pressure event (explosion), not just a brittle shatter.

[VanDeGraaff]

Continued:

joelstoltzfus says that the oxygen ignited the teflon tape. I do not doubt that, but remember that the small amount of combustible material present would burn away in less than a second. There is no way that would melt steel.

Looking at the pictures i would guess that the threads are about 20 mm. The gas pressure in these bottles are 200 bar, at least here in Europe. That gives a force of 630kg constantly pushing on the valve. So the last few threads simply sheared right off.

[jpowerbar2009]

Compressed gas cylinders are generally made from Steel or Aluminium Alloys - both of which can burn in the presence of pure oxygen. - You're right, oxy is not a fuel, but it makes most metals combustable. This is why high pressure oxygen pipework is made from stainless steel as a minimum or preferable Monel where there is high likelihood of an ignition source to get it going.

[UberCookieMonster]

continued: the comment way back about grease igniting, ill put it in simpler terms, the prescence of pure oxygen substantially lowers the ignition point of any substance, except of course inflammable substances. lets use oil, the flash point of most oils is about 300-375F. in pure oxygen or even with a blast of oxygen from a tank, can lower that flash point to temperatures of 100F easily, in a pure oxygen environment it can be as low as that of gasoline, which can be ignited by a stray spark.

[kermit30au]

Your right on the money. Oxygen in high concentration is very dangerous. Im a scuba diver and deal with having my tanks cleaned yearly for higher than normal oxygen content. They also make sure there are no sharp points of metal that has been blamed for spontainiously settings these high pressure vessels off. And yes other impuritys like fuel oils and 100% oxygen dont mix unless you want some pyrotechics display.

[UberCookieMonster]

i can easily understand what happened, i have no idea why no one else can, it was foolish of the man to try to open a pressurized tank. whether the propane torch was used or not, and esplosion can easily occur, with or without fire. from the still pictures, the valve is not melted, it is simply sheared right off. in reference to past comments, oxygen is the "perfect" oxidizer, things "burn" in it extremely rapidly, hence why pages in old books turn yellow, they are slowly burning.

[nebonit]

if what you say is tru bout the books...

COOL!!!

[wallysmi]

Look at the photos again. The part of the valve that was inside the cylinder shows signs of melting. If the valve sheared off the edges would be sharp.

[joelstoltzfus]

I'm not thinking that the valve sheared of due to mechanical failure. What I'm postulating is that the fire progressed from the teflon tape to the threads (kindling chain) and that the burning threads on the bottle released the valve. I agree the valve is melted/burned. I'm assuming the valve is nickel or chrome-plated brass and the bottle is aluminum. Is that correct?

[YHendrikaR]

I am in Holland and I use Oxygen for to breath. I also have cilinders for when I have to go out. Now I go to yoga class and their are candles in the room but the joga instructer said that my oxygen will not affect the fire. Is that true ? Could you tell me what you think. Thank you

[pmgodfrey]

- @ YHendrikaR -

The reason you shouldn't smoke or burn flames around pure oxygen is not because it's explosive, it only causes the flame to burn hotter which is very dangerous. A common lighter used in a pure oxygen environment becomes a torch.

Oxygen, even in pure form is NOT explosive...otherwise when you flicked a lighter or struck a match the entire planet would be in flames. Oxygen provides a means for the flame to exist.

In welding, I use oxygen when I cut metal or weld.

[nebonit]

you can also use large amounts of electricity

[ke6gwf]

@YHendrikaR

As long as you do not sniff the candle, or try to blow it out, you should be all right.

I have seen the aftermath of somebody on oxygen smoking. The inside of the lungs and throat burns. He was wearing a hospital gown, and the excess oxygen tended to flow down his chest, so the inside of his gown was rich in oxygen.

So basically it was like inhaling gasoline, and soaking your clothes in it.

The oxygen is not flammable, so the fire won't come to you, but you are flammable!

[bedrockemt]

I would like to know more details about this incident. I would also like to download the video to use in training.

[razgriz76]

WOW. I've never seen anything like this. Me and the crew were filling a rack of 200 M6/B cyls and it was time to close the valves. We use drills and my drill sparked. a spark hit the line and ignited the fill line. I never ran so fast. Nothing happened in the end tho. Lucky I guess. Happened this past summer.

[sandcastle136]

WHAT!? His arm completely ripped off!?

[wallysmi]

That is correct.

[wallysmi]

No he did not.

[laczob]

The reason why the cylinder exploded is, that he disobeyed the most important security measure. The environment for handling pure oxygen or enriched air (nitrox) have to be 100 % fat free (including vaseline,...). Otherwise the oxygen reacts with the fat and begins to burn violently...

[vmelkon]

If you take a bike pump and put on your sofa and pump for a while, then touch the area of the sofa, you will notice that it has heated up considerably. So, I can believe that friction from the oxygen could start up a fire/explosion in combo with the aluminum.

[Jakerev]

i had a d explode on me when i was workin the same way, i almost died and was in da hospital for a month

[wallysmi]

Can you give more details on just what you were doing just before the accident.

[ENCOMAN]

Liquid carbonic's in los Angeles has one big dent in the I-beem of there building from an H-tank that went off back in the 70's. Tank was found in the parking lot across the street. H-tank 2,200 lbs. per square inch of oxygen.

[dirkbruere]

Not just O2. Any cylinder of gas with some 3000 psi will "explode" if the valve is unscrewed. Think of it this way - if the exit hole is one square inch the unbalanced force becomes 3000 lbs. You'd need quite a grip to hold the cylinder in place when that kicks off.

[Individuality1990]

T4280 steel-aluminium alloy

[Mrfus]

Damn... poor guy, I think looking the damage caused by the explotion he was lucky that he dont get killed by the freaking thank.

[DanFProductions]

all these people are leaving long comments. all i have to say is holy shit!

[bfloxword]

the result of a stupid customer damaging the cylinder and then, often, painting it to cover up the insult (arc burns, welding torch accidents, etc, even gouges filled with bondo and repainted)

Back in the 30's, one of my former bosses found an oxygen cylinder altered by a machine shop to socket together in the middle. Inside was a big tank on moonshine. When they tried to normally fill the cylinder, it began jumping around as the gas shot out of the seam....

google "aluminum burning"

[bfloxword]

contrary to the sense of these comments, aluminum under extreme conditions can 'burn'.

The escaping oxygen from the threads could well produce enough frictional heat to 'explode' some grease on the wrench, or, how about this, did the guy put some WD40 or some sort of lubricant on the threads and let it soak for awhile? The fact that the valve was inoperable might indicate that the previous user had screwed around with the cylinder.

Almost all fatalities in cylinder filling and maintainence are

[bfloxword]

There have been cases of small aluminum tanks in oxygen service being dropped by a delivery man with the result being equivalent to a rather large bomb. Pieces of delivery man, etc. Some aluminum alloys don't belong in oxygen service at all. Others need to have a special exterior coating so an torch damage will be evident Etc. Bottom line, the industrial and medical gas industry has a few fatalities every year from damaged cylinders and from their own mishandling of cylinders.

[lostnyc2]

tubofbologna posted:

no way, no one would do that, he loosened the valve too much and the gas shot out too fast and the tank erupted"

Then explain how the aluminum MELTED in the threaded neck, oxygen is not flammable, it CANT explode or cause fire by itself and certainly cant melt aluminum just escaping. Nope, I firmly believe he was HEATING the threaded neck/valve up to loosen it- typically done on steel if jammed/stuck, the heat either caused the tank to explode or melted the threads (cont)

[lostnyc2]

(cont) allowing the valve to shoot out, but the shooting valve wouldn't explain how the tank BLEW UP, heating it WOULD- the expanding pressure from the heating would have done it.

Aluminum doesnt glow red when heated, it simply gets hot and then suddenly melts w/o visual color warning like steel. Read the NY Times archives, people did and DO stupid things like this. One story involved workers dropping full tanks of welding gas on the concrete floor in a pile, the last one exploded.(cont)

[lostnyc2]

I suspect the heating up of the valve with a torch was a likely scenario- makes perfect sense as using heat that way is common, and the guy would not have realized how fast the valve and tank heated up under the torch and since aluminum doesnt show red like steel when hot he would have no clue there.

The melted threads also suggest to me he was heating the valve or tank's neck to loosen the valve, got it starting to melt and the valve blew out- the rush of oxygen causing fireball with the ace

[tubofbologna]

no way, no one would do that, he loosened the valve too much and the gas shot out too fast and the tank erupted

[vmelkon]

Most likely, the friction of the oxygen on the metal caused it to heat up and oxidize. This is something I have tried with a bicycle pump and on push the air on a pillow or couch. The couch surface will heat up very quickly with a few pumps.

[wallysmi]

WHAT?

[ladbrey]

Yeah, after reading this ten or twelve times, I don't have a clue what he's talking about here. I would like to know though, so that I can try this for myself.

[mattosoffice]

in my country an o2 cylinder destroyed an industrial hangar (made with ferroconcrete)

[rteyber12]

thank you for making this video. i have linked this to many ignorant people who don't understand the power of cylinders before.

regards

[cholopavo]

this is why i have never tried stupid stuff like this. incredible how stupid so many people are

[WLong89]

this is going onto my list of "shit to never try"

[myhemi28]

Wow. I deliver these cylinders every day, and I am in shock about how much damage these cylinders can actually do.

[Noxangelus82]

i've mistakenly loosened valves thinking the tank was empty, however not sure if any had been around 2000 psi. scary stuff!!

[Noxangelus82]

christ i do air tank fills and cylinder testing... and customers complain about the yearly testing.. i should give them this URL

[richronn1]

Yeah after seeing this they'd probably double your work load!!

[webnician]

Clearly a brittle fracture of the tank. Flash fire due to O2 may have been secondary.

[porndawg1000]

thats some bad stuff but atleast the valve came out. hope the guys alright

[diorabed]

There are set procedures for degassing cylinders with blocked valves. Usually it involves drilling through the Teflon seat which is part of the seat assembly within the valve. A small drill bit is used to allow for a controlled depressurisation. I reckon it is the same procedure in the USA or Canada? Hope that proved helpful.

[diorabed]

Hi, I am involved in cylinder testing and some things need to be taken into account here. Firstly, why was the cylinder not depressurised before being stripped? The torque value on the valve would be in the region of 80ftlb in Europe as the cylinder appears to be aluminium which could easily be devalved even when full. Oxygen is not flammable but will strongly support combustion. If the fire triangle is completed i.e. fuel, oxygen and an ignition source the consequences can be deadly...as here.

[wallysmi]

"why was the cylinder not depressurised before being stripped?" I was told that the cylinder valve would not open and the technician wanted to replace the valve.

[councilstreet]

Explosion probably caused by the oxygen coming into contact with grease on the ajustable wrench.Also if the threads are tapered, then only a small amount of loosening would be needed to cause a massive escape of gas just before the valve is ejected.

[hornieharrie]

so what you saying is that oxygen could ignite with grease???

[councilstreet]

Sure, Oxygen in concentrations above 40% (normal air is slightly less than 20%)can cause oils and greases to ignite and in the higher % concentrations (as in this case) explode violently.

There have even recorded cases of welders that have had oil or even skin conditioning cream on their hands, been badly burnt, when momenterily opening the valve on an oxygen cylinder (of an oxy/acetalyne welding kit)to clear the valve before fitting the guages.

[wallysmi]

"Normal air" is 20.9% O2

[wallysmi]

The oxygen will not ignite but the grease can ignite quicker in the presents of a higher oxygen concentration.

[johanges]

I know to not do this already (I still have -- count 'em -- ten fingers) but this _REALLY_ drives it home. I am going to have to show this to my son. A bit gruesome, but better he learns this way than the hard/stupid/fatal way.

Many thanks for posting it.

[wallysmi]

Part 1.If the pressure in the cylinder was 2000 PSI and you attempted to loosen the cylinder valve, I believe you would meet a considerable amount of resistance.

[osquitar2807]

I work in MESSER (peru),the valv not offer much resistance because the area of the seat is very small, and you know: Pressure=Force/Area

[wallysmi]

So are you saying that the cylinder valve is easier to remove (rotate) under 2000 psi then it is at 0 PSI?

[wallysmi]

Part 2 Now if you were able to turn the cylinder valve, this resistance would generate heat. Would it be enough heat to melt the aluminum 1200 F? I really dont know the answer.

[wallysmi]

Part 3. If you look closely at the one slide, the one with the pooling blood, I see a propane torch. Long blue tube with a basket on the end. Was someone attempting to loosen the valve by heating it? Hummmmmmmmm!

[chakathewolf]

I don't understand -- what was the fuel here? Oxygen by itself won't burn.

[stalkersas]

aluminium, or ani metal would be happy to burn if meats oxygen :P (the botle is made of... aluminum, quite a reactiv metal)

[wallysmi]

No he did not die just lost the arm.

[allistairc123]

he died right?

[tribekiller88]

The heat was most likely caused by friction between the valve and cylinder.....huh it was oxygen not air.

[redeyesthe20th]

huh, why would compressed air be hot while un compressing because the law of thermal dynamics states the expanding matter cool off, not warms.

[dinosquirrel]

The top of the cylinder embedded itself in the pegboard... in the wall... across the room.

Wow... Thank you for the info!

[nibbler125]

wow i always knew those were dangers in using those tanks but the watch was ripped right off they guys arm holy crap

[ductapebandit]

thats scary, i work in a facility that services cylinders and that same kind of tank blew up on a guy there and damn near ripped his leg off

[atreides83]

Classic!

[arthurhucksake]

I bet that got his attention