Gauge creep?

Aug 27, 2005 3 Replies

Newbie here. I'd like to get a second opinion after reading and trying it out. I set my working pressure of acyletene to two pounds with the torch open. when I shut the valve on the torch handle, the pressure gradually creeps up to 5 pounds and stops. Is this anything to be concerned about? - Mike



One is a flow pressure (the one you want) and the other is a static pressure, right? As long as it holds your two pounds (assuming that's what you want) steadily during use, I wouldn't care at all about when your torch is off.

GWE

"Grant Erwin" wrote: (clip) As long as it holds your two pounds (assuming that's what you want) steadily during use, I wouldn't care at all about when your torch is off. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ More or less correct, but there could be a serious side-effect. As long as it creeps up only a little and then stays steady, you're okay. But if you have a regulator that is developing a leaky valve, it could get worse--I would keep an eye on it. Acetylene at a pressure of around 15 psi can be explosive.

What Leo said.

I had an oxygen regulator that was doing that and it failed shortly thereafter. The failure mode allowed full tank pressure into the secondary side.

I looked up and saw the 'torch' pressure gauge creeping up well past the set point. By the time I shut off the tank valve, that pressure gauge had pegged and was quite damaged. It remained pegged even after it was unscrewed from the regulator!

--Winston

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