| >| >I would like to hear it too. | >| | >| Well I'm not Ernie but here's my take on it. I'm a drop dealer so I | >| see a lot of different cylinders come through. I can say without a | >| doubt that I've seen lots of cylinders where the cap threads are not | >| in good enough shape to lift a cylinder. In some cases it's nearly | >| impossible to get more than 1 thread or some time less engagement. In | >| other cases the cap is so loose that it barely catches the threads. | >| Then there's the course thread / fine thread issue. I've seen the | >| threads mixed on cylinders many times. Remember that many of the | >| cylinders out there are old. I mean really old. I've seen cylinders | >| made in the 20's come through here. | >
| >Where are you a drop dealer? And if the threads on a cylinder are so poor | >they won't lift the mere weight of a cylinder, how do you expect them to | >protect the valve? | >
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| | I'm in Texas as many of the group know. | | I don't expect them to do anything. The caps are just another layer | of safety but it's stupid to rely on them as a total fail safe. As I | say I've seen to many of them that don't fit properly. It's not my | doing but you never know what someone who has the cylinder in the | field has done. I'd never count on the fillers for catching all of | them either. Shoot one time I walked into the corner where the | cylinders are stored and smelled acetylene. I started checking valves | to see which one was loose. When I found it I coulding believe my | eyes. The whole valve turned in the cylinder instead of the valve stem | tightening. | That cylinder had been filled with a loose valve. |
That doesn't exactly answer the questions. Where in Texas are you a drop dealer, and how do you expect a cap that won't lift cylinder, to properly protect the valve?
But you also open another topic. If a gas supplier can't be trusted to supply cylinder with properly maintained caps and valves, who can be? In a time of litigation happy people, I can believe any gas supplier could be so incompetent.
I have been user of compressed gases continuously since the early 1970s, and I have NEVER been given a cylinder with a questionable valve or cap. Over tightened a couple of times, yes. But never in such a poor condition it would even be safe to lift the cylinder.