WP-17 torch problem

[chewinggum]

Helium and Argon are both inert gases and pure. They would not produce contamination by themselves or mixed together.

CG

[H80N]

You may have gotten a mislabeled MIG gas mix.... which would be bad news ... not worked at all well in Tigging

But after rereading the whole thread.... NONE of this makes sense.... the problem would have shown up immediately as soon as you connected and used the bad bottle of gas.....

[shovelon]

You may have gotten a mislabeled MIG gas mix.... which would be bad news ... not worked at all well in Tigging

But after rereading the whole thread.... NONE of this makes sense.... the problem would have shown up immediately as soon as you connected and used the bad bottle of gas.....

I agree, I have never had a bottle of gas just suddenly go bad.

Whatever the case it runs good now.

[Goodhand]

I had a bottle of Argon go bad "suddenly". The aluminum beads had been nice and shiny, until the bottle pressure dropped to about 500 psi. Then, evidence of bad gas/contamination started to affect the appearance of the beads. After checking all of the suspected culprits for leaks, etc., I took the bottle back to the LWS and exchanged it for a new one. Problem solved (at least for a little while - time will tell). The clerk told me he had never seen anything like it.

When I told my son about having the above experience, he told me that the contaminated bottle probably had water left in it, following hydrostatic testing. He explained that while the Argon was at higher pressure, it kept the water in a liquid state at the bottom of the bottle. Then, when the pressure dropped to a point where the water became gaseous, it resulted in contaminating the Argon. Until someone can come up with a better explanation, I'll have to accept my son's theory.

The next time I get a bad bottle of gas, we'll test it with a gas spectrometer to find out exactly what is mixed with the Argon.

[H80N]

I had a bottle of Argon go bad "suddenly". The aluminum beads had been nice and shiny, until the bottle pressure dropped to about 500 psi. Then, evidence of bad gas/contamination started to affect the appearance of the beads. After checking all of the suspected culprits for leaks, etc., I took the bottle back to the LWS and exchanged it for a new one. Problem solved (at least for a little while - time will tell). The clerk told me he had never seen anything like it.
.

That "Sudden" go bad .... would be a brand new phenomena in my world.. been tigging since about 1968 and never seen such a thing... but I guess anything is possible...

have had contaminated or mislabeled bottles in the past... but that became evident from the get-go.... no delay...

but glad that the problem is resolved... whatever the cause..................