Oxy / Acetylene firewall barriers ?

[crenshawjm]

i hear we are supposed to have a firewall between our tanks now ? is that for when we are using the set or during storage ?

Thanks:
Mike

[aametalmaster]

Where i work its for all sets of tanks. I even see factory installed plates on new carts...Bob

[crenshawjm]

Bob ! ! ! Why ? what will it matter ?
i am looking at a portable welding business, with an engine driven welder on one side of my truck and a Oxy/ Actelyene on the other side, well bolted in. and shipping caps installed when i am not using it. more from theft than any other reason. and the truck always being outside. i don't see why it would matter whether there is a firewall between the tanks or not ? it is outside ?
i am not saying i won't comply, just want to know what caused this forrest idea and why ?

thanks:
Mike

[Copperdog]

Please explain?

Where are these barriers supposed to be located?
Between the tanks, or between the tanks and truck?
How thick of material?

Thanks

[dabar39]

firewalls?

I don't think we really need any firewalls between our tanks, but there should be some kind of common sense detector installed. In all my years in this business, I have seen some really stupid actions taking place with torch bottles. A few weeks ago I was in a citrus packing house and the shop mechanics had a set of torches sitting out in the middle of the floor, no cart,not tied to anything, hoses stretched to their limit, and a couple dozen packers (girls) walking around just waiting to knock over the bottles while they were trying to fix a piece of machinery.
The one that I see all too often and scares me the most is that it is very commonplace to see work trucks riding down the interstate at 80 m.p.h. with the torch bottles barely strapped in with a piece of twine and the hoses and regulators still hooked up. Dave

[wireburner]

Bob ! ! ! Why ? what will it matter ?
i am looking at a portable welding business, with an engine driven welder on one side of my truck and a Oxy/ Actelyene on the other side, well bolted in. and shipping caps installed when i am not using it. more from theft than any other reason. and the truck always being outside. i don't see why it would matter whether there is a firewall between the tanks or not ? it is outside ?
i am not saying i won't comply, just want to know what caused this forrest idea and why ?

thanks:
Mike

well we got a new guy from TENNESSEE welcome aboarded ,I was reading about this in a welding Magzine but don`t remeber much about it sorry

[shorerider16]

This might sound silly, but why would you need a divider between the tanks. If everything is strapped down properly and the valves are covered I don't see how a tank divider is going to help. If you are in a bad enought accident for the tanks to become volatile you will probably have bigger problems I would think?

[SkidSteerSteve]

Not to start a completely off shooted thread, but... does anybody but me think that they have board meetings at OSHA just to figure new rules and regs simply to keep their job security level high? Why not just enforce the ten thousand ones already on the books and leave the guys alone that are just trying pay the mortgage and feed the kids.

[MAC702]

So if we figure the wall-thickness of the cylinders themselves, what exactly does a divider plate add?

[Anti-GMAW]

You can shoot the dam things with a 30-06' and nothing will happen. how about just puting the cap on like your supposed to in the first place. I'd have to agree with shorider, If it's bad enough to nock the valves off with the covers on then chances are you already died from the impact off the accident already. After a certain point safty gear actualy becomes an ubstruction and a hazard. It's hard enough for some guys to keep there trucks under the legal weight limits as it is.

[dabar39]

firewalls

After thinking about this one for a while, I'm guessing when they are talking about fire walls they are talking about the bottle storage areas. My insurance company requires that I store the flammable gases in a different area from the other welding gases and all bottles must be stored in a rack or chained to the wall. I don't really think they are talking about the set on a torch cart or on the back of a truck in transit. Dave

[crenshawjm]

well as i understand it, it is all the time, but then again it isn't. they say if the bottles are in use, you do not have to have the firewall or sepereate the bottles by 20'. BUT when you stop using them the clock starts ticking and if not used again within a 24 hour period, you must install a firewall or seperate the bottles by 20'. OK who's to say i used them in that time line, and what if i use it in 25 hours.... where is the guy with the stop watch that is going to watch my bottles to see when they were used, and not ?
just ain't happening....
they don't have enough people to do that... so once again another donut eating OSHA meeting to make a new rule, when down in flames. why do they create things they can't control ? just trying to make it hard on us ? Oh well guess i will be wrong for a while anyway.

Hey Wireburner ! ! ! yep another rod burner in your neck of the woods.