Piranha Drama

[MeagletRN]

Hello folks, I'm a bit new to the boards, though I've been lurking for some time.

I've got a wonky torch, and I don't know what I've done to offend it, but I'm wondering if someone could offer a bit of insight into my dilemma. Happy Easter and slightly-belated Passover, btw.

I've got the Mobilaire Invacare V 5lpm O2 concentrator, tanked propane (regular grill size), and a Bethlehem Piranha.

I cleaned the Piranha and beat it soundly with its stick. Ever since then, the flame has been wonky with the addition of O2.

I turn on a small flame and have my propane set at 4psi (manual says between 3-5psi propane is groovy) and let my O2 concentrator run at 5lpm (by its own nob on the concentrator unit) and slowly dial up the O2 at the torch head. When I do this, the flame starts to glow blue as I get those little candles at the torch-head and then it jumps up and gaps about an inch between the head of the torch and the root of the flame:

Torch end is here::::: <::::::FLAME::::

Did I beat it to death with its stick?

Could it be the O2 concentrator? (I already switched over propane tanks to rule that out...)

Any thoughts, suggestions?

Thank you in advance!

[chrissij]

Mine does that when I haven't torched in awhile, but then settles back down after I let it burn for a few seconds. Yours stays like that?

[GlassyEyedGirl]

FWIW (noob here) My torch only does that if my propane pressure is too low.

[MeagletRN]

Thanks for the replies!! No, it doesn't settle down, it just continues doing it. I've been messing with the propane and it just won't behave no matter what I do. It sputters a lot too.

[kbinkster]

Try setting your oxycon to 5 LPM with your oxygen valve wide open. Then close it briefly to light the torch. If you have your oxycon set at 5 when the valve is not all the way open, you will end up pulling more than 5 LPM out of the machine when the valve is opened more. This will overrun your machine and make your purity drop - pushing air. Pushing air through will push the flame of the face like you're describing.

If it's not that, try bumping the propane setting up a bit. You won't use more that what the torch allows through, but a higher setting might help. Keep it under 20 psi - I would recommend trying 5-10 psi.

While your torch is running, take your oxygen valve cap and move it around left to right, push it in and out. Does anything happen? If it isn't the oxygen or the propane, it could be that there is too much slop in the threads of the valve.

[MeagletRN]

I read somewhere that humidity (we live in South Florida) might be goofing with the Oxycon, so I unhooked it from the oxygen hosing and ran it for a few minutes. Then it made the "have me serviced" alarm. ...Does it do this if it doesn't sense the pressure of attached hoses? Oy vey. Now I'll never save up for a Roomba.

[kbinkster]

Not necessarily. If it is running free flow, it should not alarm unless something is wrong.

Where was the little flow meter ball when you ran it without the hoses hooked up?

[MeagletRN]

It was running free-flow, unattatched to any hosing, and after about 10 minutes, it alarmed steadily, indicating that it required servicing. I turned it off, let it sit, and turned it back on (again, sans hosing), and it again requested exorcism, only after about 30 seconds of run-time. The flow meter was at 5LPM, but I could dial it up and down to where I wanted it (the 1st time around, I didn't mess with it the 2nd time, that alarm was bugging me too much). Thank you for all your help!

[kbinkster]

Do not allow a 5 LPM machine to run above the 5 LPM mark. It damages the machine.

[MeagletRN]

This might be where my issue lies. I have let it run on the maximum setting, with the little ball up at the top above 5L/min of O2 flow. I think the concentrator is verklempt.

[MeagletRN]

Officially, in case others have had this issue, the concentrator was completely kaput. It blow-deded its self to hell. ...In my garage. I'm quite upset with it, although I found a few older polaris-es and now have a bit of an oxygen-concentrator-harem going on. Thank you again for your help, the guidance was so very much appreciated.