O2 and Propane Pressure... thoroughly confussed

[Olimpia]

Hi Guys!
I'm on a new Mega Minor and loving every moment of it. I ran out of O2 pretty quick, so now I'll probably start pondering about getting an Oxy Con, in the meantime, I'm not sure I understand what pressure I should set my regulators to. According to a thread started by AS it say to set the regulators to much higher than all the recommendations here.

From the thread:

We recommend the following pressures:

· 20 to 25 pounds for oxygen

· 10 to 15 pounds for propane
Using these pressure settings will make the pressure regulators perform better and have a longer life. Some propane pressure regulators have a red danger zone on the delivery pressure gauge. This only applies when the pressure regulator is used with acetylene. Disregard it when using propane. Many torches give suggested pressure settings that are lower than what is stated here. The suggested pressures are actually the minimums for best operation. Supplying higher delivery pressure does not affect the torch or increase gas consumption, as the actual operating pressure of the torch is what you manually set using the torch’s valves.

But most other posts say 3 or 5 for propane and 9 or 10 for oxygen. Which one should I follow?

Thanks!

[Dale M.]

It is generally accepted that oxygen pressure to be 2 to 3 time more than propane...

It is accepted that most torches will work with fuel at 2-5 PSI (actually even less) and oxygen be at 6 to 15 PSI....

However its not the actual supply pressure that causes excessive fuel/oxygen consumption... Its how large a flame you run, meaning how far open your torch valves are....

And yes, most regulators will be more accurate with their regulation when you get into intermediate ranges of their output pressures. But if you are running low pressures and not experiencing any regulation problems, stay with the lower pressures.

The irony here is in welding industry uses same regulators and give some very specific pressure ranges for torch applications... For small tips they recommend 2 psi for fuel and 8 psi for oxygen... Sort of blows away the high pressure is more accurate theory with regulators... And this industry is far larger than lampwork....

Dale

[Olimpia]

hmmm interesting and proves just how little I know about this, thanks!
I have been running it at 22 for oxygen and 12 for propane, it's doing fine I think, not that I can tell probably.
I'll play with the adjustments and do the 3 to 1 ratio.

Playing with the settings does not hurt the regulator or the torch, does it? It's just a matter of how the flame behaves, correct?

[kbinkster]

No, playing with the settings does not hurt anything. Just pay attention to what happens. With some regulators, you will see that running pressures lower than around 5 psi will cause fluctuations in your flame. But, really, it is the valves at the torch that control the fuel and oxygen ratio - unless you are runnng your torch wide open with the torch valves open all the way (I don't know anyone who does this).