Has anyone used flashback arrestors on a Smith Little Torch equipped
with a regulator for disposable propane bottles?
I have a Little Torch set up with refillable Oxygen with a single
stage regulator and disposable (14 oz) propane with the small Smith
propane regulator made for disposable propane bottles. The torch set
up came without flashback arrestors. I am thinking of getting a set
of flashback arrestors.
Does anyone use flashback arrestors on a similar setup. Which one do
you have. Do they fit on the torch or onto the regulators. Any
advice?
Thanks
Milt Fischbein
Calgary Canada
1 Like
Has anyone used flashback arrestors on a Smith Little Torch
equipped with a regulator for disposable propane bottles?
Yep! I have this same set up and the arrestors. I bought them at my
local welding shop.
Elaine
Elaine Luther
Metalsmith, Certified PMC Instructor
http://www.CreativeTextureTools.com ™
Hard to Find Tools for Metal Clay
Hi,
I bought a set of arrestors from Metaliferous in NYC when I got my
torch. They deal with students all the time and did not make me feel
stupid when I called over the phone to ask which arrestors would fit
the little torch set up. I’ve had mine for three years now and they
work great! Metaliferous is online. Google them and call. They’ll set
you up with the right ones.
Augest Derenthal
Cry Baby Designs
Milt,
I just did a setup using a full size oxygen tank with a disposable
fuel tank. I have these hooked up with flashback arrestors ( uniweld -
Look in stuller’s tool book on page 471, item #14-0769 & 14-0770 )
and a Y connector on each so I can run the Little torch on one side
and a full size hose on the other side of the Y. For the disposable
tank I am using the Smith #249-500 Preset fuel regulator and for the
oxygen side I am using a set of regulators from U.S Gauge. Although I
just hooked up this setup a few weeks ago and have not had the time
to put it through a complete and heavy workout it seems to be
working just fine with good control of the flame but I am not sure
how long the fuel will hold up using a large torch setup.
Greg DeMark
www.demarkjewelry.com
Milt
Does anyone use flashback arrestors on a similar setup. Which one
do you have. Do they fit on the torch or onto the regulators. Any
advice?
I use the Oxy/Acetylene version of the Smith Little torch and have
flashback arrestors on both fuel and oxygen. The arrestors go between
the gauge (or regulator) and the torch hose. No torch set I have ever
bought came with arrestors I’ve always had to purchase them as
add-ons. My setup consists of the regular gage set, which outputs to
a Y valve. One side of the Y is a regular Victor Torch for a rose
bud, the other side of the Y is the Smith Little Torch. The Victor
side of my setup has flash arrestors, the Smith side has check
valves. With the flash arrestor I had a real hard time getting the
small tip to work on the Smith and that was the reason I went with a
Y valve and check valves for the Smith side I did not have to buy
two setups and I could get both torches to live in harmony with only
one set of regulators and bottles.
I do not know what the pressure is from the propane bottle
regulator. I would call Smith and ask which they would recommend. It
is also possible they may have a check valve built into the
regulator.
There are two types really, a flashback arrestor and a check valve.
The flashback arrestor requires more pressure to function in the
forward direction and it has a check valve built in. The 2 I use are
made by Western Enterprises, flash arrestors Model FA-100 for oxygen
and FA-200 for acetylene. The check valve may be more applicable to
your need, they operate at a very low pressure and will prevent the
higher pressure from pushing back into the lower pressured bottle,
the check valves are fully closed at neutral pressure. The oxygen
part number is CV-7R and CV-8L for fuel, both the arrestor and check
valves are made by the same company. There was no particular reason
for picking this brand as opposed to say Victor, Forney, Harris or
Arco, they are just what the welding shop had in stock.
If you would like I can take a picture and send it to you. While it
is not exactly like yours it will show the position of the safety
devices in relationship to the regulator and hoses.
Hope this helps.
Terry
1 Like
Terry, could you send me a picture of what you have? I have to get a
setup, and the Y thing sounds perfect.
Thanks in advance if you can.
Veronica
Veronica
could you send me a picture of what you have? I have to get a
setup, and the Y thing sounds perfect.
I did not know if the pictures would go through the forum so I sent
them to your email address listed at the top of the post.
Terry
How can I share files and pictures with the list?
If you feels to share files, like Self Pictures, Pictures of your
recent work, Illustration of various techniques and other related
material please feel free to use the Orchid FTP Server You may use
the gateway page or any FTP program to upload files
If using FTP agent here are the necessary configuration:
FTP Server: ftp://ganoksin.com/incoming/ganoksin/
Login Type: anonymous
Port: 21
Host address: ftp.ganoksin.com
Remote Initial Directory: /incoming/ganoksin/
Once the file was uploaded, please allow up to two hours to appear in
the public directory. The direct URL to the file is
http://www.ganoksin.com/ftp/file-name you may use this address in
your Orchid posts.
Terry, Would it be possible for you to put the picture of your oxygen and fuel set up on this thread or send it directly to my email address (nilvanorder@gmail.com)? Thanks so much,
Nil
Terry,
I purchased a Smith little torch and am using it with 14 oz disposable oxygen and propane. I inquired at Rio about using the flash back arrestors on this size disposable tank with my Smith Little. it was recommended that there isn’t enough pressure in that size tank to use a FB arrester. I’d love to use them but as you suggest the check valve seems to be the better application in this circumstance.
I had a scary situation when using a number 3 tip. I got the torch lit and as I was adjusting the flame I saw a tiny flame around the nut of the tip. Yikes that was scary. Quickly shut everything down and let it cool. Not sure what happened? I really want to avoid that happening again!!! I was wishing for that FB arrestor then but seems not to be an option.
Joanne
Milt,
I have a similar set up, Smith Little Torch and using 14 OZ disposable oxygen and propane. My torch comes with check valves only the attach the hoses to the fuel/O2. . I’ve been told that there’s not enough pressure in a 14 oz fuel tank to use flash back arresters. Bummer!
When using the smallest tip #3, I had an incident. As I adjusted the fuel/O2 mix I saw a tiny bit of flame by the nut on the tip. I’m real uncomfortable about that. Any thoughts?
Joanne
I currently have flashbacks on my 1 lb. camp stove propane cylinder and O2 concentrator system and it works fine. I have no idea what the pressures are, it just works. I have had a small flame at the torch extension and tip joint, but tracked it back to the fact that the tip was not tightened. I don’t recall what tip it was or if it was even on this torch setup. It happened a long time ago…Rob
1 Like
Hey Rob,
Where did you get your flashback arrestors?
Thx,
royjohn
I really don’t remember. Either Otto Frei or my local welding store. Following should be pictures…Rob
1 Like
I forgot to mention, they are Western Enterprises. They have a fairly helpful website…Rob
Thanks, Rob…I’ll probably take part of my setup down to the local welding supply, so we can match the threads right…
1 Like
Thanks for providing the images Rob. They really are helpful.
