Oxygen and Oil

Jewelry Discussion
1

As a rank amateur planning a silver working room in our shop, I am
puzzling over the connection between oxygen and oils. We are going to be
using a propane and oxygen torch. I understand that you are risking a
fire if you have oils near the oxygen. But how near is that? If I have a
10’x10’ room, can I use oils at a work bench on one end and have the torch
at the other end of the room? My big slab saw with oil coolant is
currently located about five feet from the door of the silver room to-to
be. Will it have to be moved farther away? Thank you, Rose Alene
McArthur

2 
   I think what you might be refering to is that you should not get oil
on your O2 guage and regulator.  Oil will ignite when placed under
pressure such as that found in the cylinders of gas.  Also, O2 supports
combustion which makes oil contamination doubly dangerous.

A practical application of this principle can be found in diesel engines
which work by compressing it’s fuel within the cylinder causing a
controlled explosion.

3 
    I understand that you are risking a fire if you have oils near the
oxygen.  My big slab saw with oil coolant is currently located about five
feet from the door of the silver room to-to be.

Oxygen and oil or grease or for that matter, any flammable material very
close to each other is to be avoided. However, by close proximity, one
means touching or almost touching. Thus your slabbing saw, although some
distance away would not be much of a hazard; except that it will certainly
throw into the atmosphere a microdust of oil; an aerosol. Some of this sol
will almost certainly come to rest on the oxygen valve parts, and THAT is
what is to be avoided at all costs. You will just have to have a
common-sense approach to this. Think about it: doesn’t just about every
garage repair shop have oxygen bottles in the same area as oil from cars
and trucks it repairs, to say nothing about leaks therefrom. Just keep
oils and greases away from the gas valves themselves. Cheers; don’t worry

  • the last verse of the Company Anthem will appear in my very next post. So
    sing along. John Burgess
4

You must keep the oil, dirt , dust and any other foreign material out of
all the equipment that will contact oxygen. This includes the cylinder
valve, the oxygen regulator, the hose and the torch. Oil should also not be
allowed to get on the outside of these items. Get the instruction sheets
that comes with your torch asnd regulators. read them. Get the Material
saftey data sheet that comes with the gases from your gas supplier. Read
them. Your biggest risk in a real small shop is setting fire to something
else when you are working. Work on as fireproof surface and keep
combustibles away from from your soldering area.you can easily start a fire
when you are concentrating on soldering if have combustibles too close.
Make sure you have a fire extinguisher handy. The oxygen by itself is not
that big a risk in reasonable quantities i.e a small cylinder. The propane
cylinder is more of a risk since it contains a fuel. Check for leaks and
keep cylinder valves closed when you are not using them. You must be
careful of any fire. Oxygen is not dangerous if used correctly. Just be
careful,. Remember you should have the soldering area vented to avoid
breathing too many fuems. Jesse