Not your time

[Dr Stan]

https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/hmt-f...s_fire.mp4

Had the same thing happen except for a full sized tank.  Scared the ***** out of me.

[TomG]

The really scary part is that it almost looks like it's staged.

Tom

[Highpower]

I have a "B" tank that I use with an air/acetylene torch. The smaller tanks don't normally come with a "handle" on the valve stem. All you get is the square drive on the end of the stem. I chained a small HVAC service wrench (square drive ratchet wrench) to the bottle carrier so they stay together all the time. In storage it hangs from the chain to prevent bumping the wrench and unknowingly tweaking the valve open. In use I leave the wrench on the valve (set to the 'close' direction) after opening it 1/2 turn - for the very reason shown in the video.

Of course every owners manual out there tells you to leak check every fitting and hose before lighting the torch, but we all know how that goes.

I've only had it happen to me once at work after someone else had change cylinders on the cart. For some reason they took the hoses off of the regulators and forgot to tighten them after threading them back on by hand. All it took was one spark from doing some cutting overhead. Definitely gets your heart pumping when you notice a regulator on fire.

I rarely use my full size tanks/torches at home anymore but I put new hoses on them anyway about two years ago after seeing signs of dry rot starting. I may never use them again but better safe than sorry.