What is it ?

[Phillip]

Buyer told me what it is. First time I have seen one.

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[Richard Saunders]

Apparently this household needed acetylene for something, maybe a post / yard light?

[Bill Kibbel]

Apparently this household needed acetylene for something, maybe a post / yard light?

Where city gas wasn't available, acetylene could be generated for lighting throughout the house.

Details here: http://www.oldhouseweb.com/blog/gas-lig ... -the-city/

[Phillip]

Y'all are right. This is out in the country. All of the piping from the pit was removed from the home.

Daddy had some of the miner lights that we used to go coon hunting when I was a boy

[Scottpat]

I'm curious if acetylene could be less costly than natural gas? Seems like if NG was short in supply that acetylene could be produced, it can be made from calcium carbide which is readily available.

[Marc]

Acetylene becomes unstable when pressurized beyond a few psi.

Tell 'em Chad.

Marc

[Bill Kibbel]

I'm curious if acetylene could be less costly than natural gas? Seems like if NG was short in supply that acetylene could be produced, it can be made from calcium carbide which is readily available.

I don't consider it readily available. It takes major amounts of electricity to produce calcium carbide.

It's also a poor choice for heating as additional oxygen needs to be mixed with the acetylene. Each pound of acetylene requires about 28 cu. ft. of pure oxygen. There are also concerns that burning that ratio would produce tremendous amounts of carbonic acid (H2CO3). The cost to produce, transport and store enough calcium carbide and oxygen for heating buildings would probably make it the most costly fuel.

[Scottpat]

I'm curious if acetylene could be less costly than natural gas? Seems like if NG was short in supply that acetylene could be produced, it can be made from calcium carbide which is readily available.

I don't consider it readily available. It takes major amounts of electricity to produce calcium carbide.

It's also a poor choice for heating as additional oxygen needs to be mixed with the acetylene. Each pound of acetylene requires about 28 cu. ft. of pure oxygen. There are also concerns that burning that ratio would produce tremendous amounts of carbonic acid (H2CO3). The cost to produce, transport and store enough calcium carbide and oxygen for heating buildings would probably make it the most costly fuel.

Well then, I guess that answers my question.. I do know that the byproduct is very corrosive. I collect old lanterns and I have a couple carbide lamps and lanterns, they all have a considerable amount of corrosion when compared to oil/paraffin/kerosene lamps/lanterns that are about the same age.

[Chad Fabry]

Acetylene becomes unstable when pressurized beyond a few psi.

15 psi is the maximum safe working pressure. It's 20x that in the cylinder though because it's dissolved in acetone and stored as a liquid.

[Les]

and..........what is inside those tanks? likely a material that allows it to change from liquid to gas.

[Chad Fabry]

What's in the tanks...sponge candy?

As much as the average person needs to know about acetylene...ok, maybe more.

[mgbinspect]

If I recall correctly, Bill Kibbel used to post "What is it"s a couple years ago and had us all going crazy on the edges of our seats for about a week over an acetylene generator. I forget what it looked like, but it really had us all going for a while. I miss those posts. They were fun and educational..

[Stephen D. Gazo]

If I remember correctly, the acet tank does have a sorta sponge material inside. Our wreckers and ARVs had both bottles, we were never to lay them in a horizontal/flat position. The acet tanks were always stowed with little nose up angle, never flat. If so the crap in the tank would come out the torch tip, which it has. The stuff can also come out at low pressures below 50 psi. Not very clean burning until mixed with O2, lots of O2