Anyone used a Petrogen Torch?

[HazMat55]

Hey, I got the chance a few weeks ago to run a petrogen torch while in College Station, TX. Have any of you ever seen these, used them, or know about how much they cost? The way it works is you have a tank with gasoline in it, with a pump on it. You pump it up to 20 psi, set your oxygen flow and get with it. We were told that you didn't even have to preheat the metal with it. We were also told that you could cut up to 8 inches with it. It was quite a neat setup. I had never seen one before. We weren't doing delicate work, but I wondered the application for finer cuts.

[Broccoli1]

There are a couple of threads about them

http://www.hobartwelders.com/mboard/...light=petrogen

http://www.hobartwelders.com/mboard/...earchid=446598

[Broccoli1]

http://www.hobartwelders.com/mboard/...ad.php?t=19445

[spuddown]

I've used one. I have to say their a pain in the butt.Their hard to start, hard to set and takes a while to warm up. They would be better for scrap iron work because once you get them cutting you don't want to shut them down. They do cut really good once you get them set. The biggest problem we had with ours was we work in remote locations and it needs fresh gas to operate. Petrogen says to take the tank to the pump and fill it direct. Don't fill out of another container. I've found this to be true. It wont work unless the gas is fresh. Some of these places we work get 1 shipment of gas and diesel a year. The torch will not work on this gas. The other threads keep talking about safety, I think their relatively safe. They have a check valve in the tank that shuts the tank off if the hose looses pressure. This is also a pain because unless you barely turn the tank on it shuts the gas off. You then have to shut the valve off and let it set a second or two, then try it again. If you turn the torch on to fast it does the same thing. We had trouble with it burning up the tips. Petrogen said we were running them to hot. Its the only way we could get it to cut good. They maybe right,but if It won't cut good? Maybe it was back to old gas. Petrogen talks about how much money they save over buying acetalene. They do, but I found they use about double the oxygen. We used ours for about a year and finally parked it. Its setting in one of our storage containers somewhere.

[coalsmoke]

just going to jut in here, i use oxy/propane b/c it is cheap and is easy to get in remote areas. Might be something to consider. IMO, nothing beats the cut of a Smith torch on propane. Welding with propane is a different story.

[spuddown]

Not to highjack this thread but how does a propane torch compare in heat, oxy consumption and tip life compared to O/A?

[Terry Lingle]

After you get some practice with it the consumable life is the same as any other torch . oxygen use will be up slightly but not enough to quantify, Changing operators will affect oxygen use more than changing to propane will .
It really boils down to the operator.
Terry
Edit to address heat .
o/a is a little hotter than o/p but both are far hotter than the metling point of steel . The biggest difference is in learning to use propane . The flame is harder to set correctly and not as fine so preheat takes a little longer. If the set up is not correct this preheat delay is longer. This is also true with o/a but it is easier to get the set up correct so o/a seems better at first than it really is.
Terry

[spuddown]

Thanks for the answer, that was one of the hardest things about the petrogen torch, getting it adjusted properly. The guys would get it set right and rather than shut it off they would set it down and let it burn for a minute to do something else. Makes a guy pretty nevous when your nearest bottle of Oxygen is several hundred miles and a float plane charter away.

[coalsmoke]

terry got it covered, but i will add that while my propane tips are $20 ea, they last forever. Never lost one yet. The propane is a bit cooler in max temp but IMHO its increased BTU's make up for that.

[spuddown]

Thanks fo the replies!