By Steve Lucchesi
Knowing your cylinders when looking to buy a new or used one can be a bit tricky unless you follow these certain guidelines. It's always important to know how many cubic feet the cylinder your interested in really is, also always look at the neck of the cylinder. If the neck has an engraving or verbiage that states it's a rental or has the name of a welding supply company on it, you should avoid buying the cylinder.
Cylinder tanks should be certified every 10 years and there are symbols that help you figure out when the next certification should be. Typically there is a date of last certification and a plus sign, which represents 5 years, also the star symbol which represents another 5 years. If buying a tank and there are no markings on the neck that is a good sign, however a dented or rusted tank or one that has rented on the neck should be avoided.
Once you purchase your cylinder that has a compressed gas you must make sure that the cylinder is clearly identified. Identification should be stenciled or stamped on the cylinder or on a label. If the labeling of the contents of the cylinder becomes unclear you must provide a new label for the cylinder as long as you know the contents. If buying a cylinder and the contents are unknown and the identification is unreadable, return the cylinder and mark "contents unknown".
Gas Cylinders should always be secured, either by bench top, individually to a wall or stored in a cage or cylinder cabinet. Cylinders are dangerous if mishandled with misuse turning a metal standard cylinder into a unguided rocket with no control over the path or destination and could easily go through a brick wall and kill someone with its brutal force.
Cylinder valves should always be opened slowly with oxygen cylinder valves needing to be opened 100% of the way. First you should open the oxygen cylinder valve just a bit, once the needle has stopped moving, than open the valve all the way. Oxygen cylinders should have the valve opened all the way because of the high pressure in the tank.
When the contents of a cylinder are empty, the valve should be closed, the system bled and the regulator removed. At this time the valve cap should be replaced and the cylinder should be marked empty and separated from the other cylinders in use.
Finally, when moving cylinders or transporting them, only one cylinder should be moved at a time and when moving large cylinders make sure you have a proper cylinder cart to ensure stability and safety. These gas cylinder carts or welding carts will ensure mobility and stability with bottles being held by chains with adjustable chain links welded securely to frame. Carts come in various sizes that will handle between 4 to 8 large gas cylinders.
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