[spunkets]

"I thought acetylene was stored that way because it would explode if it was allowed to expand too quickly. The pressure gauge on my acetylene tank says I have a lot more than 14psi of gas pressure in the tank"

The acetylene doesn't care how fast it's moving, but it gets real touchy when under pressure. The tank pressure can be 200 PSI, because the acetylene is in solution and that solution is kept within a porous filling. The acetone is the solvent and keeps the acetylene from reacting with itself at that pressure. Once it leaves the high pressure side of the gauge, it must remain below ~9PSI. At 14PSI it goes boom. All the passages out of the high pressure side are filled with porous media and kept short to prevent reaction 'till the gas goes into the hose at a low pressure.

[tacticalogic]

Doesn't sound right. Low pressure side of an acetylene gauge goes up to 45lbs. There is a red bar on the gauge that starts at 15lbs, and they recommend you don't go over that. I typically weld at about 5-8 lbs, and have gone as high as 15-17 lbs cutting thick steel.

[76834]

Hear ya:
Back in the stone age I hired on as a welder's helper.
My main function was minding an old fashioned carbide acetylene generator.
Gotta be about the most dangerous things on the planet.