O/A tank problem

[84jimmy]

A few weekends ago I went to set up my new welder. When I went to open the oxygen tank to clear the surface of dirt it wouldn't open. I tried twisting it the way it said to, and all that happened was my hand spinned on the knob.
Am I just being weak, or is there a reason why it won't open? :confused:

[braxton357]

Righty tighty, lefty loosy. Make sure it isn't already all the way open and your gas gone...try turning it both directions.

[hotwheelsYJ]

After growing some muscles, look at the knob.
some of them will strip @ the splines like an old water faucet.

[84jimmy]

I don't have an old water facuet, how do I know what and where it will strip the splines, if it did somehow.
I'm positive it still has all the gas in, it's heavy as it was when I got it.

[hotwheelsYJ]

Does the knob turn at all or is it frozen?

If the knob turns but doesn't open the valve, there should be a small screw on top of the knob to hold it on. Remove this screw, pull knob of to check if it is stripped.
If you have the knob off & the splines don't look good either take the tank back for an exchange or grab it with some vise grips to turn it.

[braxton357]

The oxy valve is made of brass so it isn't rusted and there aren't any special tools to get it open. Maybe try a large set of channellocks on it while being careful not to strip the threads or break anything.

[84jimmy]

okay, I will bring out the channel locks this weekend and try using those. It's possible a big guy at the welding place overtightened it, so I can't loosen it :(

[84jimmy]

My grandpa came out this week because my mom had to go to Vancouver for a funeral.
He helped me...we ended up taking off the protective guard, and using a pipe wrench to open it up. I never knew oxygen sounded that loud when it came open and your trying to close it as soon as you can. :D
Thanks for the help.

[Damo]

A few weekends ago I went to set up my new welder.

What kinda welder? I am assuming it's MIG or TIG as they are the most common that you need to use a shielding gas with. This being the case, you do not want to be using oxygen as the shielding gas. The shielding gas is there to protect the molten pool from oxygen. I think you might just have your terms mixed up, but you should probably check just the same.

Of course just ignore all this if you are oxy/acet welding :smokin:


When I went to open the oxygen tank


It's a cylinder, not a tank :flipoff2:

[84jimmy]

I was talking about O/A, thats why it's in the title.
LOL sorry, cylinder, not tank :eek: