Burning Gear

[Damaged]

Hi all,

Quick question if you don't mind.

Is having oxy / acet or oxy /prop burning gear in a domestic garage normaly a problem for household insurance companys?

The reason I ask is I rang my insurance company today to check what value the contents of my garage were covered for (not even 20% as it happens ) as soon as we got onto the subject of tools etc I was asked if I had any "gas fuel cutting gear"

I haven't at the moment but was going to speak to Weldequip about a set of reg's / hoses etc when I pick up my Portamig, just wondering if a set is going to push up my premium even further!

Many Thanks,

Mick.

 

[Paul.]

Its even a problem for commercial insurance nowadays, Ive got rid of my OA cylinders it saves me £500 a year.

 

[Wozzaaah]

I don't know about insurance premiums etc. but I can't imagine any insurance company not having an issue with the gear, they'll screw you for every little thing they can given the chance .
I think you are also supposed to notify the local fire brigade if you have oxy/acetylene on the premises (acording to a mate who's a part time firefighter anyway).

 

[Paul.]

I actually do some work for the fire brigade, they've got rid of OA in their workshops, My insurance company wouldn't even cover me with a butane heater in my workshop

 

[weldequip]

It's one of those 'grey areas' where if you do tell em your premiums shoot up & if you don't they won't pay out in the event of a claim I've just had my car tuned & struggled to get any reasonable cover...if I'd have known the difference in performance after the tuning I'd have kept shtum with the insurance
The insurance industry are a bunch of ****-wipes in my personal opinion & will try & squirm out of any claim given any chance, so it's probably best to be straight with them.
weldequip

 

[Damaged]

Fecking insurance!

Tigpaul, how are you managing to bend / cut material without OA?

Many thanks for the replys Gents.

Mick.

 

[Paul.]

Fecking insurance!

Tigpaul, how are you managing to bend / cut material without OA?

Many thanks for the replys Gents.

Mick.

Probably 80% of my work is stainless steel or aluminium, so no use for Oxy gas, I do have access to cutting gear If I need it through some business friends.

 

[Damaged]

Thanks Paul,

I'm going to have to cut quite a bit of steel plate soon, guess I'll have to look at Chinese plasma.

Mick.

 

[Paul.]

Thanks Paul,

I'm going to have to cut quite a bit of steel plate soon, guess I'll have to look at Chinese plasma.

Mick.

I had a SIP plasma cutter , not a bad tool but when it needed repairing i Had to wait 6 weeks for parts, during that time I realised I could manage without it so did a deal and PXd it for another Tig set for site work

 

[Wozzaaah]

What thickness plate and what sort of cuts Mick? If it's straight cuts on anything up to 6mm plate then a metal cutting circular saw is the way to go, very fast and leaves a very clean edge.
Plasma cutters are good for curves etc but imo can't match a saw for speed and accuracy and the cut edges still require a buzz over with a grinder to clean them up.

 

[Damaged]

All curves I'm afraid.

On the + side max thickness will be 3mm.

Many thanks.

Mick.

 

[Wozzaaah]

A plasma will whip through that Mick, I've got a Sureweld one, nice bit of kit, wasn't cheap though .

 

[jimmy shoes]

my friend was going to get one for his garage, apparently you have to have a license of some kind, and he got rejected when he applied for it

 

[Paul.]

This is why insurance companies are nervous, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUmLe9WCXX0&feature=related if you have an incident with an acetylene cylinder the fire brigade will set up a minimum 100 yard exclusion zone, evacuate neighbours, close roads, they try to cool with water jets if possible and wait for 24 hours to be sure.

 

[clevinski]

Actually, I think they're more afraid of this...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoatgaQrK28&NR=1

 

[Paul.]

Actually, I think they're more afraid of this...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoatgaQrK28&NR=1

Yea I saw that one as well, those sort of incidents are pretty rare though. I was in a BOC agent this morning and asked the question about acetylene at home, apparently BOC place no restriction on who can have gas as long as they qualify for an account, a bank account is usually enough, but they do recommend informing your insurance company, and would like you to buy the safety pack, when you sign the contract you accept responsibility for the care and safe use of the cylinders.

 

[Damaged]

Cheers Gents,

Not sure how an insurance claim would go if a fire started in the garage and spread to the house due to the fire brigades understandable reluctance to tackle the initial fire so I guess I'l have to abandon the idea.

It's a shame really as I've been using this gear at work for 18 years without incident.

Once again thanks for the replys,

Mick.

 

[peterd51]

Hi,

on a similar note, how about the butane camping gas cylinders stored in my shed?

We have three of the bigger ones (about 2' high) and a smaller one.

There shouldn't be any flames around there, it's a reasonable distance from the workshop and there's no power supply in the shed, but I wonder if they need to be told about those?

Regards
Peter

 

[Wozzaaah]

Shhhhhhh! .
I don't think there's any requirement for notification of butane or propane, just acetylene afaik. Even a small c206 camping gaz cartidge would pack a considerable punch if it blew, I've got a few of them about as probably a lot of us have.

 

[snowcat]

Hows about oxy/ propane, propane being common ish place in domestic situations anyway .......you could always run an oxy/hydrogen mix..

Edit crossed posts on that... emmmhh I used to run propane heating, and there was no diffrence with haveing a tank of that about....