New Oxygen regulator?

Tried to fire up the oxy-propane cutting outfit for the first time in a year or so- Oxygen regulator won't hold pressure (output guage slowly goes up until you light the torch, then slowly goes down to zero, no matter how you set it). Local shop says they send them out, 50 bucks basic charge, then goes up from there. No, thanks.

Anybody know of some good sites online to buy a new regulator? I can do google, amazon, ebay, all that stuff, but you guys probably know of good sites to cut through all the dinking around.

Sorry- can't answer your question- but I'm wondering if you unscrew the regulators when you're not using them? Should help their longevity, especially if used infrequently.

i got parts for mine at Paxair and fixed my own , a seal went bad

Couple of 6-7 years ago I bought a used sr-450 victor regulator off ebay for about a quarter of new price. I have even put a "rebuild kit" in another one parts again from ebay. Was really easy to work on and a good heavy regulator. I threw away the old one I replaced it didn't look worth taking a chance over trying to find parts for it.

It probably just needs a new diaphram. That's why they always recommend you loosen the adjuster all the way off when not using the torch. Keeping continuous pressure on the diaphram causes them to fail a lot quicker. It's also important to open the cylinder slowly so you don't wreck the gauges. I'd see if there's a local place that does repairs and get an estimate. Even if it's sent out, ask for an estimate to see if it's worth fixing. What brand of regulator is it? A good name brand regulator will cost a lot more than $50.

To me $50 seems pretty reasonable with lots of shops charging close to $100/hr labour. To put it in perspective, how much will you do for $50? Anytime I've needed a lawyer, it's cost a couple hundred bucks just to write a simple letter. No offence intended. It just seems odd a lawyer would question a rather small repair bill.

When you buy them new in the box, the adjusting screws aren't even attached to the regulators because they could be on the shelf for a long time. Always a good idea to loosen the adjusters all the way off when not using them.

alot of the oil field welders have switched to Harbor Freight or Northern Hydraulics gauges around here simply because of price...i've got 2 Northern setups and been using them for about 15 years...supposedly Victor parts will fit them but i havent had to relace anything but a broken gauge that a piece of pipe fell on.

I brought a new set on e-bay last year. Gauges, hoses, tourch, and the whole bit. I don't know much about them but it was a victor so I thought that meant it was a good set. I used my old 40year old stuff the neighbor gave me about 20 years ago for a while before I switched to the new set. I finally put the new stuff in service and just was never able to get the accetaline regulator to work properly. Finally gave up and put the old set back on the tanks. Lesson learned, I should have just went to a local welding shop and brought a set where I could also get service on it.

(quoted from post at 10:27:21 04/19/11) I brought a new set on e-bay last year. Gauges, hoses, tourch, and the whole bit. I don't know much about them but it was a victor so I thought that meant it was a good set. I used my old 40year old stuff the neighbor gave me about 20 years ago for a while before I switched to the new set. I finally put the new stuff in service and just was never able to get the accetaline regulator to work properly. Finally gave up and put the old set back on the tanks. Lesson learned, I should have just went to a local welding shop and brought a set where I could also get service on it.

Click to expand...

That is exactly the fears I have of buying such items on ebay. I looked at them just the other day and found some really attractive prices, but I just could not make myself pull the trigger and buy one.

Thanks to all for your suggestions- did not realize that you need to back off the regulators between uses, will be sure to do that in the future.

I found a couple that will work fine (never did come up with any repair kits).

Found a site, weldingdepot.com, which seems to have a lot of stuff at reasonable prices.

BTW, "O2 Regulator" (whoever you actually are), my letters run about 75 bucks, usually, including the office conference. Which explains why I'm not rich. Which explains why I tend to be a little "thrifty" (wife calls it "cheap").

And I probably should have added to the backing off the regulators- turn off the tanks first- re-open your valves at the torch handle until all gauges read 0, then reclose valves and back off regulators.

(quoted from post at 13:21:03 04/19/11) And I probably should have added to the backing off the regulators- turn off the tanks first- re-open your valves at the torch handle until all gauges read 0, then reclose valves and back off regulators.

Click to expand...

I must confess I have never backed off the regulators. I do always shut off the tanks and then drain the hoses. I've owned mine for atleast 25 years, and I bought them used at a closing out farm auction. The faces of the gauges are both cracked and dirty to the point that reading them is difficult, but neither gauge has ever given me a minutes worth of trouble.

You got some good ones!

I do drain the hoses. Ag teacher never said anything about backing off the regulators (of course, the welding outfits were used pretty much daily in the ag shop).

But it does make sense, if its a diaphragm- continuing tension on it can't do it any good. . .

I'm surprised. That's just the kind of thing a teacher would like to be a hard a$$ about, even if it wasn't practical. When I worked in a shop where the torch was used all the time, we never backed out the regulator screws. I try to do all that with mine, as it is used infrequently. Then occasionally I'll get disgusted, in a hurry, and not back them out- invariably then it's a month before I discover my sin.

I wish you lived close to me. $75 with a consultation seems more than reasonable. I needed a demand letter sent and didn't even go to the lawyers office and had to send a $500 retainer. You've gave good advice on here too. It's nice know that some lawyers don't deserve the greedy/ambulance chaser reputation of most of the others. It sounds like you became a lawyer so you could help people rather than just a way to charge a lot of money. My dad had considered becoming a lawyer and would have been very good at it but he would have been like you and felt guilty for overcharging for his services. I think that's the reason lawyers in general have such a bad reputation. They don't care if they win or lose or overcharge as long as they get paid. Almost 20 years ago I had a lawyer tell me I had an open and shut case. He filed a 6 figure lawsuit and after taking over $2500 from me said I should settle for $1000. When I rightfully questioned him about the complete flip, he actually wrote a letter saying that "since you seem unable to understand plain english, please have a family member translate it for you". My mom actually worked for the department of justice(Canada) as a legal secretary and was beyond shocked when I showed her the letter. I had a different, respectable, lawyer tell me I should have reported this to the bar association. The offensive lawyer also had QC(Queens council) designation and all his correspondance was sent on bright goldenrod colored paper. I didn't mean any disrespect to you. Maybe this explains why I try to stay away from lawyers. There needs to be more lawyers like you.

Backing off the Reg. has another benefit, the tank will not leak past a reg that is backed off(closed)that gives you three valves for gas to get past before it leaks out.

Never heard that recomend backing off the guages or emptying the hoses. Bough my outfit in either 79 or 80 and sets for months at a time and has never had that done to it. had one regulator repaired once at dealer I bought it from, not expencive, don't even remember if they charged me anything or not but I bought my tanks from them at the time I bought the outfit and always got my gas there.