Leave gas turned on?

[JD1]

Most of my welding has been flux core due to having a 110v Lincoln and needing penetration. Now that I have a 210v welder, I'm using 100% CO2 since I already had that tank. I ran some horrifying beads yesterday and finally figured out that I hadn't turned the gas on. Duh!

Does anyone leave their gas turned on all the time even when the welder is off and welding is over for the day? All my fittings are tight and not leaking, I checked. I wanted to check here before I did that. It's not like a CO2 leak will blow anything up.

Otherwise I'm going to have to figure out a way to remember to turn gas on when I start. Being a hobbyist I don't weld every day so it's hard to set up an automatic mental procedure.

[Oscar]

Learn to turn it off/on. It's not that difficult.

[rexcormack]

"All my fittings are tight and not leaking."

At the exact second you checked them they were but they won't stay that way!
You will get the hang of turning it on and off pretty quickly.

[pepi]

Posting as a hobbyist, kind of a no brainier don't ya think ? Forgetting to turn it on, the welder will point that out,

[Kelvin]

Maybe tape a note to the welder next to the switch: TURN GAS ON / OFF
?

[G-ManBart]

After a while you'll develop the habit of checking the bottle before and after welding. Things aren't leaking now, but that can change with just a bottle swap and then you'll wind up with an empty tank because of a bad habit. It may not cost much, or cause a problem, but wanting to weld and finding an empty bottle would be pretty annoying!

[tapwelder]

Run a practice bead before you start on your project.

[bcguide]

Just make it a habit to turn the gas on and off before touching the power switch on the welder

[bead-boy]

Coming back to an empty bottle was extremely frustrating, expensive and time consuming. So I came up with this system :
I have a large plastic sign that fits over the valve on the bottle AND the door knob of my shop. I take the sign off the bottle when I turn on the gas and place it over the door knob of
the shop. That way I won't forget to turn off the gas before I leave.

You can write whatever you want on both sides of the sign to remind you. "Turn on gas" on one side "Turn off gas" on the other.

I need to do the same for the big Lincoln TIG-300 so I remember to unplug it. But after I turn it off, I eventually notice a strange humming sound, and after searching for the sound, realize that I forgot to unplug the welder.

[Welder Dave]

Make sure to get some Tri-Mix for stainless and leave it turned on if you really have that much money burning a hole in your pocket.

[G-ManBart]

Make sure to get some Tri-Mix for stainless and leave it turned on if you really have that much money burning a hole in your pocket.

Or helium

[CAVEMANN]

Eventually hoses WILL breakdown and start to leak, if there's a gauge involved the little tube behind the dial(bourdon tube?) could spring a leak, a fitting could crack or break, solenoid valve could malfunction, something could fall and break a fitting or cut the hose or numerous other things.

[sapperb]

Just make it a habit to turn the gas on and off before touching the power switch on the welder

I concur with you fully. I make it a habit to turn it off at the end of welding. I will turn the wire speed all the way down and pull the trigger as top bleed it all out. I also make a habit to turn it back on prior to welding...

[Woznme]

I release the drive roller each time and pull the trigger to empty gas. Drive mechanism lasts longer that way too.

[Kelvin]

One thing that helps me remember to turn off the gas on my TIG machine is that I heard (here, I think) that you want to release the gas behind the solenoid before powering down the TIG. So the SOP is: After finished welding, but before turning off the TIG machine's power, turn off the argon, then hit the pedal to bleed off the argon behind the solenoid (you'll see the ball on the flowmeter suddenly drop to zero), THEN turn off the TIG machine's power.

I also use paint pens to put a black mark and a red mark on the valve of my argon bottle...if I can see red from where I normally sit and TIG, then the bottle valve is open/on, but if I see the black stripe on the valve handle, then the argon is turned off. Just another convenience so I can visually verify the valve is closed from across the shop.

[John T]

Ive been know to walk over to the bottle and check to see I shut it off the night before
Its always off …. Pretty much Oscars way …

But depending on OCD or how many beers I drank last night ….

Yuk yuk. ….

[N2 Welding]

I release the drive roller each time and pull the trigger to empty gas. Drive mechanism lasts longer that way too.

I don’t go as far as to release the drive rollers but I do turn off the 50Amp breaker and unplug the machine after turning off the gas, purging out the gun and turning the machine off. I unplug it so no angry random power pixies have their way with the machine unexpectedly. All it takes is a car crashing into a teli pole etc and whamo cablambo your $hit’s shotto.

[wb4rt]

I know the problem.

I put a laminated card by my door that says:
“Turn off air compressor, turn off gas, turn off heat/air, and turn off lights.”

Now my problem is remembering to read the card!

[Oscar]

I know the problem.

I put a laminated card by my door that says:
“Turn off air compressor, turn off gas, turn off heat/air, and turn off lights.”

Now my problem is remembering to read the card!

Yup. Any way you look at it, it's one's own personal problem how they wish to tackle it, if they choose to do so. Wanna leave the valves fully open, so be it. Wanna take proactive measures, so be it. All it takes (usually) is a few times of wanting to weld only to find the tank completely empty when you know it wasn't like that the last time you welded.

[Weldalittle]

I turn it all the way on/open before starting (unless I forget) and all the way off/tight when done (I haven't forgotten to turn it off since I started the process). The last time I forgot to turn it on, I was being lazy plug welding "braces" into an old pickup bed. I had cleaned the liner off prior with a flap disc and didn't care too much as it was a temporary band aid fix. While welding, I thought- "dang,this is messy, welding clean metal sure is a lot "cleaner"..".. Out of 6 welds, I didn't catch on until the last two... I also like to do as others mentioned, unplugging the unit to avoid any surges. And leaving an air compressor on that has a slow bleed somewhere is expensive if you don't come back for a while.

[G-ManBart]

I don’t go as far as to release the drive rollers but I do turn off the 50Amp breaker and unplug the machine after turning off the gas, purging out the gun and turning the machine off. I unplug it so no angry random power pixies have their way with the machine unexpectedly. All it takes is a car crashing into a teli pole etc and whamo cablambo your $hit’s shotto.

Or a nearby lightning strike. Had that happen as a kid and electronics were randomly dying in the house for a couple of months.

[N2 Welding]

Or a nearby lightning strike. Had that happen as a kid and electronics were randomly dying in the house for a couple of months.

I had it happen to a TV back in the 90’s

[walker]

It’s funny, I turn the gas off at the end of the day when I shut down. Sometimes in the morning I look at the gauges and they are right where they were when I shut it off, but sometimes they are flat. I figure it is the seat in the gas valve in the welder that is the variable and sometimes it just doesn’t shut off 100%.

[walker]

I don’t go as far as to release the drive rollers but I do turn off the 50Amp breaker and unplug the machine after turning off the gas, purging out the gun and turning the machine off. I unplug it so no angry random power pixies have their way with the machine unexpectedly. All it takes is a car crashing into a teli pole etc and whamo cablambo your $hit’s shotto.

It’s a wonder you ever have any time to work…

[Kelvin]

I had it happen to a TV back in the 90’s

I've had lightning get into all kinds of stuff here, from computers (destroyed) to plain-old telephones (destroyed). Nowadays I unplug everything as soon as I hear thunder.

As for welders, about the only time they're plugged in is when the arc is lit.