MTFCA Forum

I'm working on my gas lights for the old car festival I have a gas bottle under the back seat and it has a regulator on it. In line I have individual flow controls.

They light great and I can meter them perfectly, the issue is that the flames will lessen after aboit 2-3 minutes. Increase the pressure on the bottle a tad and all good again for 2-3 minutes. What's the deal.

Does your tank have an offset valve or center valve? If center valve is the tank elevated on the valve side vs the bottom of the tank? Have you checked for leaks at the connections & along the hose?

Thanks for the suggestions! The regulator is elevated, could I not have a small enough graduation pressure regulator? It's a standard tank regulator and I cannot see how many pounds of pressure it is set to.

Thanks for the suggestions! The regulator is elevated, could I not have a small enough graduation pressure regulator? It's a standard tank regulator and I cannot see how many pounds of pressure it is set to.

Hope this helps

John,
An MC tank does not have the volume capacity for safe operation. It will draw off the acetone which will destroy the regulator and compromise its integrity and safety.
Get a B or E tank.
Keith

Updated Photos as my phone had issues with the picture uploading.

Get an acetylene "B" tank (offset valve), mount it on the running board, solves the problem. You can get Prestolite decals to make it look more "authentic" but they will disappear when you take the tank to be exchanged. I tried to get an original Prestolite tank filled but was told that the tank had to be pressure tested and would be condemned and not returned if it failed. Didn't want to lose an original Prestolite tank so the B tank was the solution at the time. B tank for running, Prestolite tank for shows. XXX!!!### government!

John,
What size of burners are you using?
Keith

I have been using an MC tank for years without a regulator. It is mounted under the car on an angle. I just crack the bottle open a bit, light the lamps and adjust the flame. Admittedly, I keep the flame fairly low as I use the lamps more for affect than to light the road. I never paid much attention to how long a bottle lasts but I have never run out on a gas light tour and usually replace the bottle after 30-45 minutes of lighting. I am aware of the acetone issue but wonder how one knows when the acetylene and acetone is being drawn out. I guess I just assumed that with the offset outlet the pressure drops off when the acetylene is used up so the acetone stays in the bottle and that without the offset there is a chance for acetylene and acetone to mix once the level drops below the outlet.

Thanks for all the input, I am using Model T burners as that is all I had. I will have to figure out a place to put the B tank as I don't want to Drill Holes in my running board. Under the back seat is crowded and shallow with a battery and a backup battery as it take a lot of juice to crank this beast over and the use of the tank is only temporary for OCF. I will return it to LED lights afterwards for safer driving.

John,
The "Model T" burners are rated at 3/4-cubic foot of gas consumption per hour and as has been mentioned
are above the recommended for the Motor Cycle tank. See if you can find two 1/2-cubic foot burners
and they should work fine with the MC tank. You may be having a regulator problem at low psi.?

I use a small Uniweld regulator and two Radnor control valves. Makes relights/flame adjustment very easy.
Do not put control valves on gas lights without a regulator to keep the acetylene pressure below 3-5 psi.
Also, do not put the Motor Cycle or "B" tank in a confined space; very explosive situation. Acetylene tanks
always should be placed in only a well ventilated location. I always have the lamp doors open as I light up.

It appears that you have your burners twisted 90-degrees from where the flame would be flat like a fish tail.
The way you appear to have them puts the flame very close to the Mangin mirror and might break it.
See Keith's great gas lamp picture.

For folks wanting to set up 3/4's on a Model T, I will post the picture of a "B" tank I exchanged at Air Gas supply
house near me. They are mixed in with center valve tanks.

Both MotorCycle and B tanks are made to be laid flat on their side, valve up.

Before I understood the safety aspects of acetylene lighting, I used an MC tank mounted at an angle under the rear floorboards based upon information that Val provided. I even wrote an article on how I mounted everything that was published in the HCCA Gazette. One night I was on a fairly long drive and when I got home I could smell an odd odor. I presume it was the acetone.

After more research...

I created a Prest-O-Lite mounting bracket adapter plate that uses the existing acetylene generator bracket mounting holes in the running board.

DRILL NO HOLES!

I call the adapter an E-dapter, because is is shaped like the letter E.
Four studs are welded on the bracket pointing up for mounting the prest-O-Lite tank brackets.
Three studs are welded on the bracket pointing down to mount through the existing acetylene generator mounting holes on the running board.
I put rubber grommets on the mounting studs and little rubber bumpers at the ends between the bracket and the running board so everything is secure.
The Prest-O-Lite decal is the finishing touch.
: ^ )

Keith

Thank you for posting that E bracket.

Original running boards in US are punched from June '12 through
about March 1915. Not sure about Walkerville, Ont. No need to
drill holes for the E bracket.

I have this bracket set; the other common type POL tank mount.

Ken

On my ‘12 T I did what you did Keith but mounted it under the running board so I could keep the generator in place. Made up a bracket that used existing holes in the running board. I was a bit concerned about ground clearance but it’s been that way for a long time with no issues.