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  #1  
Old 12-28-2013, 06:10 AM
galooph galooph is offline
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Default UK oxy-acetylene gas suppliers

I'm thinking of finally getting set up with oxy-acetylene after years of making do with my MIG. I already get my MIG shielding gas from BOC, just wondering where my fellow Brits rent their oxygen and acetylene bottles from.

Any good alternatives to BOC, or do people just stick with them?
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Old 12-28-2013, 06:48 AM
David Gardiner David Gardiner is offline
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Dan, BOC is all but a monopoly. They used to be a great company to deal with but now they treat their customers with distain like many corporations. There are some alternatives if you only want small bottles. Depending where you live there is also airgas. There are several companies that you can buy the small bottles from and then you just pay to have them filled after that. This would be expensive if you use a lot of gas but because there is no rental it may be the cheapest alternative for a hobbyist.

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Old 12-28-2013, 07:48 AM
galooph galooph is offline
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Hi David,

Thanks for the reply. Yeah, BOC have gone downhill - what annoys me is all the extra charges they've started adding!

Air Liquide have launched their ALbee range but the cylinders seem very small. Looking at the stockists, most seem to be hire shops, so I guess that's the market they're aiming at.

I'll keep looking!

Any recommendations on a good torch?

Thanks!
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Old 12-28-2013, 07:53 AM
Gareth Davies Gareth Davies is offline
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I use Energas but have used AirProducts in the past via a local hire company. Air Liquide are also a player but I've never used them. They are all much of a muchness to be honest. A small gripe with BOC is that you always have to remember a bottle key if you're on site whereas the others all have integral valves. Air Products developed a bottle with integral regulator but they claimed the bottle held a lot more gas than it really did.

Can't really think of any others but try your local hire centres to see if they have a tie up with any of the gas suppliers.
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Old 12-28-2013, 08:03 AM
Richard Lennard Richard Lennard is offline
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BOC are the only practical option.
I used to have 20 bottles on permanent turn around, paid them an absolute fortune over the years.
Their rental charges are disgusting, making it all but impossible to keep what we would keep by choice.
The only really practical option on bottle size is large, if you check price / weight of gas you will pay 10% less for 50% less gas for next size down.
I also used and still use propane from Calor, no rental, sensible prices and efficient service.
To be honest the UK (EEC?) has pretty much got what it deserves, demanding ever increasing "higher" standards that as a nation it cant afford.
So we pay dis proportionally high prices for the actual gas.
There are several "hobbyist" outfits springing up, with no rental costs, but they are small bottles and you will use them up quickly.
Ive found the only practical option is one account holder and share big bottles for Argon, my own CO2, acetylene and Oxy from BOC, Propane from Calor.
Luckily Oxy is relatively cheap, so cutting and general heat is achievable.
Mig, I use a fair bit, is a bite the bullet and Argon and acetylene is split between a few of us.
Luckily I have reliable friends and this arrangement has worked for years.
Its a bit like, put the road tax on the fuel, the more you use, the more they earn but in the meanwhile it doesnt eat any grass.
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Last edited by Richard Lennard; 12-28-2013 at 08:14 AM.
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Old 12-28-2013, 08:45 AM
Jim Tomczyk Jim Tomczyk is offline
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From what's been said Non rental seems to be the way to go for " hobby" users, but acetylene supply seems to be a problem with non rental suppliers? Weldinggases.co.uk seems to supply an alternative to acetylene - namely propylene which burns at only 250 degrees F below acetylene' temperature when mixed with oxygen.
Does anybody used propylene as an alternative or know if it's a viable alternative for welding steel and aluminium? Also this company supply in 20lt bottles rather than the 10 ltr some other companies supply. Can Anyone give a rough estimate on how many hours a 20 ltr bottle will last on light welding - ie.16 gauge aluminium etc.
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Old 12-28-2013, 10:27 AM
galooph galooph is offline
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Hi Jim,

I saw a few places advertising propylene as an alternative, but from what I've read, it's not a perfect substitute. For example, there's a post on mig-welding.co.uk that says "it kinda worked on thin sheet it was like trying to use O/A with a slightly oxidising flame"
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Old 12-28-2013, 11:10 AM
David Gardiner David Gardiner is offline
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Yep BOC also charge fifty pounds delivery, you can have a full bottle of small non rental gas for that, this has to be added into the equation. I will be using small bottles for argon for my occasional tig welding from now on. I had a full large bottle here for two years that cost me hundreds in rental while I never used a quarter of it.


There are two other BOC customers on my yard and many others in my town so the charges seem excessive.


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Last edited by David Gardiner; 12-28-2013 at 11:12 AM.
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Old 12-28-2013, 12:26 PM
Richard Lennard Richard Lennard is offline
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Many years ago, when I was a boy and prior mig, and we would try anything to save a pound, I tried to gas weld using the propane and oxy set up.
From my experience, it didnt!
I could stick the stuff together, but so did solder!
Not quite certain what made the difference, someone here might know the specifics, but the weld simply wasnt convincing.
I came to the conclusion that something to do with the propane was affecting the actual steel within the weld.
Yes, David, Im not quite certain what fuels BOC pricing strategy, but they certainly need healthy competition.
As you point out, having bottles parked in the corner that have a hideous rental stacking up plain burns the wotsit!
Calor must have similar overheads and high pressure issues with bottles, so how come they can manage to provide an affordable service.
Dont get me going!
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Old 12-28-2013, 01:50 PM
Maxakarudy Maxakarudy is offline
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I was with BOC for years and just around the corner from me, then they changed the payment regime,they wanted to charge for "late payment" after 21days.... Now with Energas
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