# Pipes to Attic? Old House Mystery.



## smalpierre (Jan 19, 2011)

KentWhitten said:


> You never stop amazing me Jerry. Like a walking, talking encyclopedia.


He beat me to it! when you mix calcium carbide with water it produces acetylene gas. If you poured a bunch of it into a bathtub with water, you'd get a cloud of explosively flammable gas. It's not a liquid anywhere near room temp. The stuff in an acetylene tank is acetylene gas disolved in acetone. Also, the tanks aren't filled with the liquid, they are solid inside - filled with a solid porous substance, not sure what that is.

I never set my acetylene regulator over 7psi.

Acetylene gas is extremely unstable. If you let it out of a nozzle at 15psi it will light itself on fire from friction - at least that's what I've heard, I'm afraid to try it. Dissolving it makes it somewhat more stable, as does the "porous rock" core of the cylinder.


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