Yes, I've read the Victor recommendations before. They also say that the cracking noise that you get when switching off the fuel first causes a shockwave that draws soot inside the torch and onto the valve seats, but then many dispute that. Over the years, I've read plenty of advice on the web arguing the correctness of both sequences of torch shutdown. Confusing.

I ended up talking to the proprietor of a locally renowned regulator and torch repair shop (Hansen and Miller) and asking his take on this and he told me that in his experience (40 years plus) shutting off fuel first, and O2 second, is the safest way to go. He's seen it and repaired it all and he told me "fuel on first, fuel off first", for what that's worth. He (Harold Heia) is very well known and respected in the Seattle area metal working community so I personally take his advice quite seriously and put a lot of value in it.

If you look at Victors reasoning in the passage you pasted you can see it's a bit thin. Shutting off O2 first to remind you that you might not have your Acetylene turned up high enough is a bit silly imo. You should be setting it correctly, from the get go. and you have a chance to so every time you light the torch. Also, you can (and should) easily check for valve leaks with soapy water., so turning off the O2 first for those reasons seems a bit silly to me.

It does seem odd that Victors advice flies in the face of most other manufacturers. Maybe it would just be best to follow the advice of who ever made your torch? This all being said, I use a gas saver so I don't actually turn off the torch myself, I just let the valves in the gas saver do it but I do set those valves so that the fuel line is closed first, barely ahead of the O2, so I get a slight "pop".


Alistair.