What's new
What's new

L & R Aqua Torch uses water for fuel

Jim Williams

Stainless
Joined
Oct 3, 2002
Location
Grant, Florida
I bought an L & R Aqua torch at an auction a couple of months ago. It looked pretty good, but the person bringing it stated that he did not know if it worked. I got it for a token bid. When I was checking out the original manual which came with it, I was almost floored. The quality control person perparing the unit for shipment was James Williams, with a signature that looked just like mine! Was that destiny or not? I completely dismantled it to clean up a spill of the potassium hydroxide electrolyte. The electrolyte chamber was really scaled up inside, probably from someone using tap water in it. I now have it working and used it for the first time this afternoon. I silver soldered a broken sterling friendship ring with it. Wow! It beats an O A torch in doing small jobs. Just select the hypodermic needle tip to provide the right amount of heat, and get with it. The largest needle will melt the end of a 1/8 inch steel welding rod very quickly. I have not tried it for welding mild steel. I doubt it would work for that because the oxygen-hydrogen flame is neutral and cannot be made reducing. I have run it perhaps an hour or two total, and I can see very little water level reduction in the sight tube for the disassociation chamber. I measured about three volts out of the output side of the huge power diodes. I think it pulls about seven amperes, so the current through the electrolyte must be pretty high. It has internal controls to automatically switch the power on and off to maintain a steady flame by controlling the gas pressure. The oxygen-hydrogen mixture is passed through a liquid to scrub it, I suppose. The flame temperature can be varied by what liquid is used in the scrubber. Water gives the highest temperature, with lesser temperatures with acetone, MEK, or alcohol. If anyone else has one of these things that doesn't work, I may have learned enough to be able to help.

Jim Williams
 
I bought the same L & R Aqua torch a couple of days ago. It came with no manual, so I am still trying to fugure out how to make it work. If any body can share the manual with me, I would appreciate it very much. This product was manufactured in New Jersey quite a few years ago and it looks like the company does not exist anymore.

The function of the device is pretty easy to undertstand once you open it and look inside. The additional canister called "Gas Atomizer" however puzzles me. You supposed to fill it partially with Acetone, MEK or Methanol. The gas goes from the main generator into this Atomizer through a rubber tube and the second tube connects the Atomizer to the torch. In and out tubes are marked on the canister, but it does not make any sense. The in tube ends above the liquid level, the out tube goes almost to the bottom of the liquid reservoir. The out tube is not a direct pass, but I can't see what's inside.
To confuse matters even more Amazon has a listing for a replacement atomozer for L & R torch and it looks almost identical to mine except the "in" and "out" labels are reversed. The listing is inactive and I cannot ask questions.

Can anybody help?
 
Hey Mikey,

I am almost 90, but still around. We moved to Florida five years ago, and the torch has not been used since. I crowded all my stuff from a 1600 sq ft shop into about half that, and still have not organized what I did not give to a son. I think I can lay hands on the manual and make a copy for you. Sounds as if the atomizer markings are reversed. The generator chamber uses distilled water and one of the caustic chemicals to provide an electrolyte. A low voltage at high amperage separates the oxygen and hydrogen that is burned for the flame. Get an Internet address to me so I can arrange shipping if I locate the manual. Wear rubber gloves with long cuffs if you decide to open it up.
 
Hi Jim,
I just sent a private message with my email address to you. To get to it look at the bar a few lines above the title of this thread.
Thanks for your help,
Mike
 
Many thanks to Jim Williams who helped me a lot with this project. It is far away from being over, but I am on the right pass now.
 
Hi,
I recently bought a L & R Aqua Torch 2800 at an Estate Sale. It did not come with any instructions. I have been looking for the last 6 months to locate some without success. I was wondering if someone could send me in to right direction?
Thanks,
Stanley Batchelor
[email protected]
334-467-4037
 
I'm guessing it looks like this:
Cool beans.
 








 
Back
Top