Long ago, when I was taking welding lessons, the instructor taught us to avert our faces from the regulator gauges when opening a gas tank because of a possible defect in the regulator that would pressurize the gauge and explode the glass.

             Since that time, I have read several books on laboratory practices and do not recall any of them alluding to the practice of averting one’s face when opening a gas cylinder.  Should they?

With all the accumulated experience in this group, has anyone heard of this practice or hazard?

             (Note: My old instructor might have been confusing a defective regulator hazard with the one resulting from using a contaminated regulator with an oxygen cylinder.)

             Thank you very much,

             Ben