Caption: These are the propane canisters used to fuel the piece. You may wonder what they’re all doing sitting in a galvanized horse trough. The answer is an interesting bit of physics.
Basically propane tanks all contain an Overflow Protection Device (OPD) these days. This is a safety flow restrictor. But if you’re pumping tons of propane through to an art piece like this, you’re transferring a lot of gas through a small opening. The Venturi principle results in a tremendous amount of cooling, resulting in frost buildup on the tank, and a subsequent loss of pressure.
For this reason fire artists tend to install their propane cylinders in hot water baths. And a horse trough is the perfect size for an installation like this!
