tbosco- Sounds like you may have been thrown under the bus more than once.

 You are right. I could have and probably should have hooked gauges up first. Instead I used a tool to depress the valve and this proved to be the wrong thing to do. I have been doing this a long time and this was a first for me. It's those "firsts" that can kill and injure.

Man that sucks getting a surprise like that Star, I feel for ya,

I always connect gauges when messing with it so if I need to catch it I can and they're there ready to pull a vac and recharge afterwords.

We were doing an R&R in an AT&T tower and the tech I had working with me had the same thing happen.  Man as soon as that flame hit the line, POOF!!!!!!!!   

Dont let it get to ya,  know one was injured and thats whats important  

Phew - glad everyone was alright.

Wasn't there a TINY part of you inside laughing your head off?

Starise-  How does that song go........."I got tiretracks all across my back"......

Stories in the electrical field and security biz... man I got tons of them .... but I shall not bore you here.... 

fish tapes into 200 amp hot main lugs, crossed wiring and the results, 240v connected to a 12v device, hitting natural gas lines and electrical lines underground, working on meter bases with bypass contacts (that was exciting)......

some day over a beer..... we can swap tales and war stories. 

I'm glad everything turned-out alright.  Now you have a good story to tell.