Purchasing emergency oxygen bottles

[Wookie]

Are you using it for diving or for emergency O2? There are a number of breathing certified O2 types available. I don't know if I'd call them higher or not as high, they just have different specs. You are correct, ABO has a smaller allowable dewpoint than Medical. Diver grade can be filled on a welding rack as long as the pressure in the cylinder never goes below 500 PSI. Diver grade is a Praxair mix of 99.5% O2. It is a breathing air grade. There isn't a spec for the other .5%, I hope it isn't CO.

 

[tbone1004]

for most gas suppliers, medical, aviation, and welding O2 are filled on the same taps. The difference being how they prep the cylinders prior to filling. The bigger concern is trying to get baby bottles filled at the big commercial gas filling stations. They like to fill big T-bottles and may not/don't have the ability to fill the small bottles. Those are typically done at medical

@2airishuman it depends on the shop. If you tell them it's for medical use only, they may fill it, especially if you put a sticker on it saying not for diving use or something. I've never had to ask since I have O2 certs, so it never applied. Call the dive shops and ask, but if I were you, I'd use the scuba tank long before I purchased any medical oxygen stuff. The only thing you can't use with it are the dedicated O2 regulators like the MTV-100, but a bag valve works almost as well... If you go that route, make sure to purchase a RescuEAN so you can get continuous flow from a BC hose. This may be a good excuse to take something like AN/DP or whatever PADI calls their equivalent course though. Accelerated deco is never a bad thing... even in NDL diving

 

[2airishuman]

Thanks all, yes, emergency O2 is all I'm trying to do here.

@tbone1004, yes, AN/DP, someday, not sure I'm ready now. Around here it's typically taught at Lake Wazee, which ends up being a 3-hour drive each way for both the instructor and student. Then you dive from shore in Wazee which is an old iron mine. Ends up being a lot of road time for some dives that aren't that interesting beyond their training potential.

 

[Frontpointer1000]

2air:
You encouraged me to jump on this, something I've been meaning to do for awhile. I called a local medical supply place and ordered a cylinder and required material, they said they would drop it off. Ill let you all know what happens.

 

[Killerflyingbugs]

I am honestly surprised that no one is talking about using UHP O2. You don't know what that .5% is.

 

[Wookie]

I am honestly surprised that no one is talking about using UHP O2. You don't know what that .5% is.

Remember, breathing grade is breathing grade. Medical, ABO, Diver grade are all considered sufficient to dive with, but you are correct, you don't know what that .5% really is. Typically it would be N2. It would be extremely unlikely to be anything like H2, CO, or Acetylene. The Medical and ABO are triple vacuumed before filling, and the Diver grade will be triple vacuumed if it's found to be less than 500 PSI when placed on the fill rack. In reality, the chances of contamination is extremely low.

 

[Killerflyingbugs]

I may be paranoid from spending to much time with saturation techs.

 

[JohnN]

fwiw I believe that ABO is a higher specification than Medical O2. According to the AOPA, the ABO specification is the same as medical with the addition of a more stringent dewpoint limit due to the risk of line freezeup in aircraft with built-in oxygen systems where portions of the system may not be in the climate controlled portion of the cabin.

Most aviation systems use CGA-540 cylinder valves with the built-in systems typically having an external fill port with a Schrader-type fitting on it. A few of the portable systems use CGA-870.

Some aviation sources offer cylinders with low-profile valves: http://www.deltaoxygensystems.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/540valves.jpg but they are still CGA-540

I dunno. Maybe I should just convert my LP53 since it isn't much use for diving. I would have to use a DIN valve, and getting fills could be a problem since I don't have a tech cert. Not sure if my local dive shop would fill that on the strength of a DAN emergency oxygen cert.

Last time I went into AirGas, I asked the guy behind the counter about industrial vs. medical vs. aviation oxygen. He said they all came out of the same bank. . . YMMV of course.

 

[uncfnp]

2air:
You encouraged me to jump on this, something I've been meaning to do for awhile. I called a local medical supply place and ordered a cylinder and required material, they said they would drop it off. Ill let you all know what happens.

What setup did you order?

 

[Frontpointer1000]

What setup did you order?

I asked for a D Cylinder or an M9, Nrb mask, NC plus tubing and attachment, reg/valve wrench, regulator. Their sales person was supposed to call me back but still nothing today.

I'm a physician and she said they dont charge for doctors, with the agreement that I will send patients to them that need oxygen delivery systems. Based on their slow customer service response, however, we shall see.