Emergency Oxygen Tank

Hi there!

I would like to get some opinions on the following issue;

As a fact, most divecenters have an emergency oxygen set on board of their boats and vehicles, for in case of any accidents/troubles.

Also, there is seems to be some 'common wisdom' that divers tend to get in trouble in buddy pairs. From this, I 'could' concluded that therefore in many instances two divers would need to be put on oxygen (for precaution or treatment)

Now, most emergency oxygen sets I have seen, only have 1 mouth cap.

Therefore the question: "Is it useful to equip an emergency oxygen set with 2 mouth caps?

Looking forward to your reactions. Please note that I am talking about emergency oxygen sets, and not to drop-tanks under a boat for people running out of air.

I'm looking for a oxygen kit in a pelican box designed for dive emergency, but can't find one.
Does anybody knows where I can find one of those kits online at a reasonable price?

Sorry to hijack, but since it's related to the topic, I think that you or other members may point me in the right direction.

On the multiple mouthpieces, one would have to use a large tank with a modified oxygen regulator to deliver 30 lpm. This is easy, remove the flow restrictor. If the orifice is #73 (0.025) drill out with #60 drill (0.040). Otherwise, what you are asking, about the wisdom or necessity, I can't answer. If the diving were considered "high risk", I would carry two 45 cf bottles with regs. I use Heiser or Faber steel bottles with yoke valves. The regulator is either an oxygen type SCUBA reg or an oxygen reg with SCUBA yoke. The SCUBA reg can be used in water or on the boat. The beautiful, old mil surplus chrome brass Harris medical regs are my choice for free flow mask. They are modular and can be remade into almost any configuration.

The Remo RB is a nice unit, but requires special training and very close supervision. Unless weight and space are of prime concern it makes more sense to use a convention open circuit supply, and buy a few extra tanks. Not sure what the advantage of an industrial tank would be - a large capacity med tank will cost about the same, and have advantages re liability if you ever have to use it.

You can put an medical set together for much less than DAN gets (though the DAN kit is very nice) on ebay or bought locally. Or buy the DAN kit, and a few extra tanks cheap on eBay. A demand mask is essential, since they greatly increase the duration of an O2 tank compared to constant flow setups like the non-rebreather masks in basic med sets.

You can also use scuba tanks and regulator, pretty much the same setups as techies use for deco. You have to have the tanks and regulator O2 cleaned, and find a diveshop which can do O2 fills in scuba tanks (very few med O2 suppliers will). This will probably give you the most bang for the buck, in terms of duration, and has the advantage of being a demand system.

You can also get adaptors that let you use med regs on scuba tanks, and vv. If you choose to go with scuba gear you will still want to have a flowmeter and med non-rebreather mask around in case you have to treat an unconcious victim.

DiverInside - I have done EMS since 1992. Not sure anyone has built a two person O2 unit. You may be asking the unit to do too much. You could modify the unit to have two lines, you may be cutting the flow in half. For a practical solution, use a second unit.

Mandy3206 - Many places to get O2 units. Galls comes to mind. You could buy something on ebay or call a Medical supply house near you. They have new and old
units to sell. Make sure you have a model that gives 10/15 litres of flow. A Mask needs minimum of 10 litres to work. You may want to seek advise before buying a unit. If you never used one, you may buy something that does not meet your needs. I bought a valve that can connect a Scuba Regulator to a O2 bottle. I can not use it as I need a 100% O2 cleaned reg. My LDS would not handle modifying one of my regs to 100% O2 use and I am not willing to dedicate a reg to 100% O2. Happy shopping.

Mandy3206:

I'm looking for a oxygen kit in a pelican box designed for dive emergency, but can't find one.
Does anybody knows where I can find one of those kits online at a reasonable price?
.

Click to expand...

Diver Alert Network sells these in Pelican cases. I'm sure other places sell it also besides them.


see http://www.diversalertnetwork.org/e...&CFTOKEN=15204982&continue=1&SEARCH_TYPE=find

Actually, the better med regs (such as the ones DAN sells) are set up so you can run both a demand and constant flow mask simultaneously, and this allows treating two people at once as long as one of them is in good enough shape to use the demand mask.

Most med regs will output enough gas for two masks, but if one is running two constant flow masks off one reg the reg really ought to have a separate flowmeter for each, though a 30+ lpm reg and a tee could be used in a pinch as long as someone was keeping an eye on both bags to be sure they were both getting adequate flow. But extra regs are cheap and probably the best solution, if multiple tanks are available.

divenutny:

DiverInside - I have done EMS since 1992. Not sure anyone has built a two person O2 unit. You may be asking the unit to do too much. You could modify the unit to have two lines, you may be cutting the flow in half. For a practical solution, use a second unit.

Click to expand...

Thirty lpm is only 1 cfm. The typical oxygen regulator can handle it but the tank may be too small. Those little D cylinders are suspect, IMO, suitable only with a rebreather. However, the question revolves around multiple mouthpieces. I don't like the idea for other than use on a large dive boat with storage tank and octopus connections with separate free flow masks. These things are reliable, cheap, compact and disposable. Serious, expedition boats may carry multiple second stages on long hoses for stage decompression and could also be used for treatment of suspected bends. Personally, I don't have such a large boat. Normally, I carry one or two 45 cf steel tanks with two types of regulator as mentioned. If the diver is so bad off that he can't go back in the water, I would hook him up to a free flow mask. When pumping NITROX on the boat I also carry a 120 cf aluminum oxygen tank with regulator. In my kit there are also a couple of little, plastic free flow masks with the open port blocked with a piece of tape. There is also the usual 45 cf steel tank with SCUBA regulator for in water recompression. Only the first stage of the regulator need be cleaned. I am using an inexpensive USD regulator advertised for NITROX use. I use it with pure O2 with no problems. However, a cheap Conshelf or the like can be easily modified by replacing an O ring or two with viton and washing the small parts and passages with ENSOLV. In some cases, a new HP poppet valve is needed. For refilling the portable tanks, I use a Haskel to jam them to 2400 psi. I could go higher but even the 45cf (40 actual) steel tanks hold almost three times as much O2 as a D tank. I prefer steel tanks with O2. However, if one really wants to go cheap, there are plenty of "official" 25 cf E tanks for sale. I got a deal on the brand new 120 cf "official" oxygen tanks---$75 each on EBay. The main thing is to carry enough gas and not purchase a cute little, expensive set that will run out too soon or not be versatile enough for multiple uses. A rebreather might overcome the objection....$$$.
By now, you may suspect that I don't think too much of oxygen at sea level for treatment purposes. To get effective treatment, drop your butt to 2 atmospheres. However, that is not always an option. If the diver is too ragged or if night fall is nigh, then treatment on deck is pretty much it.