Nitrox Stick Manufacturers
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Tri-Hunter 6000 Trimix/Nitrox Mixing Stick | TriHunter6000 is one that I know of. Never used it but know those who have.
swamp diver
Contributor
clownfishsydney
Contributor
Make one yourself, costs a few dollars compared to thousands for a purchased one. Nothing hard about making it, Google will give you plans etc.
OP
I am in Libya and we won't have everything necessary to make it or will be of very low quality. I also don't have the time or the tools or the patience since I am already running in different directions to build our project here and traveling all over the Libyan coastline (almost 2000Km) while dealing with security issues. I'd rather deal with somebody who has been doing it for a long time and would help us integrated it with a compressor setup and be available for consultations and suggestions on how to work everything.
A Nitrox mixing stick does not to be high quality, it just needs to mix air and oxygen without creating too much resistance to airflow.
I used about $10 of PVC plumbing pipe, and a $10 air filter. Commercial Nitrox sticks cost a few thousand dollars. The cost savings really make it worthwhile looking into a homemade project.
People here on this forum can direct you to some plans for making your own Nitrox stick, and also give you information on how to assess and adjust the performance of your homemade Nitrox stick.
Basically a Nitrox stick is an extension of the compressor intake. You feed in oxygen at the top of the stick, and the baffles inside of the Nitrox stick mix the air and oxygen so that it is a homogenous gas as it enters the compressor intake.
An oxygen analyzer at the bottom of the stick tells you whether or not your Nitrox stick is mixing properly. If the O2 reading is stable, then your stick is mixing properly. If your O2 reading bounces around a lot, then your stick is not mixing adequately and you need to add or modify the baffles.
Also, if your O2 analyzer reading drops a lot when you turn on the compressor, then your stick has too much resistance to airflow and you need to remove or modify the baffles.
The oxygen analyzer and blue T-tube can be purchased from Oxycheq.
My baffles are PVC end caps with holes drilled through them. The holes of each baffle are offset from the holes on the adjacent baffles so the air has to zig-zag through the Nitrox stick. Initially I had too much resistance, so I just drilled the holes bigger and removed one baffle.
I use a lawn mower air filter on top of my Nitrox stick
I use a standard welding regulator for my oxygen supply. The clear pastic tubing feeds into the top if my Nitrox stick. With the compressor running, you adjust the oxygen flow to produce the desired Nitrox mix by watching the oxygen analyzer. I leave the compressor bleed valves open until I have the Nitrox mix dialed in, which takes less than a minute. Once I am producing the proper Nitrox mix, I close the compressor bleed valves to start filling the tanks. The welding regulator valve is adequately sensitive to achieve any desired Nitrox mix. The second valve shown in the photo below (just downstream from the welding regulator) proved to be not necessary for fine control of the oxygen flow .
حظا سعيدا
Harry
I used about $10 of PVC plumbing pipe, and a $10 air filter. Commercial Nitrox sticks cost a few thousand dollars. The cost savings really make it worthwhile looking into a homemade project.
People here on this forum can direct you to some plans for making your own Nitrox stick, and also give you information on how to assess and adjust the performance of your homemade Nitrox stick.
Basically a Nitrox stick is an extension of the compressor intake. You feed in oxygen at the top of the stick, and the baffles inside of the Nitrox stick mix the air and oxygen so that it is a homogenous gas as it enters the compressor intake.
An oxygen analyzer at the bottom of the stick tells you whether or not your Nitrox stick is mixing properly. If the O2 reading is stable, then your stick is mixing properly. If your O2 reading bounces around a lot, then your stick is not mixing adequately and you need to add or modify the baffles.
Also, if your O2 analyzer reading drops a lot when you turn on the compressor, then your stick has too much resistance to airflow and you need to remove or modify the baffles.
The oxygen analyzer and blue T-tube can be purchased from Oxycheq.
My baffles are PVC end caps with holes drilled through them. The holes of each baffle are offset from the holes on the adjacent baffles so the air has to zig-zag through the Nitrox stick. Initially I had too much resistance, so I just drilled the holes bigger and removed one baffle.
I use a lawn mower air filter on top of my Nitrox stick
I use a standard welding regulator for my oxygen supply. The clear pastic tubing feeds into the top if my Nitrox stick. With the compressor running, you adjust the oxygen flow to produce the desired Nitrox mix by watching the oxygen analyzer. I leave the compressor bleed valves open until I have the Nitrox mix dialed in, which takes less than a minute. Once I am producing the proper Nitrox mix, I close the compressor bleed valves to start filling the tanks. The welding regulator valve is adequately sensitive to achieve any desired Nitrox mix. The second valve shown in the photo below (just downstream from the welding regulator) proved to be not necessary for fine control of the oxygen flow .
حظا سعيدا
Harry
Last edited:
Surface Tension
Contributor
Nice stick doc. I agree, piece of cake to make out of PVC.
I use a properly sized flow control orifice on the O2 regulator, then I never have to worry about a valve being changed. The first time I start my compressor, I generate a concentration curve based on the PSI on my O2 reg. so i know exactly what percent 02 is going through my compressor at any given time. I also put a small sleeve of 1/2 inch copper pipe on the regulator handle so that it can not be screwed in to deliver more then 38 percent or so to the compressor. I also have an O2 solenoid that shuts off flow to the stick in the event the compressor looses power. Because of these safeguards I do not sample upstream of my compressor; only downstream to tweak concentration. I have blended nitrox for several years this way. As doc said the analyzer upstream would give you an indication of improper mixing and if you have too much resistance in the stick.
I use a properly sized flow control orifice on the O2 regulator, then I never have to worry about a valve being changed. The first time I start my compressor, I generate a concentration curve based on the PSI on my O2 reg. so i know exactly what percent 02 is going through my compressor at any given time. I also put a small sleeve of 1/2 inch copper pipe on the regulator handle so that it can not be screwed in to deliver more then 38 percent or so to the compressor. I also have an O2 solenoid that shuts off flow to the stick in the event the compressor looses power. Because of these safeguards I do not sample upstream of my compressor; only downstream to tweak concentration. I have blended nitrox for several years this way. As doc said the analyzer upstream would give you an indication of improper mixing and if you have too much resistance in the stick.
OP
Questions please:
1. In this setup, do I have to worry about adding more filtration at the compressor to make the air "O2" clean?
2. Can the nitrox stick be in the same room where the compressor is including the air intake or do I have to install it in a different room so it won't suck air with a running compressor in the same room?
1. In this setup, do I have to worry about adding more filtration at the compressor to make the air "O2" clean?
2. Can the nitrox stick be in the same room where the compressor is including the air intake or do I have to install it in a different room so it won't suck air with a running compressor in the same room?
Surface Tension
Contributor
No additional filtration is needed.
Same room is fine for stick and compressor.
If you have any way of buying this reference, do it. It will answer many of your questions as well as many other you didn't even know you had!
Vance Harlow's OXYGEN HACKER'S COMPANION From AIrspeed Press
Same room is fine for stick and compressor.
If you have any way of buying this reference, do it. It will answer many of your questions as well as many other you didn't even know you had!
Vance Harlow's OXYGEN HACKER'S COMPANION From AIrspeed Press
clownfishsydney
Contributor
The filter at the top is more to stop bugs etc getting into it (at least that is why I have it on mine).
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