Chris wrote:
"Stay away from the Nitrox stick. Most people are no longer making them as they can back flow into your compressor and blow it up."
There is only one manufacturer of the Nitrox Stik. There are a number of other people trying to make them. What I have seen from all but one of these knockoffs is someone that does not know what they are doing. With a ripoff clone you usually get one that will not provide complete mixing and you can get a stream of pure O2 going INTO your compressor. (The stik is placed upstream so it can not "backflow" into the compressor.) Pure O2 in a compressor can cause an explosion. The Nitrox Stik was extensively tested and came through with flying colors.
"My friend in Washington State had that happen to him."
Provide contact information so we can determine if it was really a Nitrox Stik or a clone.
"Membranes are WAY to expensive."
Agreed and the performance is limited.
"Sometimes you need to look back and do what the old timers did....partial pressure blending. You need a O2 clean block, digital pressure guage, fill whip and a way to measure the O2 in you tank....and your are ready to go. You need to have your air tested for O2 compatability. If you have OCA air you are in business for $3,000.00."
For $3,000 this is way too much for a digital gauge, whip and oxygen analyzer. I can get top line stuff for $1,000.
"I have been blending this way for a long time, my technical instructor/friend has been doing this for 15 years. I give my customer on the money fills day in and day out. "
I don't doubt it, but you forgot to mention that you need more than one tank (in fact multiple tanks), and you can never get all of the O2 out when PP blending. With a continuous blending setup you only need one tank of O2 and you can use all of it. You can get a complete setup for less than the $3,000 mentioned as well.
I still do PP blending for my 50%. All of the other stuff is by continuous blending including trimix. The continuous blending is also a lot safer than PP mixing.
omar
