my neurologist dumped me because I missed an appt. Could not drive, called to cancel but never got through. Now I am doctor less. Almost out of oxygen and imetrix is just making things worse. Any suggestions. Need help. My work is not getting this either, it is getting harder to dance all night then drive to work, I am saving my oxygen for work. How do we get ER to not treat us like junkies?

Welding oxygen used at very high flow.

Dirt cheap, readily available and available without a doctor. Did I mention dirt cheap?  I'm never without it (short of air travel) and I'm never in pain when I have it.

An ER trip is generally fruitless.

thank you sir. I will look into it.

Jrcox

DON'T tell the welding supply company you're going to be using it for medical use . . . just check their prices (sometimes you can buy the tanks and sometimes they're leased).  Medical regulators for welding cylinders are readily available on ebay for under $50.

I use the regular medical "E" tanks at a cost of $10 per exchange . . .I keep 15 . . . just got 9 refills day before yesterday.  I'm lucky in that my supplier doesn't charge me a deposit or monthly fee and I can have as many tanks as I want.  The initial cost of the welding tanks can be a bit pricey, but the refills amount to a fraction of the cost of medical 02. . . and yes it's the same stuff.

  Be Safe,   PFDANs

     Richard

Good point, Richard.

I forgot to mention that I told my supplier that I have friend who was going to teach me how to use a torch, but I needed to get the O2. They asked if I needed Acetylene too and I said: "Nope, but he told me to get the biggest O2 tank."

I paid $45 for an annual lease for a 5' tall, 150 lb. "T" size tank (9500 liters, or the equivalent of 14 E tanks) which costs me $18.50 to swap it out for a full tank.

I bought a special hose kit to refill my small "E" tanks for going portable. That works out to about to about $1.30 per "E" tank.

For what it's worth, I use an average of 4 minutes at 45-50 lpm plus another minute at 15-20 lpm. So I'm using roughly 240 liters of O2 per hit.

That works out to around 50 cents per CH.

Cheap is good, but NEVER reaching a high Kip level is priceless.........

Marc

Marc

  Thanks for the pricing info.  Do they deliver the refills or do you have to haul your tank?

  I've been meaning to go that route for a long time and I have a friend in the business who could make me a "pigtail" for filling my "E" tanks . . . and besides I do have an acetylene rig and would like to have it functional again . . . wouldn't take long to pay for the tanks at the rate I'm using my "E" tanks lately.

  Be Safe,    PFDANs

     Richard

Richard,

I drive an old pickup truck, so I just go get it. They will deliver for an additional charge.

Keep in mind that I went with the biggest tank available for my own convenience. I have helped other people get set up and they have with gone smaller tank(s) that fit in the trunk of their car.

When I have some cash available, I'll just buy a couple of tanks outright, but the T size runs about $200 and I'm tight on funding at the moment.

IMHO, dealing with high pressure O2 is safer than filling your car with gasoline, but there some very simple - but very important rules:

The obvious is no flames or heat sources nearby.

A less obvious thing is to remember that high pressure O2 will cause things to burn that won't burn with a regular flame. Oil of any kind is an example - even something as simple as excess skin oil or lotions will rapidly burn when exposed to high pressure O2.

Again, common sense and remember "no oil" makes it fine to handle.

Marc

Marc wrote on Nov 11^th, 2009 at 9:59am:

...even something as simple as excess skin oil or lotions will rapidly burn when exposed to high pressure O2.

...AND there's an ignition source present.

I doesn't just burn by itself.

Brew wrote on Nov 11^th, 2009 at 5:03pm:

Marc wrote on Nov 11th, 2009 at 9:59am: ...even something as simple as excess skin oil or lotions will rapidly burn when exposed to high pressure O2. ...AND there's an ignition source present. I doesn't just burn by itself.

I respectfully, but very strongly disagree with that statement.

No external source of ignition required. This point is often misunderstood - that’s why I mention it every so often.

When dealing with high pressure oxygen, like 2100+ psi on the high side of a regulator, spontaneous combustion is almost guaranteed just from the two coming into contact with each other.

It embodies the very definition of spontaneous combustion.

Aluminum O2 regulators ALWAYS have brass, bronze (or similar alloy) inserts because many aluminum alloys will also spontaneously combust merely from being exposed to high pressure O2 moving through an orifice at high velocity.

Marc

Well, I must admit that I am not familiar with the physics of suddenly and violently releasing the contents of an O2 tank pressurized at 2100 psi. I suppose it's very possible that spontaneous combustion could occur (maybe it's from the friction?). But there still has to be a fuel source as O2 is not a fuel.

I was talking more about O2 being released through a regulator at 15-25 lpm. No spontaneous combustion there, I wouldn't think.

Brew,

I don't claim to be an expert, BUT I have read many, many articles from the O2 industry talking about fires because of the weird characteristics of materials exposed to high pressure O2.

It doesn't take a sudden or violent release of O2 to cause the problem. As I said, any oils merely being exposed to the high pressure side will cause them to spontaneously combust under static conditions - the fuel source being the oil residue.

Have I tested it for myself? Nope, and I don't intend to do so.

You may recall Chuck talking about avoiding recalled medical O2 regulators on Ebay awhile back. That issue was raised after several people were burned because of aluminum surfaces on the high pressure side inside the regulators. Now all aluminum bodied regulators have brass alloy inserts.

Yes, some aluminum alloys will spontaneously combust in the presence of high pressure O2. The aluminum itself is the fuel with O2 being the oxidizer - this is all totally counter intuitive so people can get in trouble.

As you pointed out, this is all related to the tank side of the regulator. My whole point was to tell folks to keep things clean and dry, because oil migrates........

Best,
Marc

You're more of an expert than I am.

Marc wrote on Nov 12^th, 2009 at 12:33pm:

Yes, some aluminum alloys will spontaneously combust in the presence of high pressure O2. The aluminum itself is the fuel with O2 being the oxidizer - this is all totally counter intuitive so people can get in trouble.

It was discovered that the START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE not because of the hydrogen gas inside but because of the aluminum dust that was on the skin of the dirigible.