Hi all. I just thought I'd share my experience with the Harbor Freight O2 regulator. Not sure if this has been discussed already. Here goes....

I only found out about using oxygen about a weak ago, from the nice people on this site. Since then I scored a large bottle (without a prescription for now). The regulators I was given only went up to 15 lps. This works for the most part but I was finding that the bag on my regular non-rebreather would not fill fast enough. I read in a few posts that a couple people had luck with the Harbor Freight regulator. I picked one up and noticed a couple things. The first thing I did (being a master plumber) is soap tested the fittings. I used some dish liquid mixed with water - in a spray bottle. I turned the tank on with the regulator tightened down. Sprayed the fittings and found two leaks. One was pouring out O2. I wound up unscrewing all the fittings and tephlon taping them. Retested ok.

Just thought I would bring this up as a safety concern. I always shut the main valve off after each usage too. It's a good habit to get into. Otherwise.... this regulator is waaaay better than the others I had. Just my 2 cents.

Safety concerns with Oxygen are indeed critical, so I would NOT suggest doing what you are recommending!!!

1) Many (most) common Teflon tape formulations should never be exposed to high pressure oxygen as they will self combust rapidly without a flame/heat source.  In fact, many common materials become extremely combustible (even highly explosive) when exposed to high pressure, pure O2 environments. Even common metals like aluminum will burn/flash/explode BIG time! Do a little research and you will be amazed.............

2) Many types of brass/bronze/stainless fittings are designed in such a way to mate vapor tight with a "metal-to-metal" face connection at very high pressures.

Water pipe fittings for example may benefit from thread sealer - BUT Oxygen CGA-540 and GGA-870 fittings are NOT in this group!

If you have a leak, find out where the defect is and fix it - instead of trying to patch a leak with Teflon tape! If you feel that you really need to use tape, find the yellow type rated for medium pressure use.

Be safe out there!

Thanks for the info. I'm so used to thread sealing domestic and gas lines with tephlon or pipe dope everyday. I wasn't aware of that. Thanks very much.