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Reply-To: lancair.list@olsusa.com
From: "Gary Casey" <glcasey@gte.net>
To: <lancair.list@olsusa.com>
Subject: oxygen
Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2001 06:06:08 -0800
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>>I should be in the oxygen business.<<

Here's what I did in a previous partnership.  We had a Skylane Turbo RG that
we used a lot at high altitudes and used the plane about 200 hours a year.
The FBO told us that he got "aviation breathing oxygen" and it was different
from "ordinary" oxygen because it was free of any water that could freeze in
the pipes.  One of the owners that was in the steel erection business went
to his welding supplier and said "I want a tank of aviation oxygen."  The
said "what?  Never heard of it."  So he went to the manufacturer, which I
think was the largest supplier of the stuff.  They said that all oxygen is
the same - it is made by fractionally distilling air as is as pure as it can
be.  If there were any water in it the corrosion in the tanks would be
horrendous.  There is no CO in it because of the way it is distilled (as
opposed to diver's air, which could possibly be compressed from air
downstream of a gasoline-power compressor).  So finally he went to the
welding supply and said "give me some oxygen."  Which they promptly did.  We
rigged up the hose and fittings to connect to the built-in tank and refilled
it that way for several years without any problem.  It would be nice to have
reduced the volume in the system so that we lost less each time, but it
still worked.  The flexible hose from the bottle to the aircraft should be
the smallest dia possible because of this.  When the bottle got down to
about half (1500 psi, the rating of the built-in tank.  He exchanged the
bottle for a new one and used the old one for welding.  I think we paid
about $7 a month for demurrage on the bottle, but you can buy one, too, and
then exchange that.

I think it was a big safety factor as we were never hesitant to use oxygen.
I probably refilled the tank once a month or so with about 3 of us flying it
regularly.  The bottle would last for several (5 to 10) fills.

Gary Casey
ES project, turbocharged, with portable oxygen planned.

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