In an O2 fill desert

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Marie13

Great Lakes Mermaid
ScubaBoard Supporter
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Location
Great Lakes
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I thought I’d have a much easier time with O2 fills, whether for deco or CCR bottles, than I would for helium. Not much better.

Shop by my office will fill them, but they have some outside guy come in to do it. Regular air/banked nitrox is filled in a containment box like a fire station might have. Other divers tell me it can take 1-2 weeks turnaround time. Plus they won’t do from November through April due to the booster being in a garage. I dive all winter so that’s an issue. The divers who get CCR bottles at this shop have 3-4 O2 bottles just from the long turnaround time. Custom nitrox mixes at this shop are treated like O2 fills. They do bank 32%.

Shop that fills my 85s nicely and has good nitrox prices and no problems filling O2 bottles is closed 3-4 weeks out of the year when the owner is off diving. And it’s always been at inconvenient times for me. It’s a one man shop in the store. It’s an hour from the office and then an hour home. 1-2 day turnaround time.

There’s another shop I’ve gotten fills at once. Has a good reputation. They have no problem doing O2 fills, but you have to always call ahead, even in the summer, to make sure they have enough O2 on hand. 1-2 day turnaround time. Also an hour from the office and then an hour home.

What is it like for your O2 fills?
 
for OC I go to my garage, hook the tank up to R2D2 *Invacare O2 concentrator with a Homefill unit on top*, turn R2D2 on and come back the next day with a tank filled to about 2200psi. If I need more, I hook it up to the booster and top it off from another bottle.

For CCR I go to my garage, hook the tank up to the booster that is connected to a T bottle of "real" O2 from the gas supply store and fill to whatever pressure I want.

When I go to cave country I pack the Pelican case with a booster and an 80 of O2, plug the Pelican into 110v and top off whatever bottles I need and/or go to Amigos/Edd's and get the big bottle topped off as needed since I have to take my entire rebreather out to get the sphere filled.
 
I walk downstairs and fire off one of the 7 boosters in my basement.
Isn't that how most people do it?
 
I’ve seen your basement plenty of times. :D
 
What you describe is exactly why I own a booster. Every fill was a 2-trip event. And being at least an hour away, it was taking 4-6 hours out of my life and what little free time I had available to get fills. So I fill at home. It is rebreather bottles, not a set of doubles. I get enough fills I'm not even sure how often I see my gas supplier, not very often compared to going to the dive shop. I still go to the dive shop to get my air, that I later blend with.
 
I don't dive DECO or O2 so am asking out of curiosity. Is it possible to get an O2 fill for SCUBA from somewhere that does Medical O2 fills?

I'm the first aid attendant at my work and have several nearby choices when our medical O2 needs a refill.
 
I don't dive DECO or O2 so am asking out of curiosity. Is it possible to get an O2 fill for SCUBA from somewhere that does Medical O2 fills?

I'm the first aid attendant at my work and have several nearby choices when our medical O2 needs a refill.

Typically not because they do not have the fill adapters to handle it so it can get a bit weird, plus in this country they are unlikely to accept the liability blah blah blah. If you have a CGA540 or Pin Index to din/yoke adapter some of them may, but it's unlikely. You can find the homefill combos for under $1k on a regular basis which gets you unlimited O2 at 2200psi *If you get one, make sure it comes with at least one of the bottles since you'll need it to adapt the quick connect*. You have to spend another $200-$300 on the fill whips, but that's not bad. It's slow, but highly effective. It's the only way to do it without a $5k investment in a baby booster, or more if you get a bigger one.
 
What is it like for your O2 fills?
Wow, that's a crummy experience you've got. Many shops in town here offer o2, fewer offer helium - although it's not terribly hard to come by. My favorite shop (sunshine scuba) fills my deco 40 with o2 for about 20 bucks or so (unless it's gone up since my last fill). You could even buy a used concentrator for fairly cheap and use that. They can do it while I wait, although I'm a bit skittish on o2 fills so usually I will drop my tank off.
 
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