Air/Nitrox Fills

[paxtang]

OK, I hope I dont get beat up for this but Im getting set up to fill my own cylinders.. I have the big MC1A compressor and yes I will be sending off for an air test. I have no doubt I can easily produce breathing quality air but I would also like to produce O2 compatible air and blend my own nitrox. This is where it gets shady for me. Everything seems to be greatly exaggerated for extreme safety but I would like some real world answers.. just how clean does the air have to be and stay safe? Going by the tables you can breathe air with 20ppm oil particles 15,10ppm hydrocarbons water and so on.. but for O2 it drops to an amazingly clean 0.5ppm! Is the main danger the risk of explosion while filling or is it also harmful to breathe EANx mixed with "normal" breathing quality air?? I mean other than the nearly 100% O2 present in the cylinder during filling after mixed the typical solution is only 11% more O2 than plain air.

 

[iztok]

Main issue is with 100% O2 you are putting in. Hence everything that can contaminate that can be potential fire hazard.

 

[JahJahwarrior]

Vance Harlow's OXYGEN HACKER'S COMPANION From AIrspeed Press

^That's all I have to say...

 

[bleeb]

This thread might get more discussion over in Compressors, Boosters and Blending Systems. You may want to ask a Mod to move this thread there.

But as others have said, the main concern is the O2. At 100%, almost everything will burn once a fire has started, and most things with carbon (i.e. hydrocarbons, oil, dust, etc.) are pretty good at spontaneously combusting.

 

[paxtang]

Sorry, I actually looked to see if there was an air delivery forum but I guess I missed it.. Can this be moved there please?

 

[Rainer]

I mean other than the nearly 100% O2 present in the cylinder during filling after mixed the typical solution is only 11% more O2 than plain air.

That's some wonky math, LOL. If you're making 32%, that's closer to 50% more O2 than air, not 11%. In any case, the issue *is* presence of hydrocarbons in the high (initial) O2 environment.

 

[paxtang]

Guess it depends on how you look at it..:buggy:

 

[muddiver]

Use a Nitrox Stick and it really won't matter because the O2 is mixed before the compressor.

 

[BioLogic]

I'll leave the tech stuff to the guys who know more about it, but personally as a biologist I'd be worried about what the pure oxygen was doing to even micro-contaminants in the air. That's a whole lot of oxidation potential; and randomly partially oxidized hydrocarbons can certainly be quite toxic at the cellular level. I'm not sure it would be enough to cause a problem, but I wouldn't want to breathe it and find out.

 

[mikeb663]

Buy the oxyhacker manual!!! It is worth every penny and will answer your questions