Helium in balloons

[LanceRiley]

Hi in my area, tech diving is scarce for locals. Use to be popular with tourists. Locals didnt seem to have interest. Due to the pandemic, a few locals have tried tech diving. lucky for us. There are still a few tech instructors teaching.

i found a supply of helium the company imports them from china. They were surprised that i was asking about breathable helium.

Is this the same helium? Just analyze it? And if it says 99% its all good?

 

[Tracy]

Hi in my area, tech diving is scarce for locals. Use to be popular with tourists. Locals didnt seem to have interest. Due to the pandemic, a few locals have tried tech diving. lucky for us. There are still a few tech instructors teaching.

i found a supply of helium the company imports them from china. They were surprised that i was asking about breathable helium.

Is this the same helium? Just analyze it? And if it says 99% its all good?

Pretty much.
In the states, balloon grade helium is cut with oxygen to make it life supporting and cheaper. I have found between 15 and 40% oxygen in balloon gas.
If it is 100% helium, it is probably just industrial grade helium with an analysis.
You partial pressure blending or continuous mixing through a compressor and filtration?

 

[tursiops]

In the states, balloon grade helium is cut with oxygen to make it life supporting and cheaper. I have found between 15 and 40% oxygen in balloon gas.

^^^THIS^^^
So that when idiots breathe it to sound squeaky, they don't die. It is a Darwin-defeating thing.

 

[broncobowsher]

Balloon grade is good enough to float a balloon. If you are lucky, you are getting standard industrial helium. But that is not always the case. There are stories of balloon grade helium that won't float a balloon. Maybe cut with O2, maybe cut with air. Recently saw one post where the analyzer reported hydrogen in the helium. Sure, it will float a balloon.

The good part is you got an analysis and it does come back as Helium. That is good. Just never assume that balloon grade is always good to use.

 

[arew+4]

I would be worried about trace contaminants, especially with it coming out of China. Things can be present at much lower concentrations than 0.1% that could adversely impact your short and long term health.

 

[LanceRiley]

Pretty much.
In the states, balloon grade helium is cut with oxygen to make it life supporting and cheaper. I have found between 15 and 40% oxygen in balloon gas.
If it is 100% helium, it is probably just industrial grade helium with an analysis.
You partial pressure blending or continuous mixing through a compressor and filtration?

mixing will be on a compressor and filtration.
if pure hellium, industrial grade. Can we breathe that? For trimix?
so how do we check ? Can we just use a trimix analyzer?

should it show 99%? And is that it?

 

[LanceRiley]

I would be worried about trace contaminants, especially with it coming out of China. Things can be present at much lower concentrations than 0.1% that could adversely impact your short and long term health.

This is noted. This is what imfraid of

 

[arew+4]

You could probably find a local contract lab, they do lots of environmental analysis work. Should be able to do thorough analysis. Tell them what you have and what you want to do with it. They will likely be able to suggest some tests probably GC/GC-MS (gas chromatography) very sensitive, often down to ppb levels something analytes may be at ppt level not my field but limited prior experience.

 

[LanceRiley]

You could probably find a local contract lab, they do lots of environmental analysis work. Should be able to do thorough analysis. Tell them what you have and what you want to do with it. They will likely be able to suggest some tests probably GC/GC-MS (gas chromatography) very sensitive, often down to ppb levels something analytes may be at ppt level not my field but limited prior experience.

Noted on this. This is a good idea

 

[Tracy]

^^^THIS^^^
So that when idiots breathe it to sound squeaky, they don't die. It is a Darwin-defeating thing.

It is also much cheaper. Cutting with 30% oxygen is basically 30% cheaper. Oxygen is essentially free for a gas company, the costs are in the bottling and infrastructure surrounding it.