O2 tank/r eg setup for deco/ emergency use?

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Bnscherm

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I'm thinking about picking up a new tank for 100% O2 use. The main purpose would be to keep in in the car/trailer for emergency use, but there may also be times when I would want to sling it as "stage" bottle for the added O2 benfits during safety/deco stops on deep dives.

I noticed that OMS makes a reg designed special for 100% O2 use, but I'm looking for other recommendations for tank sizes/styles as well as valve types. Are any of the medical grade O2 cylinders available at medical supply shops suitable for diving?

Thanks for the feedback. :)
 
What training do you have in deco using 100% O2. Also I see by your profile you have rescue cert. Did this include O2 training. If so you can get an O2 setup from DAN. It would not be for deco though. Oceanic also has a 100% O2 reg as I'm sure many of the major manufacturers do. You don't need a med cylinder for 100% O2. Any tank in good shape can be O2 cleaned. But taking a med setup and deciding to use it for deco without deco & advanced nitrox and maybe even trimix seems to be asking for trouble.
 
Sorry, my profile is not up to date. I do not have any deco training, but I have completed an Advanced Nitrox course as well as a seperate "Oxygen Admisnistration for the Professional Rescuer" course. If I end up getting an O2 setup now for emergency use I would want it to be compatible for diving when the time arises. Thanks again.
 
Medical tanks have different valves, and usually valve threads, so you either have to go with a scuba setup, with scuba valves, or a medical setup, with a medical valve. Adaptors are available to go from either one to the other, but since a medical tank cannot be used in the water (due the mostly the valve), while a scuba tank can be used in or out or the water, most divers doing what you describe use scuba tanks.

This makes a good use for old steel 72s, 40 to 60 alu, or even cheap bad alloy alu tanks, since unless you have a buddy with a booster you will not be filling them over 2000 psi. How practical using scuba tanks is depends very much on whether you can get 100% O2 fills where you are - most welding/med gas suppliers will not fill privately owned, non-medical tanks.

As to regulators, the easiest and cheapest solution is to just get an old scuba regulator cleaned for O2 and use that. Being a demand system, it will make the most efficient use of the gas, but will only work on a concious, reasonably functional diver. So it is very desirable to have some sort of rig - either a med reg with a non-rebreather mask and an adaptor to use it on a scuba tank, or an adaptor so you can use a non-rebreather mask on your 02 cleaned scuba reg - for treating unconcious subjects.

This is one of those things where you can spend a whole lot of money and still not get an optimal setup, or a little and get a very flexible one, so you got to do your homework.

The big problem with a combo deco/treatment tank is you can't count on it to still have enough gas in it when you need it. So it makes sense to have both a dedicated treatment and deco bottles, but set up so you can use both interchangeably with the regs, so the deco bottle can act as a backup to the med bottle - most med bottles just don't have the capacity necessary anyhow to optimally treat a serious incident (one more big advantage to using a 40 to 80 cf scuba bottle rather than a typical 12 to 22 foot med bottle).

Though if you going to be using the tank in a professional capacity (if you are an instructor, commercial boat owner, or DM) you might want to have a genuine medical setup for treatment, for liability reasons.
 
Thanks Vance, that's exactly what I needed to know. I guess my first step will need to be finding out what the availability is like in my area. It's too bad they won't fill O2 clean scuba tanks at med supply or welding shops, but that's kind of what I expected even though I've seen some people do some pretty scary stuff with those med tanks. I guess some senior citizens don't know any better?

How practical is it to rent a large H size tank and fill your own scuba tanks and med bottles with it on your own? I'm aware of the numerous concerns, but I'm sure people do it safely on there own all of the time. Please treat this as hypothetical as it is not something I plan to do.

http://cgi.ebay.com/MEDICAL-OXYGEN-...653815355QQcategoryZ75080QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I guess it's time to pick up a copy of the Oxygen Hacker book.
 
The dive store I work through gets K bottles of O2 filled for about $40-$50 a bottle. He has to lease the bottles for around $300 a year I believe. I may be wrong. You should be able to go to any LDS that blends Nitrox and get O2 fills if the tank is O2 cleaned of course. It may not be cost effective for you to get your own K bottle of O2. It depends on how much you use it.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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