Question Valve for 100% O2 Deco Bottle

[rddvet]

That’s my plan. I’m glad to hear they work well too.

They may be good valves but not worth extra money. First time they get hooked up to a dive shops fill lines you have the potential for contamination and even if the valve “opens more slowly” you could still go boom. The reality is oxygen fires are not that common in our world. Mind you I’m not saying they don’t exist. Rather than rely on a piece of equipment to make you “feel” safer, choose to make good habits (slowly opening a valve, making sure you only use fill stations truly pumping clean gas) your priority. I would argue that 99% of tech divers don’t use these valves and ,ost of us live to tell the tale.
Dgx has great valves. Imo those special valves are unnecessary. But it’s just my opinion. But I also own my own fill station with a k14 compressor, electric boost pump, and completely separate manifold and fill whip setups to minimize cross contamination to my oxygen clean stuff. But honestly I believe oxygen safety in our field is over exaggerated. It takes common sense. Not sure about your local fill station, but I know a ton of fill stations, esp ow shops, where common sense has never been existed and they haven’t blown up yet.

 

[Lorenzoid]

"Necessary" or not, kudos to DGX for coming up with this option. Back when I bought my Al40s from them, they weren't offering an O2-specific valve. Do you believe other valve manufacturers in the tech-oriented market will follow suit? For a long time, the only O2-specific feature available from any valve manufacturer was a green handwheel and a promise that it was factory-clean and that O2-compatible lube had been used.

 

[rob.mwpropane]

It makes more sense to get into a habit of O2 cleaning than to rely on gear to be O2 clean or O2 "suitable". You can get the O2 valve, but should still O2 clean, in which case either valve will work and which valve you get is a moot point.

I shoot for a yearly O2 clean but if I'm being really honest I fall short on that. It probably ends up being every other year.

 

[rddvet]

. Do you believe other valve manufacturers in the tech-oriented market will follow suit?

Let me introduce you to my friend Brad Horn.
Thats a joke. Don't say his name two more times or he'll show up.
(for anybody that doesnt get the joke, search his name here).

 

[rjack321]

"Necessary" or not, kudos to DGX for coming up with this option. Back when I bought my Al40s from them, they weren't offering an O2-specific valve. Do you believe other valve manufacturers in the tech-oriented market will follow suit? For a long time, the only O2-specific feature available from any valve manufacturer was a green handwheel and a promise that it was factory-clean and that O2-compatible lube had been used.

Or it's all a marketing ploy and basically irrelevant compared to valve seat contamination via fills and grungy whips and DIN threads.

 

[mr_v]

"Necessary" or not, kudos to DGX for coming up with this option. Back when I bought my Al40s from them, they weren't offering an O2-specific valve. Do you believe other valve manufacturers in the tech-oriented market will follow suit? For a long time, the only O2-specific feature available from any valve manufacturer was a green handwheel and a promise that it was factory-clean and that O2-compatible lube had been used.

There are other slow opening valves. This thread discusses the "best valves" which is a highly subjective topic. The "best" secret is the Thermo valves that DGX routinely sells at bargain prices - $70 for two!

Thermo Pro DIN/K 3000 Standalone Valves (Typical Side) - Pair

Value priced as a pair! This version of the the Thermo Standalone Valve has a 5000 psi burst disk suitable for use with cylinders up to 3000 psi service pressure.

www.divegearexpress.com

This is where OSHA and other folks may get mad at me... I won't go into details, but will say that I've seen a few of them on O2 tanks. Look up these valves using the search function.

Cheers~

 

[SaltyWombat]

The slow-opening valve sounds appealing, but I use my deco and stage regs interchangeably, and I'm not sure I'd want a stage reg that takes many more turns to open or close.

I own one of these DGX valves. I can confirm it takes many revolutions to fully open, which I find a pain on a deco bottle. I only dive 50% O2 anyhow, so I'll likely switch to a standard valve.

I'd use the valve with 100% though.

It's possible I find it a nuisance because I use a Mk25 as a deco reg. The way the reg is placed only leaves a little room on the hand wheel for my fingers. If I switched to a non-swivel stage reg, I could get a better grip on the hand wheel and would probably like it more.

 

[BigGixx]

Resurrecting this as I too was wondering what the major difference was. I'll stick with using the normal valves and clean my valves yearly.

 

[Badger7]

Best case I've heard for buying the special "O2 clean" valves and regs with the green valve handles and green plastic spacers is not because the hardware itself is necessarily much different, but its a good indication for you and others come maintenance time which is which and you're more careful to do a thorough cleaning and only use O2 compatible lubricants on the equipment used with highly enriched oxygen gases, and then later on know which cylinder and which reg got the extra attention.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Best case I've heard for buying the special "O2 clean" valves and regs with the green valve handles and green plastic spacers is not because the hardware itself is necessarily much different, but its a good indication for you and others come maintenance time which is which and you're more careful to do a thorough cleaning and only use O2 compatible lubricants on the equipment used with highly enriched oxygen gases, and then later on know which cylinder and which reg got the extra attention.

Cylinder valves, maybe, but regs? All my regs, regardless of what gas I use them with, are cleaned to the same standard, which includes O2-compatible lube. Why use anything else?