Oxygen- EasyPulse 5 conserving regulator?

Hi all,

I'd like to hear from anyone who has used the EasyPulse 5 while flying,
and can confirm whether it works at 12K-18K altitudes. Trying to put
together a good but low-buck oxygen system.

-Dan

"Dan Youngquist" wrote in message
ell.org...
Hi all,

I'd like to hear from anyone who has used the EasyPulse 5 while flying,
and can confirm whether it works at 12K-18K altitudes. Trying to put
together a good but low-buck oxygen system.


Oxygen system oxymoron. (Had to throw that in)

Matt Barrow wrote:

a good but low-buck oxygen system.

Oxygen system oxymoron. (Had to throw that in)

Well, not necessarily. (I assume the above is what you're referring
to.) I'll have a better system for less than 1/3 the cost of the least
expensive aviation oxygen systems I've seen. Including adapters to
refill from any medical or welding oxygen cylinder, I'll still be at
around half the cost.

-Dan

Dan Youngquist wrote:
Matt Barrow wrote:

a good but low-buck oxygen system.

Oxygen system oxymoron. (Had to throw that in)

Well, not necessarily. (I assume the above is what you're referring
to.) I'll have a better system for less than 1/3 the cost of the least
expensive aviation oxygen systems I've seen. Including adapters to
refill from any medical or welding oxygen cylinder, I'll still be at
around half the cost.

-Dan

Do tell/share!

Do tell/share!

I would also like to have a cheaper than average o2 hook up for the few
times I need to go high. Can you advise, or others, ideas?

wrote:
Do tell/share!

I would also like to have a cheaper than average o2 hook up for the few
times I need to go high. Can you advise, or others, ideas?

You can get an aluminum medical type cylinder via eBay... There are
companies that sell the fittings and hoses to allow you to fill it from
a welding bottle... If you're lucky, the medical cylinder will even
have a regulator on it... All that is left after that is some sort of
breathing device and that just depends upon your preference... The
medical canulas can also be picked up there... Sometimes, you can even
get all of it in one package... From there, you get yourself a large
welding cylinder and get it filled up with O2 at your local welding gas
supplier... It costs nearly the same to fill up a small cylinder as it
does a large one, so get the largest cylinder that you can justify...
Often this will be one that you will swap out at the supplier instead
of waiting for them to fill it, so going with a size that is common for
the oxy-acetylene rigs in your area is advisable... From an economical
standpoint, you should go with whatever the largest tank you can afford
and handle... I find the large commercial ones that you see at the
construction sights to be light enough that I can put over my shoulder
and carry... Use as large of a steel tank as you can find since this is
going to be what you are going to be refilling the small tank from...
Your small tank will probably be aluminum and will need to hold as much
oxygen as you might possibly use on a trip away from home... I believe
that the one I use is classified as a T-size cylinder (or perhaps a
"K")... A hand card and a couple of straps will allow you to save your
back a bit if you can't the 130-140 lbs that it weigh empty... A "T"
size tank is good for 337 cu-ft at 2640 psi... A "K" size tank is good
for 249 cu-ft at 2200 psi... Unless you see up a bank of multiple tanks
and fill from the lower pressure tanks first, you're not going to get a
full 2200 psi fill for your aircraft's tank very many times... It's
unlikely that you'll need a full 2200 psi for a trip anyway, so that
shouldn't be that big of a deal... What you need to do is calculate the
cu-ft of O2 that you will need and the number of cu-ft that your
aircraft tank is holding at the pressure that you were able to put into
it...

IIRC, medical tanks use a CGA 870 connector whereas welding tanks use a
CGA 540 connector... You'll need to get the appropriate connectors when
you're wanting to build your transfer hose... Some of the online SCUBA
shops will be able to sell you the connectors since some divers mix
their own breathing gas... I believe that I bought all my fittings from
Fill Express down in SoFL... There are some especially anal retentive
people who will say that you should only use either aviation grade or
medical grade O2 for breathing... That is total bull****... There are
quite a few divers who have used welding O2 for many years and the
partial pressure of the O2 is quite a bit more than you will ever
encounter as a pilot and it hasn't caused anyone a problem yet... Even
welding O2 is at least 99.9% O2... According to:
http://www.c-f-c.com/specgas_products/oxygen.htm
"we have been told by the suppliers of welding oxygen, the purity level
required for welding and cutting purposes is more critical than for
breathing."
and
"The bottom line about the different types of oxygen is in the
insurance liability of the oxygen supplier. The gas is the same but the
insurance liability is different."