Pressure breathing O2 regulator these days?

For the more adventurous among us:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/2040887...age?ref=market

Take two along!

Dan Marotta

On 11/15/2014 8:59 AM, wrote:
Since I'm on my own quest for the double lennie next spring here's what I've learned. You probably have received the same info by digging around too but for those that haven't this should be good background.

As always with RAS remember what you paid for the info before you go use it yourself.

A-14's:
Seems like all the old shops of yesteryear that would perform overhauls have gone away. Through tiring searches you'll get to a firm called Fluid Power Inc. they have the rights to legally overhaul older units or manufacture brand new ones. Purchasing a brand new A-14 will cost about $1500 for the regulator and $500 for the blinker unit. Other options with FPI are overhauls that run about $600, but there's a catch; the unit can't be too old. Apparently there was an internal design change and they can only touch the newer units say from the latter 1970's and beyond. I know this because I sent them a very nice looking unit and they returned it untouched. Apparently I had one from the 50's. So try to give them serial number before you waste your money. If you scour their webpage you'll see they'll sell you not only A-14's but a very nice modern portable unit that is slaved to an oxygen tank. It has a government MS number that I can't recall at the moment. But this newer regulator isn't theirs and they essentially buy it from Cobham and the tank and will gladly sell it to you for around $15000. The other option with FPI is that they will sell the refurbish kit for the guts of the A-14. One verison is a 'soft' kit and the other is a 'hard' kit. The soft kit runs about $150 and should include all new baffles, seals, rubber parts that most of us are in need of I think. The hard kit is more expensive of course and includes a myriad of other items (springs and mechanical bits) that they replace when performing the overhaul. If they receive your business they will create or overhaul your not too old units. In that process they have a small chamber to test the unit up to altitude to ensure everything is working properly based on the different chambers the oxygen moves through for diluter demand, 100% O2 and pressure breathing. Expect a 3 month turn around if you send them or purchase anything. They are a small shop and don't keep things on the shelf.

The rectangular ARO/Bendix units:
These units are now being serviced by Cobham. Once you can get past the first level company contacts that only want to deal with large government contracts, you'll get to more friendly territory. They will gladly sell you a brand new unit which runs about $12000 (same unit the FPI will sell you but without the tank). If you send them a picture and serial number of what you have they'll do the lookup and gladly 'bring your unit up to standard'. They don't perform overhauls per say, just get your unit to mimic what they have the rights for. When I contacted them with photo and serial number of a unit I had, they provided a quote of $3500 to bring my unit to standard with an equivalent version that they sell.

Other Cobham products:
They have chest mounted units available (think C-17 crews pushing out pallets at high altitude), but I don't know how much they cost at the moment. Those units do run on a lower supply pressure so if you go this route you'll need another regulator in the loop from our high pressure tanks we use. If I remember correctly those chest mounted units require an 80psi or less input pressure. Certain units go from diluter demand to 100% O2 at a specified altitude of 32k feet if I think hard enough. I haven't looked too much into this option but I should as I think it's the smallest form factor for our cramped quarters.

That's pretty much all I know for now. Beyond the hardware side of things is the personnel side of things for agreeable wave windows and getting amenable conversations going for the dreaded RVSM limit, but that's a different topic.

If you've read this far, thanks! I've spoken to Einar, Harris, Gordon and Payne on this subject to try to determine my options. Even inquired through work contacts for who overhauls the units on flight test birds. This is the best info I've found so far. I even asked the ASU altitude chamber I attended who services their units. They were in the same boat trying to find a contact that would overhaul their units without breaking the bank.

Good luck,
Britton