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Portable Oxygen Bottle Refill

I’m sure I’m not the only RV’er to be frustrated by this but I’m having a heck of a time trying to get my portable oxygen bottle refilled at a reasonable price. It’s a small Mountain High AL-415 cylinder 14.7 cubic feet of oxygen at 2000 psi.

In the past a friend of mine generously filled it but his oxygen tanks are now low enough that the pressure output is insufficient to bring my tank to the full psi level. Using a medical oxygen refill station requires a prescription I’m told. Local welding oxygen suppliers won’t touch refilling an oxygen bottle used for breathing. FBO’s near me don’t have oxygen refill capability. The nearest place I’ve found is an airport maintenance shop about a 45 minute drive away and they want at least $50 to refill the small bottle. The drive plus recurring $50 refill cost every time I want to top my bottle off just seems like too much trouble.

Now I don’t use oxygen very often in my RV but I like to keep the bottle full for the unexpected trip. Due to age and an elevated diaphragm on one side, I tend to monitor my oxygen levels anytime I fly above 8000 feet and usually start supplementing my breathing with cannula oxygen around 8,500 feet.

Does anyone have a suggestion for a small oxygen bottle refill system that’s relatively inexpensive to purchase?
Most any gas/welding supply shop. If you want aviation approved, most places handle and fill it the same but give you the certificate. It used to cost me about $10 more for the certificate. In my certified planes, I even took my bottles to them for my 5-year check. I now live in TN and use Holston Gas, they have numerous branch stores.
 
Gents, PLEASE be careful with the do it yourself O2 fills. Oxygen is very combustible in the right environment and under pressure.
first, even a brand new bottle of O2 is only shipped at 2200psi. The big ones will fill your little bottle about 4 times and Then you are filling at a lower and lower pressure each time. Oxygen is getting pretty expensive as well. The hardware (read adapters and hoses) are not all built the same either. Those eBay specials can kill you if they break under pressure. Find a scuba store and make some friends. Also- make sure you are getting straight O2 and not a mix $8 fill is way too cheap. An O2 fill with good aviators oxygen should cost you $15 or more. I wouldn’t be surprised at $25. I would charge at least that for a fill.
 
Gents, PLEASE be careful with the do it yourself O2 fills. Oxygen is very combustible in the right environment and under pressure.
first, even a brand new bottle of O2 is only shipped at 2200psi. The big ones will fill your little bottle about 4 times and Then you are filling at a lower and lower pressure each time. Oxygen is getting pretty expensive as well. The hardware (read adapters and hoses) are not all built the same either. Those eBay specials can kill you if they break under pressure. Find a scuba store and make some friends. Also- make sure you are getting straight O2 and not a mix $8 fill is way too cheap. An O2 fill with good aviators oxygen should cost you $15 or more. I wouldn’t be surprised at $25. I would charge at least that for a fill.
It costs me $8 to refill with my own O2 set up by leasing 2 large aviators oxygen bottles from Airgas.
 
Surprised that there's been no discussion of low humidity oxygen refills to avoid freezing the line....
My understanding is there are only 2 grades of oxygen produced these days. So in a nutshell, medical, welding and ABO are the same. Probably the reason all medical applications include bubblers. I believe someone on VAF works at a plant that makes the stuff.

Tank sanitation standards will of course differ

 
My understanding is there are only 2 grades of oxygen produced these days. So in a nutshell, medical, welding and ABO are the same. Probably the reason all medical applications include bubblers.
Yes. Oxygen tends to be very drying to sensitive mucous membranes in the respiratory tract. Cheapest and most effective way to humidify the oxygen is to bubble it through sterile water.
 
Gents, PLEASE be careful with the do it yourself O2 fills. Oxygen is very combustible in the right environment and under pressure.
first, even a brand new bottle of O2 is only shipped at 2200psi. The big ones will fill your little bottle about 4 times and Then you are filling at a lower and lower pressure each time. Oxygen is getting pretty expensive as well. The hardware (read adapters and hoses) are not all built the same either. Those eBay specials can kill you if they break under pressure. Find a scuba store and make some friends. Also- make sure you are getting straight O2 and not a mix $8 fill is way too cheap. An O2 fill with good aviators oxygen should cost you $15 or more. I wouldn’t be surprised at $25. I would charge at least that for a fill.
Oygen DOES require care in handling but not because it is combustible. In the presence of oils, grease, & even heavy make up or sunscreen we should be careful. O2 can promote auto ignition and cause severe burns. I witnessed an incident years ago in which a welder with some grease on his gloves hooked up a bottle and suffered hand burns and missed a few days of work. It would be a bad day if something like that happened in flight.

In another life I worked in a chemical refinery where we did some gas separation and liquification. My suggestion is do your research on the subject. I've seen some bad stuff but other than the above welder incident they involved other gases. One included a breathing air bottle mistakenly filled with carbon dioxide. It was used in a confined space entry for vessel cleaning and repair. Thankfully the hole watch did his job well and the emergency response team quickly recovered the victim and he recovered quickly while enroute to the ER. That bottle was filled by a major well know gas supplier. This supplier also sells aviator oxygen, so there is that!

The concern over declining pressure in your aircraft bottle can be mitigated to a large degree with a trans fill bottle system using two or more bottles. I purchased my system from Precise Flight who was bought out by AerOx. They have quality stuff.

I fly to the mountains several times a year and I've been self-filling my tank using welders' oxygen at least the last 7 or 8 years. If I change a trans fill bottle out, I fill the aircraft tank and put on the canula while on the ground and breath for awhile to satisfy myself that the tank is ok to use before I fly with it. You can use a pulse oximeter on the ground to verify if you want to double check.

Just my experience and opinion...
 
This topic on oxygen reminds me of an incident back, way back, when I first started using bottle oxygen. I took my brand new bottle down to the local welding shop and ask them to fill with aviation oxygen. They said they didn't have any aviation oxygen. I said I was a pilot (Mr. Obvious) and I needed aviation oxygen only. The young guy hollered for someone in the back and told him I needed only aviation oxygen. He laughed and looked me, leaned across the counter and said "Boy, oxygen be oxygen. Been filling at welding shops ever since . Dan from Reno
 
I will say that any Airgas can get you aviators oxygen and it isn’t too much more expensive then welders oxygen. They are probably the same but why not get the thing you are after if it’s easy?
 
This topic on oxygen reminds me of an incident back, way back, when I first started using bottle oxygen. I took my brand new bottle down to the local welding shop and ask them to fill with aviation oxygen. They said they didn't have any aviation oxygen. I said I was a pilot (Mr. Obvious) and I needed aviation oxygen only. The young guy hollered for someone in the back and told him I needed only aviation oxygen. He laughed and looked me, leaned across the counter and said "Boy, oxygen be oxygen. Been filling at welding shops ever since . Dan from Reno
Go to a good dive shop unless you live near a larger city and there you might find a welding shop that fills their own. Cost normally about 15 bucks a bottle.
 
I will say that any Airgas can get you aviators oxygen and it isn’t too much more expensive then welders oxygen. They are probably the same but why not get the thing you are after if it’s easy?

I wouldn't try and convince anyone to do something they are not comfortable with and I applaud everyone's caution.

It's been several years since I checked but when I did, AirGas here wanted 150 bucks for an aviators oxygen bottle to fill the airplane bottle from. And it is special order. They don't stock it here. A one size larger welding oxygen bottle bought a few months ago cost $35. One large bottle will last me years. I keep track of my fill ups by using a sharpie pen to mark the date and beginning and ending pressures on the big bottles. IIRCC the last set went 4 years. When the pressure eventually gets low enough that I can only get the airplane bottle about 3/4 of the way full I take the lowest pressure of the bottles and use it on my oxyacetylene welding set up and buy a full bottle for the airplane.

But there is an investment in a tran-sfill hose and purchasing, (I don't rent) the large bottles from the supplier. For me, it has worked well and saved me money in the long run. There was a post not to long ago on VAF where I believe an FBO was trying to charge $150 to fill a bottle which is robbery plain and simple.

As for the dive shops, I live in semi arid part of the country where the lakes are shallow and murky and to my knowledge the nearest dive shop is over two hours away. The local fire departments only handle breathing air for SCBA's not O2.

This conversation reminds me of the mogas debates. It takes some research and effort but either can be done safely. An internet search will turn up several articles from Deakon, AOPA's Dr. Brent Blue (mentioned in a post above) and others attesting to the difference between grades of oxygen.
 
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