Welders Oxy

[DIVE BUDDHA]

i think when o2 is delivered to a patient in hospital it has to be humidified by bubbling the o2 through water i think but the gas must come from a main cylinder thats in turn filled by a boc lorry lol!!! i bet its all the same ??lol!!!

[Paul Oliver]

Ahh

We used welding grade for years no problemo, but we were not doing long hangs on it. We also cleaned our own cylinders no problemo. But we also used BSAC 88 tables - No problemo.

Dive Safe, Dive Nitrox

Paul

[Mary]

It all comes out the same tap in the BOC factory, medical does not have to be humidified, it's all about the cylinders it's put into that designate it's category.

HTH

Mary

[Narked@50]

This could mean a real reduction in price and the same standard of O2 for a lot of people? I respect Marys view as she knows the hospital side of things but is there anyone in the know from the BOC lot, or similar, that can verify this from the "industry" side. (the guys making/filling it, not those using it.)

James ??

[Andrew H]

From a liability point of view you're not likely to see welders O2 being sold for breathing but I did see "breathing O2" listed somewhere I think at Air Liquide. That could be another alternative if anyone has a local branch. I'm sure various people hav been there and done this before, maybe they all hang elsewhere?

Andrew

[Dominic]

It gets mentioned on UKRS from time to time... you've mostly got two types - the "It all comes from the same supply, so breathe whatever's cheapest" group, and the "It's not certified breathable so don't be bloody stupid" group

I vaguely recall hearing that if it's going to be breathed, a cylinder gets vacuumed to empty, while a welding cylinder just gets emptied down to atmospheric, so there is a slightly higher risk of contamination. No idea how true it is tho.

I think mostly, you're not paying for a superior product, just for the additional paperwork - A friend of mine has a business supplying nuts & bolts and the like. What he supplies to the army is about ten times the price of the same product for a hardware store. They are utterly identical products, from the same source, but the army ones come with a ton of paperwork so you know exactly who, where, when, and how it was made, whereas the store just get a receipt

[Norbert]

The O2 we use from Linde Gas is "diving/flying oxygen", with the distinction being the moisture content of the gas as opposed to other types of oxygen (welding etc.)

The reduction in moisture content is not only good for pilots flying at high altitude and therefore low temperatures, but also good for the inside of your tanks as there is less likelihood of corrosion.

[Brass Monkey]

Thanks guys, that’s pretty much what I was told “it all comes from the same tap so use whatever you like”. These lads were diving OC in Dubai so the cost was probably more than the UK and a lot more that using a breather. Id forgot most of what was said though as I’d had quite a few that night. I just remembered someone going on about the savings he made with welders oxy, the pictures a lot more clear now though.

Thanks,

Dave.

[japandiver]

One cheaper way to get O2 from your local supplier is to ask for "food grade" O2. The product code is the same as that used for medical O2 but but cylinders used for food grade O2 are kept cleaner than welding cylinders.

That said, if you use welding O2 with a regular hp filter (activated carbon plus mol. sieve) IMO you should have no problems.

Hugh

[Bob Cooper]

A J of diving grade O2 is about £25 and you can do an aweful lot of nitrox fills for that. Don't see what the problem is. It's all the same stuff and comes from the same source anyway. Dunno how much a J of welding O2 is.