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-   -   problem with EXO2 filling station (http://www.lampworketc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=132037)

oldschooltofu 2009-06-13 8:42am

problem with EXO2 filling station
 
so i got my filling station in today, my tank is empty and i hooked everything up to fill it all weekend so i have a full tank on monday morning.

well first off....there is no instruction manual.
second off they sent me a jenky plastic hose to connect the concentrator to the filling station that leaked when i soap tested it. so now im starting to get pissed that i spend a lot of money on a piece of equipment and they send me shotty hose and fittings.

so luckly i found a green hose with proper b fittings and hook it up. let everything run for a little while and the yellow light comes on saying O2 too low.

so i soap test all my fittings again and check that everything is running properly. I even try hooking up my huricane and still no luck. then i hooked the concentrator (that came with the filling station) to my torch, and could not get a good flame, kept blowing out the flame. like it as mostly air and not enough oxygen.

so it keeps saying O2 below normal.

does anyone know the problem here?
did i get a bad one?
My 281 K tank is empty, can the filling station fill a tank from empty?

im quite pissed i cant fill my tank this weekend.

Lynn Burgess 2009-06-14 8:35am

I will be interested to hear how this pans out. I too have been looking into this system. I hope you get your problem solved.

Dale M. 2009-06-14 1:44pm

Sound like concentrator is not doing its job...

This system (I believe) is just oxycon tied to RIX compressor... IF you need to know something about the high pressure compressor you can probably do a search for RIX compressor....

And so search for brand and model number for oxycon and maybe between some deep thinking and internet you can get past poor support for system...

Dale

oldschooltofu 2009-06-14 7:11pm

well i tried hooking up my already running good huricane and still says low oxygen

its almost monday now and i guess ill call them first thing, would have been nice to have a full tank waiting for me tomorrow morning

oldschooltofu 2009-06-15 9:41am

so i got a hold of paul from ex o2 after only three phone calls (one to abr)

he said he will replace the hose
so the valve on the oxygen generator is in reverse. its a bleader valve, which means when i had it turned up all the way it was actually sending low or no oxygen out the outlet.

Paul said i have to set it to 2 for the first three minutes, then turn it off to 0, and it started filling.

this could have eaisly been avoided by an instruction sheet (which could have taken 15 min to wright/print up and include in the box) or a page on the webstite.

Paul's excuse is that they changed designs of the concentrator so there are multiple instructions. once again, this could have been an easy one page included with each concentrator/compressor.

im still pissed because my tank is still empty, but at least its working.

oldschooltofu 2009-06-16 10:19am

1500# in about 24 hours

now im going to hook up the new concentrator to my 2 huricanes for extra oxygen, and use the tank for outers.

no more buying oxygen.

Wonker 2009-06-16 10:29am

Interesting. 1500# should run your easily for a day.....work 8 charge the tank for 12 and you're back in business the next day... sweet!

oldschooltofu 2009-06-16 2:59pm

The above number were wrong it was 1500# in 24 hours which is about 62.5# per hour filling up from empty

sorry for the typo

so you can feasable go through 1000# per 8 hour day.

then if you take weekends off you can empty the tank and it will be full by monday morning. so im going to save my heavy O2 days for Friday

oldschooltofu 2009-06-18 9:31am

its filling up to a max of 1800# and saying full

Wonker 2009-06-18 9:35am

I think you might have found a solution to the oxygen woes of the world.

Lynn Burgess 2009-06-19 12:03pm

May I ask what type of torch you are running and how much out of the 8 hours a day do you run the outer flame?
Thanks for all the info so far, it has been very helpful.

oldschooltofu 2009-06-19 8:19pm

im running a delta mag

my helpers are running a lynx and a mirage on the same system, but i think i have enough to upgrade the lynx to a phantom.

the three centerfires are on two huricanes which is great. the generator that came with the filling station is tied in when its not filling the k-tank. i think we may just need one huricane with the generator that came with the filling station for the 3 centerfires.

we use the centerfire 90% with the outer green cracked, so we are not using much.

im getting into doing bigger projects, its really nice to have unlimited oxygen

Lynn Burgess 2009-06-22 12:51am

Thanks again for the info. It almost sounds to good to be true. I am trying to put the money together to get one purchased. I will be watching this thread for any further updates.

Lynn

oldschooltofu 2009-06-23 6:48pm

update

still haven't received my replacement hose since the one that came with the machine leaked like a sieve.

the pressure gauge on the machine is about 600# off of what my regulator says. which isnt a huge problem, but would have been nice to know its not accurate. and given the price of these things, everything should work perfectly. and 600# is a big difference

the machine doesnt shut off when full. it stops filling but the machine is still on and the generator is still running. im going to call exo2 about this tomorrow. when i bought it they said it would shut down everything when full, hense saving electricty.

Dale M. 2009-06-24 7:32am

Sounds like the were a little premature about getting their product out the door....

Dale

oldschooltofu 2009-06-24 10:27am

so i called them today

no way to have the generator shut off automatically...which was a feature i was told it had. the compressor stops pumping, but the generator stays on.

he said the pressure gauge is prob not calibrated properly, which im kind of upset about on a machine that costs so much.

the machine came with a hand crank to attach to the cylinder, well i had to replace that with a nut that takes a wrench

yes they need to do more testing and iron out the bugs

the big thing is i hear of cheaper filling stations are on the horizon...makes me wish i didnt purchase this one.

Dale M. 2009-06-24 6:11pm

You could probably add a auxiliary relay slaved to Rix Compressor.... Aux relay would control oxycon... When pressure is "low" and compressor is supposed to run it also turns on power to oxycon through the aux relay slaved to RIX compressor (pressure switch ???).... Compressor on- oxycon on- compressor off -oxycon off....

Like I said.... Its a work in progress not a fully developed product and you are a test case....

Dale

oldschooltofu 2009-06-25 9:33am

it filled up 1000# last night

oldschooltofu 2009-06-29 9:32am

the great thing is we have 2500# of pressure on monday mornings

more than i expected

oldschooltofu 2009-07-09 9:48am

just wanted to update
its working great now that the hoses/connections have been replaced.

getting about 900-1000# of pressure overnight. we turn it on at 4ish pm and work at 8am...so 8 hours of work time on the outers of 2 mirages (centerfires are on generators)

getting good purity too.

Lynn Burgess 2009-07-09 10:13pm

Great to know. Thanks for the update!

KG Richard 2009-07-10 5:01pm

Can I ask how much you paid for the system? Would you recommend it to someone that has a Cuda and concentrators? Thanks!

Dale M. 2009-07-10 6:37pm

If you already have concentrators, the major component you need is a RIX (oil free) type of compressor capable of about 2200 2500 psi and you pretty much have same as the EX02 system.... Also you will a oxygen tank as storage vessel....

There was a couple of threads "brainstorming" how to DIY your own "system". A search mat turn them up...

Dale

squid 2009-07-10 7:00pm

So it has to be oil free? Is there any way to use an oiled one to work with a system like this?

Dale M. 2009-07-11 6:45am

Quote:

Originally Posted by squid (Post 2570302)
So it has to be oil free? Is there any way to use an oiled one to work with a system like this?

NO!!!..... Oil and pure oxygen are an EXPLOSIVE mix .... Use a compressor that has oil in it and you are building a BOMB!.... And as oxygen pressure increases, the more dangerous the combination becomes....

Do the research ..... There is lots of data out there....

Dale

squid 2009-07-11 8:20am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dale M. (Post 2570629)
NO!!!..... Oil and pure oxygen are an EXPLOSIVE mix .... Use a compressor that has oil in it and you are building a BOMB!.... And as oxygen pressure increases, the more dangerous the combination becomes....

Do the research ..... There is lots of data out there....

Dale

I figured as much - that's a shame as I have a lovely oil using compressor.

metalbone 2009-07-11 8:36am

Quote:

Originally Posted by oldschooltofu (Post 2534807)
so i got my filling station in today, my tank is empty and i hooked everything up to fill it all weekend so i have a full tank on monday morning.

well first off....there is no instruction manual.
second off they sent me a jenky plastic hose to connect the concentrator to the filling station that leaked when i soap tested it. so now im starting to get pissed that i spend a lot of money on a piece of equipment and they send me shotty hose and fittings.

so luckly i found a green hose with proper b fittings and hook it up. let everything run for a little while and the yellow light comes on saying O2 too low.

so i soap test all my fittings again and check that everything is running properly. I even try hooking up my huricane and still no luck. then i hooked the concentrator (that came with the filling station) to my torch, and could not get a good flame, kept blowing out the flame. like it as mostly air and not enough oxygen.

so it keeps saying O2 below normal.

does anyone know the problem here?
did i get a bad one?
My 281 K tank is empty, can the filling station fill a tank from empty?

im quite pissed i cant fill my tank this weekend.

OK, here is the issue with your system. The compressor is indicating low oxygen purity. The compressor is really just a converted Homefill II medical compressor (you should look at the posted system I pieced together using the Homefill II on the Homemade Equipment thread, including a schematic and cost), and this compressor tests the purity of the incoming oxygen. If the purity is less than 90%, you get the message and the compresor does not work.

The solution is to get a new oxycon or get new zeolite cartridges for the oxycon such that your purity exceeds 90%.

On my system, I initially had the same problem using devilbiss machines, so I used Invacare Plantium oxycons, which solved the problem. I then upgraded the zeolite on the devlibiss machines and that also solved the problem.

Try turning the output volume on your oxycon to a lower level and let it run for 1/2 hour before turning the compressor on...this is what invacare recommends for their Homefills. Then after the compressor starts filling your tank (after 3 minutes from turning it on), you can incrementally increase the LPMs to get to an acceptable tank fill time.

As an FYI, when I first set my system up, it took over 47 hours for a tank fill,so i don't see how they can advertise the EX to fill a K in 24-36 hours. I had to add a 2nd compressor to get the fill times to the 21 hour range.

In anycase, try letting the oxycon run for 1/2 hour to normalize the O2 purity, then turn the compressor on, and please report back on your progress.

Also, feel free to email me if you have other Qs.

metalbone 2009-07-11 8:41am

Oldschool, I've seen you on gldg...go there and search for "Homefill Conversion" in setting up shop...I posted a lot more info there, including documentation of tank fill times, a description of how the compressor operates, and a schematic of the bleedoff system to keep the oxycon alarm from sounding if the compressor shuts off for any reason (and to accommodate the lag between when the compressor is turned on and when the compressor motor actually starts).

metalbone 2009-07-11 8:47am

Sorry, I posted the above without reading the complete thread...glad to hear it is working fine.

metalbone 2009-07-12 12:26am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dale M. (Post 2570280)
If you already have concentrators, the major component you need is a RIX (oil free) type of compressor capable of about 2200 2500 psi and you pretty much have same as the EX02 system.... Also you will a oxygen tank as storage vessel....

There was a couple of threads "brainstorming" how to DIY your own "system". A search mat turn them up...

Dale

Hi Dale, the Rix has 1 problem for sure and possibly another. The for-sure problem is the price, $5000+ for the Rix Microboost is prohibitive. Plus Ro had hers breakdown recently after about 150 fills.

I think the best bang for buck option right now is to get a couple of used Homefill II units and break out the tool box. At $450 to 650 a pop, it currently offers the best bag for buck as far as a tank fill system is concerned. I posted some pix, schematic, and parts list (in this sites Homemade Equipment thread) to show that is really is an easy and relatively cheap system that many can put together themselves and save a bundle.

I am definitely looking forward to checking out the wonka system if and when it ever makes it debut. I sure hope the fill times of that system (I heard 8 hours for a K) and the cost of the system lives up to their billing (I would hope that substantially less than other fill systems means it will cost only $1K-$2k, or less).


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