Used invacare platinum 10 oxygen concentrator. Longevity? Rebuildable?
 

Hello, im new to lampworking and i bid (and won / paid for) used oxygen concentrator. Being new and dumb i didnt think to look at the hours, which are at12380.

Looking around i see some saying they last to 25000 on average and some saying they crap out around 15000.

The ebay seller says it works fine, and i have no reason to believe they are intentionally trying to screw me. They are an established seller with a great approval rating. But it is not listed as rebuilt or refurbished, just used and in working condition. Im picking it up tomorrow.

So my 2 questions are 1. Realistically, how long do these last on average? And 2. If it does kick the bucket on me, is there anywhere i can send it to be rebuilt (or swap it out for a refurbed one, with a core discount for sending mine in) or is it just better to buy a rebuilt one for 1200 or so and pitch my current one when it dies.

I do have a 330 cubic foot tank (T tank) of oxygen as well, so it isnt my only source of oxygen. I just hope to get enough hours out of this thing to at least let it pay itself off in oxy refills. I also got if for portability. Lugging a concentrator up north on long weekends is much easier than lugging up a 140 pound tank of oxygen.

Thanks!

There are 8760 hours of use possible each year when used 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for 52 weeks.

This one you are getting has 1.4 years of use on it.

25000 hours is 2.85 years so you have at least 1.45 years of 24/7/365 use left before it reaches the supposed crap out date.

If you use this thing 8 hours a day / every day of the year (2920 hours) you will get at least 4.35 years of use before it dies in theory.

As you are just beginning your glass addiction ( and welcome to the club by the way ) this machine should get you through your first decade.

That is, unless you develop an addiction to raging the torch 80 hours a week or something.
If that happens you will wind up getting liquid oxygen delivered to you studio and then all bets are off.

My question to you is; how many liters per minute does this machine provide.
If it is 5 lpm you should probably limit your torch size to the smaller range.
I use a GTT Cricket and house hold natural gas and that fuel supply is good for that small of a torch.

If you are going to go gonzo then you probably want at least a 10 lpm oxycon or may be two tied into the same port on your torch.

Tanked oxygen has a higher purity level so you will notice a slight reduction on an oxycon with the same flow volume.

There is a ton of discussions about oxygen concentrators in this forum so use the search functions at the top of the page to get familiar with the details.

These machines are pretty simple when you get into the "how" of what they do and with peoples lives on the line, they really are - ; "keep the filters clean and forget about it" - machines.

Happy hunting.

It is a 10LPM machine and im running a bobcat on propane so it should be plenty.

I only plan on this being a hobby, who knows where life will take me, but as of now ive just been doing this to pass time before work and on the weekends. I might average about 15 hours a week or so, roughly. I love being a machinist so i dont think i could ever leave my career behind lol.

Buy a glass working lathe!
Like: https://redstarmachine.com/evo-series-glass-lathe (or an Indian import for half the price)