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  #1  
Old 2016-09-06, 10:28am
knittyditty knittyditty is offline
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Join Date: Feb 13, 2013
Location: Deep in the South...Mississippi
Posts: 101
Default New/used Oxycon....help!

I have been gifted a used oxycon.

It has been in storage for 5 years, it looks pretty grimey. I really have no idea where to start about cleaning, checking, and hooking up.
I am running a Bethleham Alpha torch and only use soft glass, if that helps.

The oxycon labels are Respironics and Everflo.
The little numbers on the side are 2504.8? The last number in red is hard to read. I am assuming that is the number of hours used? Is that good/bad?

Ok, all you experts.....Now what do I do? I know I need to clean and/or replace the filters, right? How do I hook up? I've read about a "christmas tree adapter" to connect the torch hose to the oxycon.

Then what do I need to set the oxygen flow? 5? How do I know if it is enough?
Remedial lessons are needed.....

Thanks in advance

Kristin

Last edited by knittyditty; 2016-09-06 at 12:56pm.
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  #2  
Old 2016-09-06, 5:58pm
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Speedslug Speedslug is offline
Phill
 
Join Date: Mar 21, 2009
Location: Winnebago, MN
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Okay, things in storage tend to attract critters so taking out the screws around the bottom and lifting off the cover will give you a chance to look through the insides for nesting and cobwebs and such.

Blowing dust out of it with compressed air is a good idea if it needs it.

The tubing inside these things can tend to get brittle just with age alone so don't go poking around roughly but do look for any that have cracks or have already broken.

You can get replacement tubing at most hardware stores and zip ties will hold it place just fine.

Using oxycons in dusty and or humid areas will shorten the useful life of the "zeolite" in the canisters that separate the oxygen from the nitrogen at a higher pressure than the room air but the zeolite can be replaced.

These things are designed to operate 24 / 7 / 365 and the hour meter on yours shows it has 2 thousand 5 hundred 4 hours and 8 tenths of an hour of use.
One years full time use is equal to 8760 hours so you still have years of use available on it.

The christmas tree adapter is a stepped cone thing with a threaded fitting on one end and allows you to slip a cut hose end over the cone to connect it to the oxygen input of your torch or to a nose tube or face mask if you are using it to breath.

Some times a torch hose will fit the threads on the oxycon so you may not need the adapter.


These machines produce something like 96 or 98 % oxygen purity but I have heard of them going as low as 92% before they will set off an internal alarm.

It takes them a few minutes to come up to maximum purity and also if you set them to run at maximum flow output ( 5 liters per minute in this case ) the purity can be lower than if you set it to run at less than maximum flow output ( like 4.5 LPM ).

Also you will have regular room air in the hoses at first so it can take a few minutes for the oxycon and the hose to purge the regular room air out of the line and start getting pure oxygen to the torch face so turn it on with the torch oxygen valve fully open and let it run while you get settled in at the bench and get your fuel gas flowing to the torch face.

Then shut the oxygen off at the torch for the few seconds it will take to ignite the fuel gas then add the oxygen until the flame looks the way you want it to.


If you leave the torch oxygen valve closed for more than say twenty seconds the oxycon may sound an alarm that indicates the hose is blocked. A good thing to know if you are trying breath the stuff but a bit of an annoyance if you feeding it to a torch because they often don't have a warning light with an explanation of what the alarm is indicating.


You wont need a flashback arrestor or a check valve on the oxygen line and often those things need more pressure to overcome their internal workings than a 5 lpm oxycon can put out.

Look up replacement part numbers and new order filters but you may not need to replace what is there.

There is a filter inside the machine near the output line that keeps the machine from sending microscopic mold or other organisms to a sick patient that can get clogged and you should order one of those to have on hand.

It looks like a flat, round disk with a hose connected to the center on either side.

The other filter(s) will be where the machine takes air in and one is basically just a sponge like dust filter while there may be another with a paper like material with much finer pores to keep stuff from getting inside the machine.


There are some sources for technical manuals and repair parts but I will leave that for later for now.

Good luck.
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Last edited by Speedslug; 2016-09-06 at 6:06pm.
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  #3  
Old 2016-09-07, 5:25am
knittyditty knittyditty is offline
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Thanks again Phil!! Knew you had the info.
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