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  #1  
Old 2020-05-18, 10:43am
owenevans owenevans is offline
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Default Problems with setup

Hello everyone I have had some problems with my set-up. I was given a very jerry rigged setup by the person who taught me how to blow glass at a very discounted rate, all it consists of is just a welding torch, a regulator, propane and an oxygen concentrator(Visonair V). He had used this set up for something like 7-10 years I believe before passing it off to me. He found it very economical. I had no problems with the set up in 2015-2017. Than I moved and had to put everything away in storage and started going to college and just didn't have time anymore. I recently found the time to start again and was really excited but when I got everything set up I found that it worked for all of 5 minutes. The set up used to have no problem with borosilicate glass, it did all temps necessary and worked quite well, it just wasn't pretty. Now I can barely get anything red hot. I was able to get a rod bent slightly before the oxygen crapped out. The oxygen turns on just fine, it runs at 4.5 lpm to 4 lpms and produces a rich blue flame, not as strong as I remember but it is still blue. It runs for 5 minutes before beeping and than it crashes and the oxygen goes down to zero. I contacted a local place and they said they could look at it for 50$ and that it was most likely the filter. She estimated the repair to be anywhere from 200-300$ for something like that. I am worried about putting the money down on this and getting it back and having it not work as before or having it work as before and than breaking down in a year or two and having to put more money into it or something. I am better off at this point pivoting to buying a new concentrator? I don't have a lot of money and I don't want to buy something that isn't going to work. I read a lot of posts on here about people having 2 or 3 concentrators going at once! I know this set up used to work, it had worked for years prior and I am really worried now. I'm just a college student and can't take a huge hit. I definitely can't do the investment of renting oxygen, way too much.
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  #2  
Old 2020-05-18, 2:31pm
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Eileen Eileen is offline
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Where was the oxycon stored? If it was somewhere humid, that could have messed up the sieve beds. I am no expert, but that is my first thought, because I was told that if I was not regularly (or semi-regularly anyway) using it, to store it in an air conditioned space.

Keep an eye out on Craigslist, yard sales, Nextdoor, etc. for a used one. Just be cautious, as the first one I bought ran fine I thought, even though it had a lot of hours on it. Then I took it to someone to check it because it wasn't running my torch right for long, then would quit, and it needed a lot of work to fix it. I ended up buying a reconditioned one from them for the same price so I could take it home that day.

Good luck! Some people have been known to find real bargains when they kept looking.
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Old 2020-05-18, 2:34pm
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Eileen Eileen is offline
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I just checked my local Craigslist, and the prices have gone up a good bit. I bet people are figuring they can get a lot from people now because of the virus or something!
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Old 2020-05-18, 2:36pm
owenevans owenevans is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Eileen View Post
Where was the oxycon stored? If it was somewhere humid, that could have messed up the sieve beds. I am no expert, but that is my first thought, because I was told that if I was not regularly (or semi-regularly anyway) using it, to store it in an air conditioned space.

Keep an eye out on Craigslist, yard sales, Nextdoor, etc. for a used one. Just be cautious, as the first one I bought ran fine I thought, even though it had a lot of hours on it. Then I took it to someone to check it because it wasn't running my torch right for long, then would quit, and it needed a lot of work to fix it. I ended up buying a reconditioned one from them for the same price so I could take it home that day.

Good luck! Some people have been known to find real bargains when they kept looking.
It was kept outdoors in a shed because of space issues unfortunately. There is one listed on my local craigslist for 150$ but it has 16,000 hours on it and the person hasn't responded to my questions about it which isn't a good sign. I don't mind paying for the repair if it is going to last you know, but I am terrified of paying and than having it die shortly after.
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  #5  
Old 2020-05-18, 5:01pm
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Eileen Eileen is offline
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Some people have repoured their own beds, but I don't have any information on how.
'
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  #6  
Old 2020-05-20, 7:45pm
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Speedslug Speedslug is offline
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In my opinion the sieve beds shouldn't have any problem being 'stored' in humid area, it's being 'used' in high humidity that could cause problems.

As for storage, I understand that there are tiny spiders that like to build nests in the small holes like the outlet ports of machines like oxycons.

The other thing to look for, if you take off the cover, is cracks in the tubing one the inside.
These machines are designed to get overhauled and recertified for medical use every 2 or 3 years and they often used to have the tubing replaced along with the filters as a routine without even checking for problems.

The place I would look would be the filters.
You will have to see if you can get a filter kit for your specific machine, I think Salt City Glass out of Utah used to have kits for sale at one time.

There were often two filters on the intake side and a third one behind the control panel just before the output connector.
That third one was a bio filter that prevented bacteria from being passed to the lungs of the patient.
Being that it had really tiny micro pores it could have gotten clogged up in a humid environment.

It wouldn't hurt to remove the filters for a test run of a half hour to see if that fixed it but I wouldn't run it without filters for any longer than that.

You really do not want dust to get into the sieve beds as that will shorten their life for certain.

Look for cracks at the fittings of the tubing.
The tubing can be replaced with stuff from the local hardware store.

Good luck.

Oh and if you are going to get one from Craigs List, you can remind the sellers that selling one for medical use without a prescription is against the law and constitutes practicing medicine without a license so grandpas old unit is ONLY good for welding and jewelry torch work.
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  #7  
Old 2020-05-20, 7:54pm
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Eileen Eileen is offline
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Phil, I don't know for sure about the humidity, that was what I was told though when I took mine to be looked at by the repair guy. He said if it was outside to run it at for an hour every month or so to help them stay dried out. I can't tell you if he knew his stuff or not.
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