Securing a portable oxygen bottle

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Lance Murray
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Re: Securing a portable oxygen bottle

Post by Lance Murray »

Colin,

have you considered making your own rig to fill your own bottles? It is pretty easy to do.
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rwtucker
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Re: Securing a portable oxygen bottle

Post by rwtucker »

This sounds like a really good idea Lance. Do you have suggestions for the best way to go about it? My main FBO has no O2 and those nearby that do are not convenient and are oriented toward the big guys.
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Re: Securing a portable oxygen bottle

Post by Kai »

There seems to be no difference between medical and oxygen for industrial use (e.g. welding) so it is o.k. to refill at any welding shop.
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Charles
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Re: Securing a portable oxygen bottle

Post by Charles »

I refill my bottle at a scuba diving shop near the airport. Costs about $15 for a 22 cu. ft. bottle. And it's O2, not just compressed air. I had to buy a $60 adapter to have the same fitting as a scuba tank though.

For installation, I simply put the bottle horizontally on the passenger side back seat with the top pointing forward and run the seatbelt through the handle on the nylon carrying case to secure it in place. Works well enough and I can easily access the valves and view the gauge from the pilot seat.

When the kids are with us, I ask one of them to keep the bottle on the floor between his legs, hold it in place and turn the valves on and off as needed. We figured after noticing that his little brother was sleeping more than usual in the plane that that he would turn off his supply without telling anyone...
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Re: Securing a portable oxygen bottle

Post by rwtucker »

Lance Murray wrote:Colin, have you considered making your own rig to fill your own bottles? It is pretty easy to do.
I thought perhaps you were suggesting purchasing a large O2 tank and refilling from that? What adapter(s) are needed to fill our tanks from a scuba shop or a facility that delivers O2 to the elderly, etc.?
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Re: Securing a portable oxygen bottle

Post by MarkA »

This is an old thread, but I thought it might be useful to share another way to secure a portable O2 cylinder in a DA40 – in this case a 4-place 15 Cu. Ft. Mountain High cylinder.

1.) Place the cylinder on top of the rear-seat spar with the top of the cylinder wedged between the front seats so it can’t move forward or sideways (photo-1).

Photo-1
Photo-1

2). Secure the base of the cylinder to the rear-seat floor spar with a circular piece of Velcro to stabilize the base (photo-2).

Photo-2
Photo-2

3) Cut a hole in three pieces of 2” foam rubber where the cylinder is placed and that are sized to fill the empty space between the cylinder and the base of the back seat. The foam rubber is used to stabilizes the cylinder to prevent it from tipping backwards toward the tail of the plane (photo-3, photo-4 and photo-5).

Photo-3
Photo-3
Photo-4
Photo-4
Photo-5
Photo-5

The cylinder valve and gauge can be easily accessed from the pilot seat (photo-6), both back seat foot wells are clear, and the cylinder and foam can be easily removed when they’re not needed.

Photo-6
Photo-6
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Colin
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Re: Securing a portable oxygen bottle

Post by Colin »

Pretty sweet. Would no longer work for us since the front seats can recline, but that's a nice setup.
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Re: Securing a portable oxygen bottle

Post by Xavier2 »

I've just purchased a used DA42.
My plane will be operated by a flight school while I'm not using it (I also plan to instruct there), so I need something easy to install and remove.
I've never used oxygen before, and none of the DA42 owners I know use portable oxygen.
I intend to purchase a MH Oxygen bottle with O2D2, and to hang/attach it behind the right front seat. @Carym what size/type of bottle would you recommend? I want the bottle to be as secured as possible, to be easy to operate in flight, and the entire system to be easy to install and remove.
When the bottle is in place, is the installation inconvenient for the passengers (front and rear)? Does it hinder the access to the rear seats?
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Colin
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Re: Securing a portable oxygen bottle

Post by Colin »

I am not sure why you need to operate it in flight. I suppose on a *really* long flight you might want to look at the meter, but after a decade I decided that was making me a little anxious and I had two telltales already: the oxygen sensor on my finger (once an hour, usually twice an hour), and the alert from the O2D2 that there was no supply.

So I usually strap the bottle into the luggage area, although sometimes it is upright in the back right seat strapped in with the seatbelt. Then the hose feeds the O2D2 which is perched between the two back seats. That's where the two hoses from the front passengers easily reach it and I can reach to fiddle with the controls on the box.
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Re: Securing a portable oxygen bottle

Post by carym »

I purchased the large bottle from Mountain High and just strapped it to the back of the right seat. If I knew I was going to fly over 8000 feet I would turn it on before flight. The O2D2 controller was able to be turned on and adjusted during the flight.

Since I returned my DA42 to Diamond (that’s another story) I don’t come to this forum any more. I now fly a 1964 V-tail bonanza, and use the same set up for my oxygen.

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