Life is weird... Some questions regarding O2 supply/production.

[brads]

Be warned. This post is long and rambling. I think I need to file this in the “life is weird” category.

My landlords have decided to cash in on the recent jump in local real estate prices by selling the house and shop I currently rent. There have been some false alarms the last couple of years but this time they are serious. And now, of all times, when I’m dealing with that and I’m even lower than usual on both cash and time, a bunch of equipment opportunities happened to fall into my lap. With them came some difficult questions.

First, the equipment end of things.

1) An unused, (3.1 hours on the meter) government surplus RIX Microboost O2 compressor. Now in my possession. (Bye bye, January rent money…)

2) A beat up, but apparently still working, Platinum 5 oxycon. Definitely needs some maintenance - new filters at the very least. But at $50 I figured it was worth taking a chance, so that is also now in my possession.

3) The opportunity to purchase a shitload of new, surplus 13x molecular sieve zeolite dirt cheap. Unfortunately, the minimum purchase is over 1/2 ton, which may be just a hair more than I can immediately use - as well as more than I can afford. But damn, I could build some big-ass custom sieve beds with it. (Group purchase anyone?)

4) The opportunity to grab a number of Caire HELiOS U48 LOX dewars for cheap. This seems to be a nice size for a single user shop, but I’m not sure they can be filled for shop use. My local welding supply already refused because the U48 is technically a medical oxygen container. (I asked a while back after picking one up cheap off Craigslist. That was right before my rather painful motorcycle/deer encounter and I never got around to pursuing it again once I finally healed up.)

So that’s the background and here’s my dilemma, complete with a few questions.

I’ve always worked off tanked O2 and building a setup to give me the ability to fill the tanks myself, instead of getting ass-raped by the local Airgas or Praxair welding supply monopolies would be nice. (I sometimes do demos elsewhere, so having at least one portable O2 tank available is pretty handy.)

However, on the other hand I’m tempted to just resell the RIX to recoup my cost and make a few extra $$. Having the cash that an unused RIX Microboost could bring in would be pretty useful right now. So I’m trying to decide between building a nice O2 setup or just reselling the RIX to make a few bucks.

Along those lines, who has built their own sieve beds? Since I have the RIX, plus the opportunity to grab some cheap zeolite - as long as I can resell what I don’t need - I’m thinking about building sieve beds that are considerably larger that those in a standard O2 concentrator. Because aluminum medical O2 cylinders can often be had for next to nothing, I’m thinking about modifying a couple (or more) of those to use for the beds. Or maybe just build them out of some large aluminum tubing. Pros and cons anyone?

Another option I’m debating is just using the RIX Microboost to fill cylinders from the HELIOS LOX tank if I can find a place to get that filled. Seems feasible enough to me, although with no experience on this end of things I may be missing something obvious.

That’s about it for now. Any **intelligent** input would be appreciated.

Brad

P.S. Sorry about the rambling. It's late and I'm pretty tired.

[Mute]

i'll give you my input even though it might not be the most intelligent advice.

It depends on your usage of o2 and the environment you can provide for the oxygen generator(whichever route). Ideally you want it dry and temp controlled 50-80 degrees. Now i've never used or seen one of those Rix boosters in person, but from what i've read on here they are a waist of money, so i'd sell that and go with a homefill version, if you go that route(depends on your usage/requirements).

I've always wanted to build my own sieve beds but when i looked into it the cost was counter productive, and the used oxygen concentrators are coming out the wazoo, sometimes almost free, and can be refurbished quite easily. I don't see buying a 1/2 ton of zeolite being a beneficial or fun time. just my opinion.

another thing the bigger the beds the more air you need and the faster you need it. pressure swing takes pressure, and the swing needs to happen as fast as you can manage.

also i don't know much about medical dewars. sounds like a waist of time.

I'd gather 3-4 oxygen cons, and oil free gast compressor, storage tank, and everything to build the low-pressure system for high usage 1-3 people.

if you are working solo a homefill will serve you right.

[brads]

Now i've never used or seen one of those Rix boosters in person, but from what i've read on here …

Although I appreciate the reply, that’s the type of response I WASN’T looking for. If you’ve never even seen, let alone used one, then your opinion about the RIX Microboost isn’t really worth a whole helluva lot, is it? Especially without backing up that opinion by referencing any of the posts in which you say that people think they’re a waste of money. Expensive, yes. Waste of money? Maybe at retail prices for some, but I neither paid, nor intend to sell mine, at retail.

Suggesting a Homefill is better is somewhat laughable considering I already have the RIX and I would have to either hunt down a bargain Homefill (probably used) or pay retail for a new one. Not to mention that the RIX is a more robust unit anyway. Comparing the two, a Homefill is designed for the average consumer to use at home, while the RIX is a small industrial machine. Not much of a contest between the two. The RIX fills tanks 4-5 times faster and fills them to a full 2200 PSI pressure, while a Homefill tops out at 2000 PSI.

However, I do agree that it depends on one’s usage/requirements, and after giving more thought to my own situation I’ve decided that selling the RIX is the best plan for me. (See, in the end I more or less agreed with you, although for different reasons.)

I’m in the middle of having to pack up and move my house and shop and don’t know if I’ll even put together another shop in the future. So, while I would have jumped at the chance a while back, building a new oxy system just isn’t practical right now. (That time/money thing again.) Nor will I try to find a Homefill, for the same reason. And given a choice between them, I wouldn’t hesitate to stick with the RIX. But it’s just bad timing, so I’ve decided to sell it instead.

I'm also going to blow off any plans for the zeolite and the HELiOS LOX tanks I mentioned. If anyone wants to know where they are, let me know. The HELiOS units are priced at $60 each and the zeolite is 50 cents/lb for roughly a half tonne palette. (I have no affiliation with either of the sellers.) But if anyone does snag a palette of zeolite, I wouldn't hate it if you toss a 5 gallon pail my way in return for the heads-up. I got the beat up Platinum 5 I bought running earlier today and while it seems to work okay, it probably wouldn't hurt to have some spare zeolite around to replenish the sieve beds in the future. (Manufacture date on it is 1998 and hours are well over 18,000.)

So, if anyone wants a RIX Microboost with only 3.1 hours on the meter, let me know. But being virtually new, don’t expect me to just give it away. (I'll take some photos and post them in the classified section when I have a chance.)

Brad

[Kovacs Glass]

If you’re only looking for a certain response, why even bother posting?

I’ve also read from someone who owns/has used a microboost (Miles Henry on FB in the concentrator group) that it failed on him multiple times and needed multiple rebuilds in the time he used it - and that he wouldn’t reccomend others use one.

How much o2 are you currently using/how many k tanks per week etc?

Building a DIY HVLP system is the cheapest route to take other than a Homefill. ~$2800 and you’ll have a system that’ll run a Herbie or a Mirage. Hell, I was running 2 herbies on foot pedals with my 30lpm/60gal system.

But again, if you already have the microboost, might as well use it until it fails, but you could proably sell it and build a HVLp system for the selling price.

[brads]

Really doesn't matter at this point. Due to the fact that I'll have to move soon, and don't know if I'll even have a shop after I do, I've decided it makes more sense to simply sell the Microboost and go from there.

The "certain response" I was interested in was one that didn't start with, "I don't know anything about this, but I'm going to post my opinion anyway". Those are far to common on the internet.

As far as the FB concentrator group, I didn't even know there was one. thanks for letting me know. After looking, I think I found the thread I suspect you were referring to, but find your description of it a bit misleading. (Although maybe you were talking about a different thread.) In the one I found Miles Henry states, "To keep up with my O2 use I had to run mine 24/7, and they're not built for that. I had to rebuild mine every 9-12 months, finally gave up on it."

That's a far cry from, "it failed on him multiple times". RIX clearly states that these need regular maintenance (like anything else mechanical) and Miles clearly stated that he was running it 24/7 and using more O2 than the RIX was built for. RIX makes bigger units that are designed to handle more volume. Running virtually anything mechanical 24/7 is likely to wear it faster than designed. If he was in fact running it 24/7 for 9-12 months then he got many more hours - 6500 to 8500 - between rebuilds than the manufacturer recommends.

[Mute]

Really doesn't matter at this point. Due to the fact that I'll have to move soon, and don't know if I'll even have a shop after I do, I've decided it makes more sense to simply sell the Microboost and go from there.

The "certain response" I was interested in was one that didn't start with, "I don't know anything about this, but I'm going to post my opinion anyway". Those are far to common on the internet.

As far as the FB concentrator group, I didn't even know there was one. thanks for letting me know. After looking, I think I found the thread I suspect you were referring to, but find your description of it a bit misleading. (Although maybe you were talking about a different thread.) In the one I found Miles Henry states, "To keep up with my O2 use I had to run mine 24/7, and they're not built for that. I had to rebuild mine every 9-12 months, finally gave up on it."

That's a far cry from, "it failed on him multiple times". RIX clearly states that these need regular maintenance (like anything else mechanical) and Miles clearly stated that he was running it 24/7 and using more O2 than the RIX was built for. RIX makes bigger units that are designed to handle more volume. Running virtually anything mechanical 24/7 is likely to wear it faster than designed. If he was in fact running it 24/7 for 9-12 months then he got many more hours - 6500 to 8500 - between rebuilds than the manufacturer recommends.

that is very true, and one of the reasons i wanted to make that obvious from the beginning.

Things i did try were the homefill and the diy system, and both worked well. The diy system was overkill so i sold that and went back to the homefills.

I made a lot of choices based off of what i read here. Always wanted the Rix booster but the cost was just too much compared to free(or low cost) homefill units and concentrators.

sorry if i ruffled any feathers.

no links as i'm not going to use my time to dig up old info. but i believe the user name was byron3 maybe...had a scooby doo image?

[BORO]

Distilled glass (k9qak? On this sight)

I definitely know he built big beds out of 6" by 3foot pipes? The size is a guess, but he definitely put in the time to build what was described in the o.p.

I would contact him. I can also tell you that he was running a concentrator home fill combo back then. The big beds did not function like one might hope. (Was a touchy subject at that time.)

I heard he is on lox now. Prehaps he or a shop mate will chime in or p.m.

[glassdocnc]

My system uses the RIX and I'd love a backup. So I'm calling dibs.

Hope to talk to you soon Brad.

Good luck with the move.

Marina

[istandalone24/7]

back up dibs on that RIX, been wanting one after having mixed results with invacare home fills. first home fill i owned ran for almost 7K hours w/o a hitch, after that, i had nothing but trouble with most units.

i do realize glassdocnc has dibs on it, but if possible can you pm me what you're asking for it? that way, in case his dibs falls through i'll know if i can afford it. although if it becomes available i'll do what i have to, to dig the $ up.

[brads]

Between what I paid and what a new/unused Microboost would normally cost, I figure somewhere around $2-2.5K isn't a totally unreasonable price. Marina has first shot at it. I probably won't have a chance to post photos for a day or two, but will do so as soon as I can.

Mute and BoRo, thanks for the input. BoRo, if I was keeping the RIX I would definitely get in touch with k9qak? for his experience with the DIY sieve beds. In fact, I might anyway just for the general knowledge. Mute, I apologize for my initial response. It was obviously harsher than necessary.

[D. dino i ninjah]

compresor con high volvume low presure syestems out proform out last homefill micro boost syestems .. .. the zeolite is cheep but it abzorbs moisture fast ...tfhe people ive known to try and refill their own beds have all stuggled to keep it dry most say its not worth it and just send to place like glen medical in canton ohio for the bed repours