oxygen bottle here?

thinking about this oxygen bottle. pro and cons? how to mount? .... and one picture of where I mounted my gust lock with velcro to an alum sheet with velcro, so far this has been ok.

I tried mine in that location, and found it difficult to reach in flight to turn on/off. I now have mine on the right side, sort of fwd in the baggage area. Now I can reach easily behind the pax to turn the bottle on, at an easy arms-length. Can see the pressure gage easily, as well.

YMMV.

Same as Pete

I mounted mine right behind the passenger seat, close to the cross brace. Easy to reach and see the gauge. I used some industrial strength Velcro mounted to the interior panel. Easy in and out.

You definitely want to mount the bottle where the pilot can easily reach the valves in flight.

I mount mine just behind the two seats on top of the beam that supports the two seat backs. It nests in there quite well with the valve on the outboard right side I can easliy reach it. In other words it lies horizontal and parallel to the to the seat back support.

thanks

thanks, I'll move it to the right side for better access to the valve.

Steve,
As others have mentioned the right side leaves it accessible. Some mount in the middle but that makes baggage access tough. I used this clamp http://www.chiefaircraft.com/pilot-shop/oxygen-systems/mounting-brackets.html and mounted it to the flap cover. This clamp is removable leaving only the bracket screwed to the cover. Takes only 2 min. to install the oxygen if we are going to travel.

On my 6A I mounted it in the center like shown. I have no problem reaching back to turn it on in flight. I used a shorter bottle that is at the same height as the cross-bar. I'll search for the brackets I used, but they are very nifty. I mounted it to the flap motor tunnel. I saw that some people are using Velcro - Seems like you would have a very dangerous projectile in the cockpit.

Norman CYYJ said:

I mount mine just behind the two seats on top of the beam that supports the two seat backs. It nests in there quite well with the valve on the outboard right side I can easliy reach it. In other words it lies horizontal and parallel to the to the seat back support.

Click to expand...

That sounds pretty good. What size is the bottle you use?

A medical D or E cylinder. Using a pediatric regulator.

mine travels and lives in a soft pack. lays on top of the baggage after packing. it is not used very often. what size it yours ?

Steve,

I went with a right side mount as well. As Pete and others said, it's an easy reach, and you can see the gauge easily as well. I made a mount to attach mine to the flap actuator cover with two worm clamps. Built a little cover for the bottle, perhaps overkill.





Cheers,
Bob

Nice install ! - McMaster Carr sells a Kevlar sleeve for your tubing that makes it look really sharp, prevents damage, and has a 1,000F ratting. They also have it in SS. On mine I sleeved the tubing with SS from the regulator to where it enters the air frame, and then Kevlar from there on.

8819K43 5 Ft. 1000 Degree Fahrenheit Fiberglass Sleeving, 3/16" Id, 11/64" To 13/64" Bundle Dia, 5' L

O2 bottle mounting

I did something similar to Bob's installation... After the incident.

'The Incident'- I hit severe mountain lee wave turbulance (Gmeter later read +2.5, -1.5), the Ox bottle ripped thru the zipped closed top of its canvas carry bag (which was securely tied into the right seat belts) & flew up and burst thru my 7A canopy. The bottle didn't fully jettison out but did blow a large hole in the plexi and lodged there with the valve sticking out in the airflow. I'm certain it would have taken the vertical fin off if it had gotten past the canopy, as I later discovered paint scratches at the base of the vert fin (from plexi fragments).
As stated above it sounds rather matter of fact but while it was happening it was truly a terrifying experience.

Of course after that flight I had a lot reflective thoughts on what could have been, and what course of action(s) were in order. Shiver. First on the list was a STRUCTUALLY SECURE mount for the bottle. Second of course was to replace the canopy... Etc.

The mount system I installed uses two 1" ratcheting load straps securing the bottle tightly to brackets bolted & riveted to the rt longeron and flap cover. In my opinion nothing short of this system or metal clamps is sufficient.

Here is the write up of my recent O2 installation.


I bought an Aerox Oxygen bottle. I got the "M" size which is plenty big for 2 passengers. I also bought the brackets to hold the bottle in place. I found a good location on the interior flap cover that sits in the baggage compartment. I lined them up and drilled some 1/4" holes for the brackets.


The bracket kit comes with the bolts and nuts, but the problem on the lower bracket is that the length of the bolt comes pretty close to the flap actuation weldment. Also, the screws that hold this cover on the bottom would be impossible to access with the bracket already bolted in place. I decided to use nutplates on the lower bracket and shorter AN4-3A bolts.


Here you can see what is behind the cover. The nutplates are just offset enough to miss the flap arm weldment.


This picture illustrates why I needed nutplates on the lower bracket. With the bracket in place, you can't install the flap cover, since you have to angle the cover to get it under the baggage floor skins. Once you have the cover in place, then you can screw in the bracket.


O2 tank sits on the baggage floor, so the brackets are really just keeping the tank from moving around and tipping over. The knobs on the brackets can be easily accessed to get the tank in and out for filling.

installed

valve within reach. gauge within sight.

secure your bottle

Back in the 1980s, a glider pilot put a lead weight (increased weight equals faster runs between thermals) on the shelf behind his head. He landed a little hard but did not damage the plane. The lead came forward and broke his neck and killed him instantly. It concerns me to hear people have unsecured or minimally secured heavy weight like o2 bottles behind them in aircraft. They must be structurally secured. In my opinion, loose or velcro just isnt enough. BruceH 's real world experience should reinforce this for all of us.

In my 9a, I used the same equipment/bottle size as Bruce and mounted mine on the back of the passenger seat. I can reach the valve from the pilots seat and it does not reduce the space in the baggage compartment--nor hamper loading baggage. My system is the Mountain High "negative pressure delivery" system and therefore does not need a large bottle. The corrugations in the seat back were dealt with by using UHMW plastic cut to "fill" the depth variation from the corrugations. Solid mount, easy to remove when needed, and has served me well for many years.

If anyone is interested I will try to find a pic.

Cheers,

db

My process for every addition that I was securing to the structure was to
find out what it weighed and multiply the weight by plus 6g and minus 3g, then add a safety factor. I had to be comfortable that my method of securing things could withstand that. I chose a 7 over a 9 because I wanted the plane to be strong enough to tolerate mistakes and misfortune.

When I did my O2 install I removed the panel on the sidewall behind the passenger seat, reinforced it, added fasteners when I reattached it and used the aerox metal clamps and anchors. No, I didn't engineer it but I did have a rocket scientist look it over! (thanks Harry!)