Oxygen Cylinder Valves - Which one?

I'm building up an O2 system and I'm trying to decide what valve style to go with before ordering. So, for those of you that have an Oxygen setup in your RV, which valve style did you go with on the cylinder and why?

A bit of research looks to show that:
CGA-540

• De facto standard for industrial/commercial Oxygen cylinders.
• All brass connections; no special washers to maintain.
• A wrench is needed to attach/remove the regulator.
• Possibly easier to find parts/accesories/service.

CGA-870

• Looks to be the de facto standard for home health Oxygen cylinders.
• Uses special washers/gaskets (teflon/viton w/ brass inserts).
• Available with a "toggle" or "Z" valve to turn the preassure on/off w/out tools.
• No tools needed to attach/remove a regulator.
• May need "Rx" (whether required or not) depending who you are dealing with for service/refills/purchase.

So what say you all?
Thanks!

540 allows a wide range of regulators and adapters...

I chose the 870 best for my use, don't recall exactly why though.

Check with "LowPass", who is a member here. He has built up a number of oxygen systems and put together the one I fly behind.

David_Nelson said:

I'm building up an O2 system and I'm trying to decide what valve style to go with before ordering. So, for those of you that have an Oxygen setup in your RV, which valve style did you go with on the cylinder and why?

A bit of research looks to show that:
CGA-540

• De facto standard for industrial/commercial Oxygen cylinders.
• All brass connections; no special washers to maintain.
• A wrench is needed to attach/remove the regulator.
• Possibly easier to find parts/accesories/service.

CGA-870

• Looks to be the de facto standard for home health Oxygen cylinders.
• Uses special washers/gaskets (teflon/viton w/ brass inserts).
• Available with a "toggle" or "Z" valve to turn the preassure on/off w/out tools.
• No tools needed to attach/remove a regulator.
• May need "Rx" (whether required or not) depending who you are dealing with for service/refills/purchase.

So what say you all?
Thanks!

Click to expand...

I am an anesthetist so I work with O2 daily.

The CGA540 is the one typical on welding oxy bottles.
The CGA870 fits the small oxygen tanks which I carry in the plane.

You want o2 on the cheap, do this:
Go on ebay or craigslist and buy:
1-2 small o2 tanks for the plane (CGA870).
1-2 330 cu ft cylinders (CGA540) to use as supply to refill the small plane tanks.
a transfill adapter (CGA540 TO CGA870).
a couple regulators (CGA870) - i like the pulse 5 regulators (around $50 on ebay)
a couple nasal cannulas.

You can refill the large tank for about $30 at airgas and use it for hundreds of hours. You will need a transfill adapter to transfer oxygen from the large cylinder to the small tanks which are carried in the plane.

I bought two 330 cu ft oxygen cylinders locally which last a very long time - as in years for me.

I carry M6 oxygen tanks with pulse 5 regulators in the plane. The pulse 5 regulators are conserving regulators which means they will only blow oxygen when they sense you inhaling; this will make your oxygen supply last much much longer.

Transfill adapter:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Oxygen-Tran...211?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e7b7755db

Much more convenient to fill at home and just about free to do so.

Oh, and no prescription needed to refill your large welding oxygen cylinder.

- CGA870 fittings. A lot of these were used in the Medevac for years. The difficulty we had on aircraft was them vibrating loose. Even had a small fire due to the yoke coming slightly loose, and the plastic gasket catching fire. The escaping O2 at high pressure is at a very high velocity and surface friction was enough to elevate temps to the point of combustion for the plastic. Of course the other issue was that after the plastic gasket was gone the cylinder quickly discharged.


For aircraft use a CGA540 fitting.

Two other types of fill connections used on portable oxygen bottles are Scott and Puritan-Bennett (PB3). My Aerox bottle uses the PB3.

I went with the CGA-870 due to the fact that I could buy a good pediatrics regulator cheap. Also the local dive shop was able to fill cheap and easy. Regulator easy on and off and easy to reach behind the seat to turn it on.

MarkW said:

I went with the CGA-870 due to the fact that I could buy a good pediatrics regulator cheap. Also the local dive shop was able to fill cheap and easy. Regulator easy on and off and easy to reach behind the seat to turn it on.

Click to expand...

? is the dive shop filling your tank with air or O2, big difference.

I have CGA-870 with the on-demand pulse regulator. Makes a tank last forever. I use an Rx for refills.

Yes Big Diff

Yes Brett it is a big difference.

Dive tanks are compressed air. Not pure Oxygen.

Oxygen we use for flying is compressed O2 pure Oxygen.

They only use Oxygen in diving for mixed gas diving. (Professionals very deep)

It's been decided ...

Wow - I was really hoping this was going to lean heavily to one side or the other but so far it hasn't. I understand it hasn't had much time to incubate (so much for folks checking VAF at work! ) but I need to allow time to ship and set the system up. To those that responded, Thank You! I learned some things and that's always good.

So what did I decide? I'm going the CGA-540 route.

Per Bill's post, I bought through Cramer Decker Medical. Their prices have changed a bit since Sept 2010:

• Their D cylinder now goes for $58.95 (an increase of $20)
• Their Low Profile CGA-540 w/ guage still goes for $30.00 (no price change)
• Their AREG5404 0-4 LPM CGA-540 regulator now goes for $40.95 (an increase of $1)

Thanks,

Oxygen system

Mountain High Oxygen systems utilizes CGA540. It is my understanding that the medical system is not really designed for vibration situations. I had a washer "combust" during a surgical procedure in my surgery center. Not a desirable situation. This should less of a threat with the industrial design.

flow rate for RV flying

Do a search for pediatric regulators. They are about the same price you show... but have fractional LPM flow rates.
The 1-4 LPM flow will be too much... in my experience.

Yes Bret and DarylT,
Nitrox is a very common dive mix. Therefore all the dive shops in Florida carry pure O2. I do double check by watching them fill the tanks.
DarylT - Nitrox is a very common recreational dive mix used to allow more bottom time mostly in shallow and mid depth dives.