BOOST OXYGEN SUPPLY PRESSURE VESSEL

[230RN]

BOOST 0₂ PRESSURE VESSEL

I keep a couple of containers of "BOOST" oxygen around...

     

I don't think enumeration of the advantages of having these available is necessary.

Bored.  Tired.  Nothing on TV.  Ran through the stuff on my Boards-of-Interest.
 
Thumbs tired of twiddling.

Picked up the can of  BOOST on the shelf under the printer.  Always surprised at how light it is since it just contains a gas at high pressure. 

Happened to note "Ten liters 95% pure aviators breathing oxygen.  Since 2007."

Grinned and wondered if the oxygen was still good after 18 years.  Bet you expected me to say I looked for a "Use By..." kind of expiration date.

Well, I admit it, I did, out of sheer habit, realized that was kinda duh.

Suddenly wondered what kind of pressure there was in the can if it contained 10 liters of O₂.

Can: not ferrous (not magnetic.)
Can:  6.6 cm OD, not ID.
Can: length: 19 cm.
Can: volume: 650cc (0.650 Liters).
Assumed: 10 liters of 95% O₂.
Compression ratio: 10.00 to unit per description.
Atmospheres of pressure: 10.00 ÷ 0.650, ATM= 15.4 ATMospheres
Internal pressure = 15.4ATM X 14.7 PSI= 226 PSI

Seems like a lot / too much.

If I ever use one up I'll cut it open to see how thick the can walls are, but I doubt that will affect the volume or conclusion that much.

Still seems like a lot of pressure for the container.

Hm.

Went to bed.

Terry, 230RN

EDIT:  Changed "Atmospheres of pressure: 10.00 x 0.650, ATM= 15.4 ATMosphere" to division symbol: "Atmospheres of pressure: 10.00 ÷ 0.650, ATM= 15.4 ATMospheres"

[WLJ]

Wonder if that would help starting fires?

[Bogie]

LOX works great. We used to have Science Days in the labs, with kids from local schools.
 
Some stuff the PR folks saw us do once, and wouldn't let us do it again...

[Ben]

I used to have to do both a First Aid/O2 administration and a dive medic refresher annually, and everybody in both classes knew not to get between me and the O2 bottles. I used to love huffing that stuff. 

I might have to look into getting a few cans of the stuff in the OP. Or buy a tank at the welding store. 

[230RN]

Wonder if that would help starting fires?

Awkward.  Designed for mouth-nose connection.  Better off just blowing on the fire-starting arrangement to assure fresh air entrained in your breath gets to it.  Way past the design goals.

LOX works great. We used to have Science Days in the labs, with kids from local schools.
 
Some stuff the PR folks saw us do once, and wouldn't let us do it again...

Yeah, ha, I'm sure everybody's got stories about the lycopodium dust explosion experiment.  And having a LOX tank around the house is probably dangerous in a fire. 

I used to have to do both a First Aid/O2 administration and a dive medic refresher annually, and everybody in both classes knew not to get between me and the O2 bottles. I used to love huffing that stuff. 

I might have to look into getting a few cans of the stuff in the OP. Or buy a tank at the welding store. 

They're available in grocery and drug stores.  The "Ten Liter" ones are around ten bucks and are specifically designed for convenient application to the mouth of humans in personal and others' heart events and hangovers, and out-of-breath situations.  See the top part of the image in the OP.  I've also suggested they might be useful in escaping a smoke-filled room.  An awful lot of fire deaths are due to smoke inhalation.

A really well-thought-out little lifesaver.  I just wondered about the O₂ pressures involved.

Terry, 230RN

[BobR]

Aviators O2 is 99.5% pure as is medical O2, the difference is the aviation O2 is dried out to prevent freezing at high altitudes. They threw in 5% of something else.

I have sucked down more than my share of pure O2, especially after a night of running the town in the PI or somewhere. The first thing you do is "check" the O2 so there is time to refill it during preflight.

bob

[griz]

Wonder if that would help starting fires?

I saw a video where they started a charcoal fire in a big, but cheap, grill.  Then with a guy at each end of a loooong stick, they poured a gallon of liquid oxygen on it.  It wasn't like an explosion, it was as if the fire just got 100 times more intense.  A short while later there was just ashes and a few shreds of metal.

[Hawkmoon]

BOOST 0₂ PRESSURE VESSEL

Grinned and wondered if the oxygen was still good after 18 years.  Bet you expected me to say I looked for a "Use By..." kind of expiration date.

The Boost web site says it has a shelf life of 5 years.

[Bogie]

That is probably based upon the expected life of the seals... FWIW, "leak sealer" in the automotive world, at least for fuel/oil/ac systems, is generally a seal expander.

[230RN]

That is probably based upon the expected life of the seals... FWIW, "leak sealer" in the automotive world, at least for fuel/oil/ac systems, is generally a seal expander.

Agreed.  Although I have used spray paint cans from bibiical times OK, but also had some spray stuff only a couple of years old have no pressure.  Recenrtly I also had a can of spray olive oil lose its propellant so I stuck it in the freezer to absolutely guarantee the pressure was safely down for real, opened it up with a beer can opener and "rescued" about 10 oz  pf perfectly good olive oil.

[MechAg94]

I saw a video where they started a charcoal fire in a big, but cheap, grill.  Then with a guy at each end of a loooong stick, they poured a gallon of liquid oxygen on it.  It wasn't like an explosion, it was as if the fire just got 100 times more intense.  A short while later there was just ashes and a few shreds of metal.

Yep.  Everything burns in pure oxygen.  Everything. 

I saw a safety video many years ago.  A metal stick figure with doll clothes on was put in a beaker.  A match was put to the clothing and it slowly burned like normal.  Second stick figure with doll clothes in a beaker.  This time they sprayed O2 gas into the beaker to saturate the clothing.  A match was put to the clothing and the entire stick figure was engulf in flame is a second or two. 

Make sure you don't get the O2 gas in or on your clothing as that makes it very easy to light and burn.  In air gas plants, the safety rule was don't smoke for 30 or 45 minutes after being around oxygen or liquid oxygen.   

[MechAg94]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrfHnKtKvws

This safety video looks similar. 

[230RN]

True danger of oxygen molecules clinging to fabrics  So do other gases due to the enormous surface areas involved.

If you can hold down the "burning" speed, as with these hand warmers...

https://hothands.com/warmer-tech/

...you can have a practical use for that slow burning to keep your hands and toes warm.

The basic principle involves the exothermic reaction of rusting. Yes, rusting iron gives off heat, but in ordinary circumstances (such as a rusting fence post or an unpainted Golden Gate Bridge) the reaction is slow enough that you won't notice it.  In addition, in a solid chunk of iron (or steel), the heat is carried away by conduction in the body of the metal.

Those little hand warming packets work on the slow oxidation of iron powder in the little packets.

It's hard to think of metals actually burning --as in with a flame --but think what happens when you touch a bit of steel wool with a match.  You can watch the little fibers burn along slowly.

I once had a pile  of steel particles behind my grinding wheel start burning --not with a flame, but with a moving line of glowing particles.  A reminder to clean up behind the grinder when done. I am also told that with a cutting torch on steel, you can shut off the acetylene and continue cutting just by the heat of the steel burning in the pure oxygen blast.  Never tried that one myself.

So yes, having some oxygen molecules running around loose without a leash can be dangerous, but normal cautions apply.

(Incidentally, but related, there used to be another kind of pocket hand warmer that depended on the heat given off when dissolving anhydrous ammonium nitrate in water.  Lots of things give off heat when dissolved in water.)

Terry, 230RN

Edited for typos and clarity

[MechAg94]

I have seen the aftermath of a couple fires on oxygen compressors.  They are pretty bad even if they don't last long. 

[dogmush]

Wonder if that would help starting fires?

They do, yes.

I see that brand comes in flavors, for the vapeing crowd: https://www.amazon.com/Boost-Oxygen-Supplemental-All-Natural-Respiratory/dp/B085DSPVP2?th=1

[BobR]

A long staple and Navy safety stand down classic "The Man from LOX" was shown so much over the years I would bet it is one of the most watched films of all times.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUKcHe0-m_I

Working in the ER, especially in the VA, we would occasionally get someone in with facial burns and plastic tubing melted to their face. I don't care how many times you tell people do not smoke while on O2 they just seem to know better than those doing the talking. 

bob