Can one breathe industrial oxygen

There is no issue breathing pure O2 at atmospheric pressure for modest durations. Been there, done that.

My guess is to avoid breathing diesel exhaust in an enclosed trailer :)

Mine too. O2 from my friendly welding supply.

OK, fair enough. What do I know anyway? ;-)

Thanks! Rich

OK, thanks for this; but you _do_ agree with humidifying it, right?

Thanks, Rich

My trade instructor at work told us that welding oxygen is even more pure than medical grade oxy.

A quick googling and it appears that "medical" grade oxy is only 93% pure O2, and gets run through a humidifier to moisturize it. After all, the normal air we breathe is only 21% or so.

As I understand it, the only real difference when buying different grades of Oxygen is the insurance liability, not the purity of product, since both come from the same bulk liquid O2 tank.

Long story short-- I would trust it.

Easier said than done. Just bubbling through water won't do a lot for it.

If there were a simple solution military jets would use it. But 2 or 3 hours sucking cold O2 - you DRY, mon.

In a pinch, yes. But that's pure O2 and it's not good to breathe it for long periods. You OD, some people convulse, etc. As nitrogen breathers, HUmons only need a few percent of oxygen.

But, yeah, you could breathe it long enough to escape your teargassed home.

-- The United States of America is the greatest, the noblest and, in its original founding principles, the only moral country in the history of the world. -- Ayn Rand

Not for short term use. Standard SCUBA air is very dry as well and is not generally an issue, just a slight annoyance over a long series of dives. There is one company that makes an add on humidifier device for SCUBA regulators, but I don't think it's a particularly big seller. I just keep a pocket size bottle of anesthetic throat spray in my gear bag to cover any dry throat coughing.

Many have commented so far. let me add my 2 cents.

The O2 in a welding tank is the same as the O2 in a medical bottle. That is an established industry standard.

HOWEVER...

Medical O2 bottles are certified CLEAN, industrial bottles are NOT.

I teach at the Divers Institute of Technology in Seattle. A commercial diver training school.

We would NEVER use welding oxygen on a decompression chamber. We have 2 active chambers on campus. We use what are called APO bottles ( Aviator Provider Oxygen ) They look just like a large industrial oxygen cylinder, but are green instead of blue and are are clearly marked on the tank label as breathing oxygen. If an APO bottle is ever used for a cutting torch it can NEVER be used for medical oxygen again. That happened on campus last year. We had a cutting torch rigged up on the welding barge. I looked up at the peer and saw a green bottle hooked up to my torch and shut the whole operation down. We had to call Central welding immediately and have them haul away the tank to be decertified for medical use and restamped at the fill plant.

No joke.

I have used my cutting torch oxygen in the past to get over temporary breathing difficulties from excessive aluminum oxide dust, but I never breathed only the bottle oxygen. I fed it into my cupped hand to mix with air. Still makes me nervous not knowing who might have contaminated that bottle in the past.

Acetylene is lethal to lung tissue.

To the best of my knowledge, it's the same chemical, but in the hospital, they put a humidifier on the oxygen line. The plain gas is very dry.

RWL

totally wrong

Or a bit of helium.

What you refer to is a mythical hazard. Putting 2,000+ PSI of pure O2 on top of just about any contamination would be a serious hazard. If heard similar worries about rust in an O2 cylinder, rust won't make it past the inlet filter on the regulator and wouldn't harm you even if it did. You simply will not get any contamination in welding grade O2 that will harm you.

I accept no liability for anyone else's actions.

I am not a doctor and don't play one on USENET.

If you or a loved one are in medical distress, call 911 or the applicable emergency number in your area. Do not self-treat. Rely on competent medical help.

The symptoms outlined in this post are consistent with dangerous, communicable disease.

However, yes.

Twice over the last decade, I've recovered from excessive breathing difficulty caused by 'lung gunk', apparent by violent coughing and a 'crackly' noise when inhaling. "Lung Gunk" is fluid trapped in the lungs which gets progressively worse, can result in colored sputum but does not clear by itself.

I stumbled into the 'shop' and began breathing ~100% O2 from my oxygas rig for several minutes per session. After three sessions, I was breathing much more easily. The coughing stopped and I was able to return to bed. By morning almost all the fluid had been eliminated, the 'crackling' noise was much reduced and I was breathing normally. Two days later, I was free of symptoms.

It worked for me twice but "two anecdotes do not equal data", or medical advice.

YMMV.

--Winston

You might get one of the devices described in the link, Winston. The FDA has finally approved this thing for sale in the US. I bought mine in Germany, and it seems to loosen up the "lung gunk". I'm afflicted with that anytime I've got a bad cold also. Big Time.

Garrett Fulton

That depends on the aquarium. I've seen giant tanks whose air pumps would blow your lungs out in a split second. (Try sucking down 350CFM @40psi from a 5hp blower, Pete.)

-- The United States of America is the greatest, the noblest and, in its original founding principles, the only moral country in the history of the world. -- Ayn Rand

Oh, of course, but you probably couldn't pick one up for ten bucks at the pet store! ;-)

Cheers! Rich

Putting LOX - liquid Oxygen that is - from a tanker - a pool across the blacktop highway or parking lot (delivery point) will detonate the carbon if you walk on it or drive on it.

Rather tricky stuff - freeze you then blow you up!

Mart>