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Neon John Neon John is offline
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Default Aviators oxygen vs welding or medical oxygen.

On Sun, 12 Feb 2017 10:35:05 -0600, Tim Wescott
wrote:


IIRC oxygen for human consumption has CO2 mixed in.


NO! At least for medical oxygen. No idea about aviation oxygen but
since the oxygen for commercial pilots comes from a LOX tank, I doubt
that aviation oxygen has anything added either.

The pathways that
regulate breathing sense blood CO2 concentration and make you breath
faster when it goes up -- and let you stop breathing when it goes down
close to zero.


This is true to a point but most anyone on medical oxygen has a
respiratory or other problem that keeps their O2 sat low. A normal
person will have a sat level of from 98 to 100%. The standard of care
for starting long term oxygen therapy is 89%, a level that has the
patient gasping for breath.

I was on concentrator-produced oxygen for several years after a spinal
injury severed the nerves that drive my left diaphragm. I had a
surgical procedure done by robot called a hemidiaphragmatic plication
where the surgeon tied the two diaphragm muscles together. I regained
enough lung capacity to get off the oxygen.

My O2 sat while I was on the concentrators ran around 95%. Plenty of
CO2 in my system to keep me breathing just fine.

I have an oxygen concentration meter that I used to check used
concentrators before I bought them. A new machine will produce 99%
pure oxygen. A machine with a couple of years on it will drop to
97-98%. The sieve columns are replaced at 95%.
John DeArmond
http://www.neon-john.com
http://www.tnduction.com
Tellico Plains, Occupied TN
See website for email address