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Tips, Techniques, and Questions -- Technical questions or tips

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  #1  
Old 2017-07-28, 7:20pm
Steampunked Steampunked is offline
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Default What to look for in a concentrator?

Hello folks.

I'm very much a newbie. Googling for concentrators is a bit confusing - what kind of setups and parameters should I be looking at? What works well second hand, and what issues should I be looking out for? Are there consumables which I need to look at, like filters? What is the general lifespan of things like this?

I am guessing that the ones for healthcare are not designed for much psi or may have issues that make them dangerous around open flame?
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  #2  
Old 2017-07-28, 8:51pm
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Beatrix Beatrix is offline
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Actually, the ones used for healthcare are exactly the ones my group uses. They're used with a ton of mileage on them, but were cheap as a result so if one dies it's not nearly as bad as it could be. Some are noisier than others.
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  #3  
Old 2017-07-28, 11:30pm
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Speedslug Speedslug is offline
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I recommend using the search tool on the top bar of the page (between New Posts and Quick Links) and looking for "oxygen concentrator".

Use the quotation marks so the search will give you both words together, other wise you will wind up with a response list with each individual word and both words that will be 3 times as big to weed through.

There have been a couple dozen discussions about them over the years.

Do keep in mind that the people that bought the medical units new paid an arm and a leg ( or their insurance did) because as medical units they have to be certified, prescribed by a doctor and overhauled regularly due to the fact that lives that depended on them working reliably all the time for a year after year.

However, the ones that you can find for sale on Craigslist can only ask for under about $600 at best because once the patient no longer needs them they have to recertified and prescribed by a doctor again.

Often you can get them for $250 and sometimes much less just to get the reminder of the loss of a loved one out the house.

Replacement filters are available for not a whole lot but unless you torch in really dirty of extremely humid places the old filters will do for a very long time.

How much out put you need depends a lot on what kind of torching you do.

A small torch working soft glass can work just fine on a 5 liters per minute (lpm) oxycon while doing 3 inch marbles in hard glass like boro may require two 10 lpm units or some of the specialty units made just for the glass community putting out 20 lpm.

Happy hunting.
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Last edited by Speedslug; 2017-07-28 at 11:35pm.
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  #4  
Old 2017-07-29, 1:34am
Steampunked Steampunked is offline
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Thanks for the assistance! For some reason when I look for Oxy Concentrators on Gumtree I get a lot of zebra fish ads as well as the concentrators (but not...other kinds of fish. Only zebra fish). If they are still useful, I'm quite happy to go for one that was ex-medical - I found precisely one place today in Australia that sold the sort for lampworking so supply is hard I guess. At least for any 'branded' for glass.
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  #5  
Old 2017-11-02, 4:18pm
Alan Alan is offline
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Hi Steampunked Everything to do with lampworking in Australia is expensive we get ripped off. I spent 12 months looking for a 10lpm oxycon in oz at a reasonable price and could not justify importing one from the USA. I ended up getting a 10lpm industrial unit from China on Alibaba for just under $1500usd delivered with $200aud import duty.
Most suppliers of lampworking stuff in oz buy from the USA and add 500-1000%. Thatis why I buy and import my self or find alternative options.
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  #6  
Old 2017-11-02, 4:28pm
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Wow.

For money like that you could probably shop Craigs Lists here in the USA and pay to have them shipped to you.

They are pretty rugged machines and should not have any problems while on the journey over there.

The 90 days it would take shipping it would be more than annoying but it would be better than doing without.
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