On Tuesday, May 1, 2012 7:22:17 PM UTC-5, Bill D wrote:
On May 1, 4:17*pm, lynn wrote:
I have had considerable difficulty getting FAA authorized oxygen service stations to retest and refill my 22 cu. ft. steel tank. It was originally purchased and installed in 1978 by Sailplane Repair Service in Ft. Collins, CO in accordance with a 337. Local stations here in Dallas, TX will not touch it without an assembly part number AND, even if it had one, they would only be able to service it if the P/N matched one for which they are authorized to service. My tank only shows the DOT 3AA1800 number stamped in the steel, but this is not the number required for the assembly. How do others in the U.S. get their tanks serviced, as I don't think the older tanks ever had such a number affixed? *Do any owners of the newer aluminum tanks have similar problems with getting them serviced?

I think the other responses have the right answer. There's just no
such thing as an "FAA Authorized Oxygen Service Station". What you
are looking for is a simple DOT hydrotest shop. All compressed gas
bottles require a current DOT stamp whether for aircraft or not.

My guess is you explained what the O2 bottle is for and the particular
shop is antsy about working on "airplane parts". My standard response
to a question like, "What's it out of?" is to say it's a project I'd
be happy to tell him all about but it'll take an hour. So far, no one
has asked to hear the 'story'.

Well, I was told by locals at our club,the place to go to in Dallas was "Safetech". They are an FAA Repair station (No. SMER451X) and do oxygen system repairs and servicing for all types of aircraft. Safetech emphatically told me no work could be done without the assembly part number and the number would have to be on their list of P/Ns approved for their shop by the FAA. So perhaps I misstated the shop as an "authorized FAA oxygen service station" and should have stated it as an "FAA Repair Station" but this is all semantics. In any case, I have a PIK-20D which has a Type Certificate issued by the FAA and I have always tried to stay legal when it comes to working on aircraft. So this is why I have not tried a dive shop or other non-FAA approved facility. So, if the consensus is aircraft oxygen systems can be serviced by just about any compressed gas facility, so be it. I just want to know for sure if this is the proper way to go in the eyes of the FAA. Even a well known supplier of oxygen systems (adverting in Soaring Mag) knew nothing about the requirements for servicing at an FAA repair station and said dive shop or fire extinguisher servicing facilities can be used with no hassle but do not mention it is for aviation use. Sounds as if this method is not legal. So how about it you legal beagles out there--just how does an aircraft owner get their oxygen system serviced legally?