Best Oxygen Setup?

On Monday, 30 September 2019 21:17:03 UTC-6, AS wrote:
On Monday, September 30, 2019 at 10:12:34 PM UTC-4, ProfJ wrote:
Ok, looking for the wisdom of the crowd (or even just the individual) here. I want to get an oxygen setup for my glider. It's an old-school touring motor glider (SZD-45 Ogar) but I like to soar it anyway, and I live in SW Colorado so I am regularly bumping my head on the 12,500ft and 14,000ft "limits". (Why "limits"? Well my house is at 9,000' and I regularly ride my mountain bike up to 12,000 ft without getting notably out of breath, but I guess you have to take the rules seriously.) So: what is the best oxygen setup for western soaring, mostly sub-5hr flights, two seat glider, easy access to an oxygen distributor, easy retro-fit to an experimental glider, quite a lot of space in the cockpit? Oh, and budget friendly, in case the glider didn't give you a clue.

I am using a Mountain High EDS O2D2 in my two-seater and I have used it now for four summers in Moriarty. Two of us can fly several days in a row at altitudes up to 17,999ft ;-) using canuals. We never felt any signs of hypoxia. The operation of the O2D2 is straight forward - more or less idiot-proof.
Buy the biggest tank you can fit into your Ogar and still be within the CG and weight limits.

Uli
'AS'

Thanks Uli! That was more or less what I had concluded but really nice to get the experienced confirmation.

On Monday, September 30, 2019 at 11:21:30 PM UTC-4, ProfJ wrote:
On Monday, 30 September 2019 21:17:03 UTC-6, AS wrote:
On Monday, September 30, 2019 at 10:12:34 PM UTC-4, ProfJ wrote:
Ok, looking for the wisdom of the crowd (or even just the individual) here. I want to get an oxygen setup for my glider. It's an old-school touring motor glider (SZD-45 Ogar) but I like to soar it anyway, and I live in SW Colorado so I am regularly bumping my head on the 12,500ft and 14,000ft "limits". (Why "limits"? Well my house is at 9,000' and I regularly ride my mountain bike up to 12,000 ft without getting notably out of breath, but I guess you have to take the rules seriously.) So: what is the best oxygen setup for western soaring, mostly sub-5hr flights, two seat glider, easy access to an oxygen distributor, easy retro-fit to an experimental glider, quite a lot of space in the cockpit? Oh, and budget friendly, in case the glider didn't give you a clue.

I am using a Mountain High EDS O2D2 in my two-seater and I have used it now for four summers in Moriarty. Two of us can fly several days in a row at altitudes up to 17,999ft ;-) using canuals. We never felt any signs of hypoxia. The operation of the O2D2 is straight forward - more or less idiot-proof.
Buy the biggest tank you can fit into your Ogar and still be within the CG and weight limits.

Uli
'AS'

Thanks Uli! That was more or less what I had concluded but really nice to get the experienced confirmation.

Forgot to mention: my glider is also the side-by-side configuration, so the EDS is installed between the seats on the center console in full view of both users, which I think is a huge advantage.
Uli
'AS'

I used to have a Calif as well, and I managed to install a 10 liter cylinder between/behind the seats. With the EDS, that goes a long way ;-)

On Tuesday, October 1, 2019 at 12:09:07 AM UTC-4, Tango Whisky wrote:
I used to have a Calif as well, and I managed to install a 10 liter cylinder between/behind the seats. With the EDS, that goes a long way ;-)

Really? Which Serial # did you own?
I got the original Caproni O2 brackets and installed the longest aluminum tank that fits through the main bulkhead between the seats. I can turn on and off the tank, see the gauge and the operate the EDS. Nothing beats a roomy cockpit! ;-)

Uli
'AS'

Le mardi 1 octobre 2019 14:31:00 UTC+2, AS a écritÂ*:
On Tuesday, October 1, 2019 at 12:09:07 AM UTC-4, Tango Whisky wrote:
I used to have a Calif as well, and I managed to install a 10 liter cylinder between/behind the seats. With the EDS, that goes a long way ;-)

Really? Which Serial # did you own?
I got the original Caproni O2 brackets and installed the longest aluminum tank that fits through the main bulkhead between the seats. I can turn on and off the tank, see the gauge and the operate the EDS. Nothing beats a roomy cockpit! ;-)

Uli
'AS'

I owned S/N 38, F-CEUD (which I changed into D-6600 upon acquisition). Flew it for about 600 hrs from 1998 to 2005 in the French Alps. Absolute fantastic glider, very fond memories ;-)
The tank I installed did just fit through the main bulkhead and reached all the way back to the rear bulkhead. I installed a kind of swing at the rear bulkhead on which the bottom of the tank rested (and fixed by the horizontal part underneath the central wing section). In the main bulkhead, the top of the tank was fixed by a trap obtained from Gomolzig such that the valve protruded into the cockpit. Removal and installation could be done with the wings mounted by guiding it via the access hole above/behind the main bulkhead. And no, I never showed this to a German inspector :-D But as I said, 10 liters at 200 bars do last quite some time...

I do a reasonable amount of altitude flying here in Scotland.
I live at sea level, smoke, drink profusely (has health benefits . . some)
Get any MH EDS system, you really don't have to go as big on a bottle as
you'd think. If you have easy access to O2, go "medium" on bottle
selection, and steel for the bottle if weight is not an issue.

I routinely get 30+ hours on a very small bottle and that is based on
wearing the system at the launch point (at sea level) to counter hangovers,

then keeping it on all flight (as it is zero hassle and I'm a lazy
b'stard)
The cannula system works very well up to fL200 and allows smoking whilst
flying . . (I'm not at all sure it's rated for it, but it does work)

You smoke while using pure oxygen??? This must be a joke.

ProfJ wrote on 9/30/2019 8:21 PM:
On Monday, 30 September 2019 21:17:03 UTC-6, AS wrote:
On Monday, September 30, 2019 at 10:12:34 PM UTC-4, ProfJ wrote:
Ok, looking for the wisdom of the crowd (or even just the individual) here. I want to get an oxygen setup for my glider. It's an old-school touring motor glider (SZD-45 Ogar) but I like to soar it anyway, and I live in SW Colorado so I am regularly bumping my head on the 12,500ft and 14,000ft "limits". (Why "limits"? Well my house is at 9,000' and I regularly ride my mountain bike up to 12,000 ft without getting notably out of breath, but I guess you have to take the rules seriously.) So: what is the best oxygen setup for western soaring, mostly sub-5hr flights, two seat glider, easy access to an oxygen distributor, easy retro-fit to an experimental glider, quite a lot of space in the cockpit? Oh, and budget friendly, in case the glider didn't give you a clue.

I am using a Mountain High EDS O2D2 in my two-seater and I have used it now for four summers in Moriarty. Two of us can fly several days in a row at altitudes up to 17,999ft ;-) using canuals. We never felt any signs of hypoxia. The operation of the O2D2 is straight forward - more or less idiot-proof.
Buy the biggest tank you can fit into your Ogar and still be within the CG and weight limits.

Uli
'AS'

Thanks Uli! That was more or less what I had concluded but really nice to get the experienced confirmation.

I use O2D2 also, with a 45 cu ft carbon fiber tank in my Phoenix. It's easy to
install, it works well, it's easy to use, and my wife doesn't mind wearing the
cannula.


--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to email me)
- "A Guide to Self-Launching Sailplane Operation"
https://sites.google.com/site/motorg...ad-the-guide-1