Try AFE at Oxford Airport
A member here kindly offered to lend his O2D2.
I might end up buying one, but having a test first would also be nice. My longer trips are also often 4 people up, so then it starts to be a lot of kit & weight and people likely put off by it, so I normally just stay below FL120.
For the usual London → Paris bimble (which has to be split in 2 thanks to us – I’m also british, after all – not being in scengen), I rarely fly very high. Generally just high enough so that I can file IFR and relax.
In this case, I want it for a specific trip (Svalbard), so that I have all options available for cloud evasion, and it would be a shame to restrict the DA42 to FL120 when it’s ceiling is FL180
I have been given an O2 system and looking to see if it is usable. It is Mountain High equipment and seems to have evolved from continuous flow based on XCP regulator and MH3 flow control and later upgraded to an O2D2 plugged into the XCP.
The main issue is the cylinder, which is composite, is out of test and in any case only has a year of life left. Hence a new cylinder is required. The current one is a GCI 2.0l 300 bar weighing 1.5kg. I believe any O2 flyingwould be 15,000 ft typically, two place but we are new to this.
Secondly, I believe the regulators will probably need servicing. Anywhere in the UK that can do that or should they be sent to MH?
Any advice or guidance appreciated.
AFE at Oxford will sort you out:
http://www.afeonline.com/shop/mountain-high-oxygen-systems?sort=4a&page=2
If the bottle is lifed, and the reg needs servicing, maybe take a fresh look at what is available.
I recently purchased: http://www.transair.co.uk/sp+SkyOx-Aviation-Oxygen-Systems-SkyOx-Aviation-Oxygen-System-20-Cubic-Feet+8487
I liked the easy setup method of the reg., just select the flow rate on the reg. no further flow adjustment necessary. 20 cu ft works for me, fill at dive shop.
Look carefully at bottle length, 20 cu ft is shortest!
Many thanks for the comments. I would like to utilise the O2D2 if I can so cylinder replacement should be best option. I religiously service my dive regs as they are exposed to salt water, etc and any failure is more critical. Not knowing then the O2D", etc were last serviced I would like to get them checked hence wanting to know if this can be done in UK or have to go back to MH.
The O2D2 has a spec on the permitted input pressure range, so if you want to use it with a 1st stage regulator which is not from MH, you need to check that.
MH kit has rarely been even sold in Europe. The few shops that have sold it tended to order it back to back from the USA, and since MH don’t offer reseller discounts, the end customer didn’t save anything. MH offer a good service shipping stuff direct to Europe; I have bought loads of bits from them.
The O2D2 had a recent history which sounded like a bad batch – here. My two, bought almost 10 years ago, never failed.
I’ve a system with AFE and they were easy / pleasant to deal with. From phone conversations with them, they do seem to get a number of systems here.
The price on the website converted from USD to GBP is lower, but higher if you add the UK Vat.
I’m taking 2 fully independent systems to my trip to Svalbard, one kindly loaned by a member (the 1st gen), and the 2nd gen I bought, but they can also be combined to get 4 people on 2 O2D2 connected to 1 regulator/cylinder.
I bought the 647L AL cylinder, as the Kevlar seemed extremely expensive (and have less capacity) for ~2kg saved (I might be missing something, but fail to understand why the Kevlar would be appealing). Have the 417L loaner too. so that should allow for a decent amount of hours at altitude.
I’ve called Sub-aqua products and they were good in making a system to refill / adapters for other screw systems. They are much cheaper than MH adapters, so worth looking into.
I might be missing something, but fail to understand why the Kevlar would be appealing
Their 48 cu ft composite cylinder used to cost $600 which was good value and it is much ligher than an aluminium one of the same volume. All the other composite cylinders cost much more. I don’t know why.
Update – MH themselves are the only people who can service their products and hence I will sending them there and will also be choosing a new cylinder, possibly an AL-415.
