Oxygen Concentrator

Someone has offered to give me their new Oxygen concentrator. i’ve been researching the Everflo oxygen concentrator, which everyone thus far has recommeded. My friend’s is a new Chinese oxygen concentrator Model: COXTOD Portable 1-5L Ox-ygen Generator O2 Concentrator Home Travel Air Purifier Machine) - would that work if it is 5L for use with a Little Smith torch?

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Hi,

I recently went through the many, many past posts regarding oxygen concentrators, and picked up alot of really good information.

you can search this forum for “oxygen concentrator” and that should pull up a lot of posts. take notes! there is a lot of good tips!

with that said, based on what I read, the 5 liter seems to be sufficient for running the smith Little torch…

Julie

Hello Celia,
I looked around the Net for the manual for this concentrator…I think I found it…there are several COXTOD concentrators and some use line voltage and some are battery powered. If it specifies 5Lpm, that should work for typical soldering with a Little Torch. If my memory serves me right, most of the 5Lpm concentrators are a little shy of providing all the heat that the Little Torch rosebud can provide for casting, but that is the only limitation. Evidently the purity of the oxygen is dependent on altitude and starts to decrease below 90% once you get over 1000 ft in altitude, so there’s that, but otherwise it will work. I prefer the concentrator to having the oxygen tanks in the house, as do some others. -royjohn

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Thank you so much Royjohn! I live in low lying areas and I’m also going to have a prestolite (ambient air - more powerful than the little torch). I think between the two it will be safe! I too don’t want big tanks in the garage. I’ve even made my pickle salt & vinegar! Appreciate your help.

Thank you Julie! I’ve read a lot of them. So many things to consider!

A prest-o-lite runs on acetylene, at least the one I used for 35 years did. Look into the safety of having acetylene cylinders in your house. If you are going to be running propane and O2 from a concentrator, consider adding a larger torch on a Y connection like a Meco that runs on both of these gases. Sometimes I do miss my prest-o-lite, like when I am melting a lot of scrap. I have discovered that my Little Torch with Paige tips will do a lot that I used to do with my Meco. I still need it to solder heavier pieces. You might also consider a simple propane torch like the EZ torch to do your annealing. All of these torches will run on 1lb. camp stove propane cylinders. Lots in the archives about all of these topics…Rob

No acetylene for me in the garage. Propane and I have the adapter coming for the Prestolite. My question is about the concentrator. Sounds like its a go. I’ll be trying the Little Smith torch with a 1 pound propane and the oxygen generator. I’ve looked into the attachments to hook it up. Trying to keep it all safe as I’m in a rental.

Adapted to go from acetylene to propane. I will have to look into that. Thanks…Rob

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I know that I researched this same topic years ago when I went from acetylene to propane. Just because you have an adapter that will allow you to connect what was an acetylene torch to a propane source doesn’t mean that you should. The materials that acetylene hoses, regulators and flashbacks are made from are, or can be, different for each gas. Basically, propane can cause these materials to degrade and fail. The O2 side is fine. You won’t need a regulator, but you might look into flashbacks, however the pressure drop across the flashback may become a problem. You should find a reputable welding shop and tell them what you want to do. There is, or was, some very useful information on the Paige Tools website about using propane. Regarding the COXTOD Portable 1-5L Ox-ygen Generator O2 Concentrator. This is a smaller travel type unit. My guess is that you will not be happy with it, but I don’t know, nor can I find, enough information about it to confirm this. Look at what Rio and others are selling on their propane and O2 units. These are larger 5 l/m units with dual sieve beds and a compressor and solenoid valve that allow the O2 to accumulate in one bed then the other to maintain a constant flow of O2 at a selected flow rate. Again, Paige Tools does or used to have information about using O2 concentrators. I can only tell you what works for me, and that is a Meco and Little Torch with Paige tips, propane specific hose set from TM Technologies (another source of information about propane torches), 1lb. camp stove propane cylinders shared by both torches, an Invicare Platinum XL 5 l/m O2 concentrator and flashbacks on both sides. I guess the phrase that comes to mind is" Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should". Finally, check with your landlord if you rent, homeowners insurance carrier and local fire marshall to see what they can and can’t support. I am not trying to offend you with my comments. You may already know all this, but there are others on this discussion board who have the same questions and just haven’t asked them. It is important that we try to answer them so that you don’t, at the very least, waste money and time, but more importantly, create a dangerous set of conditions in your shop. Good luck…Rob

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I am so grateful Rob for your specificity and recommendations. I promise to look into all this before turning on any gas.

Hello again, Celia and All,
I couldn’t on short notice figure out how to delete my post above, so I will amend it here and see if I can edit or remove it later…I looked a little deeper into the portable concentrators and I think I now understand why yours says 1-5 lpm rather than just 5lpm. The portables are “pulse” concentrators rather than continuous concentrators…this means that they cleverly sense when an inhalation starts and provide a pulse of oxygen while you are inhaling…then they don’t provide oxygen and just stock up while you are exhaling, thus allowing a smaller unit to serve you while you are out and about. Very clever, but not what we need for jewelry…I’m not sure whether one of these would just never produce any oxygen when connected to a torch or whether it would be on all the time at a lower level, but I think it is likely that you will get either reduced flow or no flow in a connection to a torch. Maybe a dealer/technician in these torches could tell you more. You might get enough oxygen to run a Smith Little Torch with a small flame, but not at full output…but a non-portable at home concentrator is probably your best bet. To make it simple, if it is rated at 5lpm or higher and it has wheels on it, that’s the one you want. Basically the ones with wheels are 5 or 10lpm…hope this clarifies what I said and sorry for jumping the gun. That said, you can often find concentrators with low running hours on them that relatives are selling because their loved one who used it has passed on. The running hours are tabulated on a “mileage” odometer somewhere on the unit. They will run up to 10,000 hours or more and it is not unusual to find one with 2000 or 3000 hour on it. So you may find one used which cannot be resold to a medical user without refurbishment cheap…$150 to $300. A refurbished unit intended for resale will be $350 or more, you would have to check current prices and dealers/repairers. You will love the convenience and you will save money in the long run if you solder a lot. -royjohn

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I really appreciate your response. I gave the portable concentrator back to my friend and I’ve got an everflo refurbished (under 1500 hours) shipping to me tonight. I’m going to follow online gurus Nancy Hamilton and Leslie Kail Villarreal’s videos about the coupling needed for my Little Torch. THANK YOU! Celia

Every flashback arrestor I’ve seen for fuel in the last 10 years has been Acetylene/Propane. They generally manufacture them identically these days, and it’s near impossible to find a propane-only arrestor on the market.

I’ve an Oxygen concentrator setup here. It’s a relatively simplistic hookup from the concentrator to the supply. 3/8" tubing from the concentrator into a barb to 9/16-18 thread (something like this: https://www.mscdirect.com/product/details/06032817 ). Connected to a flashback and connected to the Smith Little. The Smith little will only take about 3-3.5lpm through its tiny little hoses (you simply can’t PUSH more than that), so a 5 lpm unit will do everything you need. You’re not going to want to mass melt with it. But it will solder/anneal/whatever.

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Thank you Neil!