Oxygen concentrators

Stating the obvious, Fire is a rapid chemical reaction between oxygen and a flammable or combustible material that releases a lot of energy. Oxygen isn't normally considered flammable, but it must be present for burning of other materials to occur.

High oxygen concentrations above the 21% in air result in faster burning of flammable/combustible materials with very rapid energy release. The three astronauts were killed in the Apollo capsule because NASA was using 100% oxygen when the fire started, resulting in a very rapid, very hot fire.

After reading this Wikipedia article on Oxygen Concentrators, I don't see how the oxygen concentration of the air inside an RV can be increased, other than very locally near the person who is using the oxygen. There may be other types of oxygen concentrators, but the type described separates the oxygen from the nitrogen in the air, sends the oxygen to the person and vents the nitrogen back to the air. Any oxygen that the person doesn't breath in just mixes back with the vented nitrogen and the rest of the air in the RV.

Oxygen should not flow except when the patient inhales. The patient breathes in the Oxygen and exhales a normal breathe. The concentration of oxygen from the patients exhaled breathe will be no greater than a person breathing unassisted.

not all concentrators use a breath regulator,
many are free flow

and yes it would be hard for them to build up a concentration..inside the whole rv
but yes there is excess oxygen around the nose piece

please be careful with the hose, a snag, break or worn spot can cause a fire
don't drag the hose/tubing around electric heaters or any form of heat

In fact if your motorhome was air tight the use of a consetrator would lower the amount of oxygen in air by putting more in to you and thus converting more to co2.But in the real world of leaky motorhomes just don't point the bottle at a flame and nothing is going to happen.

I believe this is one of the most intelligent and informative articles I have read on the forums in a long time. Thanks to a great bunch for bringing those of us that did not have this knowledge up to speed.

shada wrote:
Just a heads up for people using oxygen concentrators, please as weather cools keep a window open or good ventilation as oxygen can build up in our Rvs This can cause a flash fire. Also we need to shut off pilot on our stoves or any other ignition source.

Its clear to me what the OP is trying to say. An oxygen rich environment where open flames are present is dangerous. Quit stomping your feet.

Oxygen will not burn on it's own. It is one of the 3 things that must be present to support rapid oxidation. Oxygen, fuel, heat are the key elements. Without any one of these it aint gonna happen. When all 3 are present, caution is in order.

If you want to see something interesting, heat steel wool until it is red hot then introduce pure oxygen. The steel wool will ignite like tissue paper. Not much will burn without oxygen, but by itself oxygen will not burn.

And don't forget that respiration is controlled largely by the amount of carbon dioxide in the blood.

An oxygen concentrator takes in room air, concentrates the Oxygen by removing the nitrogen out of the mix, then passes the high-O2 gas to the output line and vents the rest.

Thus the total 02 level in the room, DOES NOT CHANGE, there is no concentration of Oxygen in the room, only in the hose to the mask.

So the fire hazard is mostly electrical (if the concentrator overloads the el-chapo wiring in the RV, which is not likely since they do not draw that much power)

Now BOTTLED oxygen, is another horse entirely, With bottled oxygen the oxygen is refined out of air at a remote location so bottled oxygen DOES raise the total Oxygen level inside the room or rooms where it is used.

But the Concentrator does not, it only concentrates oxygen already in the room and delivers that concentrated to the mask, but the amount of oxygen in the room does not change not even one molecule worth.

And, the concentrator puts out 78% nitrogen which is non flammable.

That makes sense, what with the name and all. I'd never heard of them prior to this thread.