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wood stove and medical oxygen use

kkodiak | Posted in Energy, Heating & Insulation on October 4, 2008 04:39am

So, if we install a wood stove, can my mother, who is hooked up to an oxygen tank, visit and not blow up our house?

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  1. junkhound | Oct 05, 2008 03:02am | #1

    Yes, of course.

     

    Blowing some O2 into a starting fire will get a fire going real fast.

    Dont blow any into the flue though.

    1. Mikera | Oct 05, 2008 04:02pm | #6

      reminds me back in the early 90's I has a wood burner in my workshop. At the end of the day some friends stopped over and after some beers we decided to modify the wood stove. I hooked up a 1/4" steel tube to an oxygen tank used for welding. As the night got colder out side the shop was quite cozy. Everything tossed into the stove vanished, bottles, garbage we had a glorious time. However the next day the tank was empty, the stove was warped No biggie and the shop was clean. I did later hook up a small fan to feed the fire box I then closed the damper slightly. The fire box being under pressure seemed to increase the efficacy of the stove as well as increased heat output, however it reduced the life of the stove.
      Fun times
      Michael Rapini
      msrhomeimprovements.com

      1. junkhound | Oct 05, 2008 05:06pm | #9

        Everything tossed into the stove vanished, bottles, garbage we had a glorious time

        Back in the 60's-70's at the start of the environmental movement, our non-politically correct boy scouts would have a 'White-mans fire', inspired by the OLD TV commercial of the Indian crying. 

        Big bonfire at the end of a camping trip built with airholes at bottom of a wet log 'container' - empty cans, any plastics, garbage, bottles, an occasional bicycle tire, etc. went in and were consumed.  Only thing in the ashes were occasional glass balls, and aluminum 'castings' when someone brought a 'newfangled' Al can.

        1. Mikera | Oct 05, 2008 06:37pm | #10

          Those times still bring a smile to my face

  2. User avater
    Luka | Oct 05, 2008 04:04am | #2

    And don't store the oxygen tanks in or on the woodstove.

    View Image

    Click here for access to the Woodshed Tavern

    1. lahgitana | Oct 05, 2008 05:33am | #3

      It's a long story, but I posted earlier as kkodiak (who is actually my brother), but this is me--lahgitana.Thank you for feedback about a woodstove and O2--was it such a funny question that I had to be sent to have a drink??? (You folks look like you're having fun in there!)

      1. Kilroy | Oct 05, 2008 07:54am | #4

        Sure, Mom can visit and not blow up the house. Every Summer. When the woodstove ain't burning.

      2. User avater
        Luka | Oct 05, 2008 04:01pm | #5

        Junkhound and I were just funnin.As long as your MIL doesn't sit her oxy tank right next to the stove... (Or store them in or on it. LOL) As long as there are no major leaks in her oxy setup... You should be fine.In use, the oxygen is so finely regulated that it puts out enough for her to breathe in, and that's pretty much it. Not enough oxygen gets past that mask, to change the mixture in the ambient roomn atmosphere enough, to cause an explosive mixture.It would take a major leak in the tank or regulator, to get enough oxygen into that atmosphere to make an explosive mixture.To even use it to get the fire going nicely, as Art has suggested, you'd have to change regulators on the tank, to those of a torch, just to get enough oxygen to make a difference there.

        View Image

        Click here for access to the Woodshed Tavern

        1. DanH | Oct 05, 2008 04:11pm | #7

          Yeah, I'd agree with that. Just keep her and (especially) her equipment a few feet from the stove, to be on the safe side.
          Corporation: n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility. --Ambrose Bierce

        2. DanH | Oct 05, 2008 04:17pm | #8

          Further, there are two different types of oxygen equipment. One uses a tank of compressed oxygen, which would present an explosion hazard if placed directly on top of the stove, and which could produce a "flash" if the tank were to suddenly depressurize near the stove. The other type is a "concentrator" which simply separates the nitrogen out of air and feeds the resulting "enriched" air to the mask. This type doesn't change the oxygen concentration in the ambient air at all, once the exhaust from the mask has remixed with the nitrogen exhaust.
          Corporation: n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility. --Ambrose Bierce

        3. lahgitana | Oct 05, 2008 07:18pm | #11

          hahahhahhaaa and hahahahahahahIt's her portable tank, not the concentrator. We'll probably choose to keep the fire quiet if she comes over--no use blowin' up a perfectly good mother and house! Regarding other stories and oxygen: how come so many of us are still alive after some of the shenanigans?? !! >:-D--Laurel

          1. Huntdoctor | Oct 05, 2008 09:41pm | #12

            If she is on oxygen then she has some sort of lung issues.

            She should not be around wood burning of any kind.

            Even the best stoves put out to much inside pollution for it to be safe/healthy for her.

            Russell

            "Welcome to my world"

             

          2. DanH | Oct 05, 2008 10:08pm | #14

            Excellent point.
            Corporation: n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility. --Ambrose Bierce

          3. lahgitana | Oct 06, 2008 02:16am | #20

            Thanks for pointing THAT out! Even I get headaches and I'm not 83 and on 02!!Alternate warmth source if she actually comes over!

          4. User avater
            McDesign | Oct 05, 2008 10:16pm | #16

            <how come so many of us are still alive after some of the shenanigans?? >

            I tore my left eardrum to a p!pe b0mb in 9th grade - could swallow and bl0w cigarette sm0ke out my ear!  I was great with p!pe; bad with fu$es.

            It healed up fine; no hearing loss (mom was an audiologist)

            Forrest -  What?  Do I seem paranoid about h0mel@nd se(urity?

          5. DanH | Oct 05, 2008 11:16pm | #17

            I once took two pieces of that nesting brass tubing sold in hobby shops and smashed/soldered the ends to make a "piston" out of them, then loaded it up with powder from firecrackers. Put one end in a vice in our basement workshop and held a match under it.A couple of years later found the missing piece of pipe stuck in a joist about halfway across the basement.Was always blowing stuff up, one way or another. Amazing I didn't burn the house down.
            Corporation: n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility. --Ambrose Bierce

          6. Mikera | Oct 05, 2008 11:17pm | #18

            Yea my guardian angel is a hard working and diligent bugger. I look back on the 60's-90's and I wonder that I still have all my parts and health.
            Michael
            msrhomeimprovements.com

  3. brucet9 | Oct 05, 2008 09:57pm | #13

    I don't understand the question.

    What sort of explosion hazard do you think MIL's oxygen would pose. Oxygen is neither explosive nor combustible, it simply promotes combustion of fuel in contact with enough heat.

    An oxygen leak might make your stove fuel burn faster, but what would the fuel be in your room atmosphere that could cause an explosion?

    BruceT
    1. DanH | Oct 05, 2008 10:11pm | #15

      The real danger would be if the oxygen concentration in the room (or one corner of the room) got up to, say, 40% (vs the usual 20 or so). Then there is a real danger of an explosive flash fire -- like a regular "flashover" but it can be triggered with just a spark hitting a couch or some such. There's plenty of "fuel" in the average room in terms of furniture, carpet, even the paint on the wall.
      Corporation: n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility. --Ambrose Bierce

    2. lahgitana | Oct 06, 2008 02:12am | #19

      Still appreciate the feedback;that's why I asked the question. Please remember that as long as my mother has been on 02, I have been inundated with signs that say Keep Away From Open Flame. A woodstove has a kind of open flame.... And 02 can contribute to a healthy fire!Unless anyone else has a thought, I'm feeling better about the woodstove and mom. She may be unable to be around the woodstove because of the emissions--as was suggested. Good thought. Thx.

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