Keeping oxygen tanks on a plane in a hot summer day

rk

rk

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Rafi
I just ordered an Aerox system with 22 cubic feet cylinder. My airplane is kept in an outside tiedown, and the inside of the plane can get quite hot during California summer. Is there is any risk associated with keeping the tanks in the plane? Can they possibly explode if they get too hot?
 
You can calculate the delta P and delta T using the ideal gas law.....they are proportional. And if there is too much pressure....it will blow a safety fuse in the valve. I read that 125 deg F is the storage limit.

My 114 cuft tank in my aircraft has a 3000 psi safety fuse.....and normal ambient pressure is 1850 psi.

Just happened to have an old fuse.
 

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We had 3 bottles for the patient in the planes here in New Mexico. We went to really hot places like Flagstaff, Phoenix and Tucson and other little known hot places in the southwest. We never had a bottle blow. Of course those were medical bottles, and mounted mostly out of the sun.

And of course YMMV...
 
The bottles can also see heat if they are filled quickly.....I think that's the main safety issue.
 
In Florida. Though plane is in hangar it has been in the heat during trips. Never had a problem. I would think that the tanks have a relief valve that would relieve pressure in a safe manner before the pressures in the tank go too high to cause an explosive rupture of the tank. Also my guess is that the tanks are rated such that it would take a significant pressure for them to explode. Could be wrong.
 
rk said:
I just ordered an Aerox system with 22 cubic feet cylinder. My airplane is kept in an outside tiedown, and the inside of the plane can get quite hot during California summer. Is there is any risk associated with keeping the tanks in the plane? Can they possibly explode if they get too hot?
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Tanks typically have a burst disc that will blow open and vent the tank if the pressure gets too high, preventing a catastrophic failure of the tank. I doubt it would happen in a hot plane (it would probably take a fire), but you’ll check the pressure in the tank prior to a flight anyway, right?

IIRC, the discs get replaced whenever the tank goes through hydrostatic testing. I seem to recall my scuba tanks getting fresh discs, and I think that’s done with all tanks, but I’m not certain.
 
The fuses are not typically replaced unless they leak....I've been doing them for a while. The one pictured above developed a leak on the last hydro test.
 
Checkout_my_Six said:
The fuses are not typically replaced unless they leak....I've been doing them for a while. The one pictured above developed a leak on the last hydro test.
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Could be that’s why mine got replaced. I really don’t recall; been a long time.

Some of the cave divers I knew would replace the burst disc with a solid plug or stack two discs to mitigate the risk of a leak in a cave. They’d store the tanks at low pressure (a few hundred psi) when they weren’t on the way to a dive. I left mine alone as the risk of a leak seemed pretty low and almost impossible to happen in both of my tanks on the same dive. I didn’t argue with those who plugged them, though; paranoid cave divers tend to live longer. ;)
 
Checkout_my_Six said:
You can calculate the delta P and delta T using the ideal gas law.....they are proportional.
Click to expand...
I had to look it up…it is the Pervert Formula I remember from college. ;)

Keep in mind that temperature in the formula is in Kelvin, so a change in temperature from 20C to 50C is just over a 10% increase.
 
rk said:
I just ordered an Aerox system with 22 cubic feet cylinder. My airplane is kept in an outside tiedown, and the inside of the plane can get quite hot during California summer. Is there is any risk associated with keeping the tanks in the plane? Can they possibly explode if they get too hot?
Click to expand...
I cannot image they'd build them to not be able to withstand temperatures that that would encountered in normal use.
 
MauleSkinner said:
Keep in mind that temperature in the formula is in Kelvin, so a change in temperature from 20C to 50C is just over a 10% increase.
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Yup. So 2000psi jumps to 2200psi when it goes from 68F to 122F. Not an issue.

I wouldn’t worry about this at all.
 
rk said:
I just ordered an Aerox system with 22 cubic feet cylinder. My airplane is kept in an outside tiedown, and the inside of the plane can get quite hot during California summer. Is there is any risk associated with keeping the tanks in the plane? Can they possibly explode if they get too hot?
Click to expand...


If properly installed, this shouldn't be a hazard, but you are wise to be thinking about this. A 2000 psi bottle is a loaded gun, and it can put a hole through a concrete wall if it comes apart. The Aerox manual recommends removing the tank from the airplane when the temperature is expected to be above 130F or below 25F. I suspect this has more to do the regulator and hoses than the tank itself. The regulator also has a pressure release valve. I believe the risks are minimal.
 
I'm on year 4 of hangar less parking in the warmth of Las Vegas - tank 'lives' on backseat, no problems. (I do have sunshields in all the windows, but the inside temp is still oven like 6 months of the year).
 
rk said:
I just ordered an Aerox system with 22 cubic feet cylinder. My airplane is kept in an outside tiedown, and the inside of the plane can get quite hot during California summer. Is there is any risk associated with keeping the tanks in the plane? Can they possibly explode if they get too hot?
Click to expand...
I would think California would be fine. Now go to Mexico or Texas, that I’m not sure of.
 
mandm said:
I would think California would be fine. Now go to Mexico or Texas, that I’m not sure of.
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There are a couple thousand pipeline welders in West Texas that say it's OK to expose oxygen cylinders to excessive heat.

:D
 
Half Fast said:
Tanks typically have a burst disc that will blow open and vent the tank if the pressure gets too high, preventing a catastrophic failure of the tank. I doubt it would happen in a hot plane (it would probably take a fire), but you’ll check the pressure in the tank prior to a flight anyway, right?

IIRC, the discs get replaced whenever the tank goes through hydrostatic testing. I seem to recall my scuba tanks getting fresh discs, and I think that’s done with all tanks, but I’m not certain.
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Is oxygen a liquid or a gas?
We fill CO2 at work, if the tank is over filled and then heated up the burst disc will rupture. This is mostly a concern on smaller tanks.
This is the disc inside the relief valve.
MVC-853S-1.jpg

This one is off a nitrous oxide tank.
MVC-854S-2.jpg
 
3393RP said:
There are a couple thousand pipeline welders in West Texas that say it's OK to expose oxygen cylinders to excessive heat.

:D
Click to expand...
FYI, pipeline welding is primarily arc stick welding. No gas used. Some first passes are done as TIG with argon.
 
The two airplanes I fly have oxy tanks that are mounted in the planes. We do nothing with then when it gets hot.
 
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Pinecone said:
FYI, pipeline welding is primarily arc stick welding. No gas used. Some first passes are done as TIG with argon.
Click to expand...
FYI, there's also a bit of pipe cutting going on.

DSC_2431__25741.1679509173.jpg
 
OK. Or have they switched to plasma cutting?
 
I worked as a paramedic for years. We had tanks from the size you'd carry on the plane to large 330 cuft ones on our ambulance run in really hostile conditions. Never worried about it.
 
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