Oxygen Cylinders
Checking and maintaining your O2 cylinder
1. An oxygen cylinder, being a pressure vessel, needs to be hydrostatically tested every five years. To determine the first test after purchase, the manufacture date can be found in the stamped writing around the neck of the bottle, as in the picture below, in this example the date is February 1993 written '02/93.
2. The retest in this example would be February 1998. When tested the bottle is stamped in the same area with a date and the identity logo of the testing station, this is often highlighted with a different colour paint
3. Oxygen is a classed as a drug and therefore has an expiry date, this is usually 3 or 5 years and in the latter case will often coincide with the retest date if the oxygen has not been used and refilled in that period. The expiry of the oxygen is normally on a label on the neck of the cylinder or the valve.
4. It is advisable for medical establishments to have available a minimum of 30 minutes of high flow oxygen (for example a flow of 10 l/m), it is therefore important that your cylinder is always kept full to capacity as any partial usage will reduce the available usage time.
5. Therefore the minimum cylinder size should be one which contains more than 300 litres of oxygen.
6. If the oxygen is used at all, even for 5 minutes, consider having it refilled.
When checking a portable oxygen cylinder you should;
a) Ensure that it is full by looking at the gauge.
b) Check the expiry date of the oxygen
c) Ensure that the cylinder does not require retesting.
There is no need to turn on the gas every time it is checked as this will in time deplete the contents sufficiently to warrant having it refilled.
NOTE
This information is given as general guidance only. You should refer to you operating manual and also the practice procedures for your organisation.