Oxygen Tales

So they decided to switch me to liquid oxygen for when I am out and about. Supposedly the liquid oxygen will last longer and meet my needs better for when I am portable. Though the oxygen company had mentioned they might switch me over three weeks ago, I had not heard anything about it since. So at 10 o'clock when they showed up with a big tank of liquid oxygen, and I do mean a BIG tank, I was a bit surprised. I had had liquid oxygen before, so I knew how to refill the portable tank. Later I had a doctor's appointment so I decided this would be the perfect opportunity to fill the portable and see just exactly how long it would last. They give you an estimate, but I like to know exactly. This is rather important information because how long the tank lasts determines how long you can be away from home. The sheet said it would last approximately 2 1/2 - 3 hours. I was worried, because if this is  true, I would need two portable units. A lot of times, my doctors appointments last longer than this (driving time plus appointment time), and I can't take the chance of running out of oxygen.

BIG oxygen tank

I filled it fine, but when I went to take the portable tank off the top, liquid oxygen kept spurting up. I waited a few minutes, but it wasn't stopping. I had a huge geyser of oxygen erupting out of the top of the tank. Liquid oxygen was going everywhere. My efforts to try to make it stop were unsuccessful, and all I succeeded in doing was burning myself. Liquid oxygen is like dry ice, it is frozen. As the temperature increases, it warms, thaws into a water form, which then thaws further into an air form of oxygen, which is breathed in. Touching the liquid oxygen from the tank will result in a burn very similar to that of touching dry ice or liquid nitrogen. In the year and a half that I had liquid oxygen, I had never experienced anything like this. Even people without any experience with oxygen would know that that much oxygen coming from a tank, was NOT good and that this was NOT supposed to happen.

Filling the portable unit

 

Top part where oxygen just kept spurting up in a geyser of oxygen

Well, two of the three numbers I was given did not work. Finally, I resorted to the number for my oxygen company. The reason why I didn't try this first is that the company that provides me service does not deal with liquid oxygen. They made the arrangements, but the company that does liquid oxygen is completely different. Finally, I got someone on the phone and explained the situation.

After I had explained the story to the specialist, she said, "So you're oxygen is leaking?"
I said, "No, this is not a leak. This is a geyser, a volcanic eruption."
"Oh, well, that's not good," she replies.
"No, no, it's not." (After all, this was the reason that I was calling)
She told me to get a towel, wet it with warm water, and throw it over the top of the tank. She  then told me she will send someone out immediately to replace the tank.

Well, I'm not really sure what the warm towel was supposed to do other than freeze the towel. The towel literally turned into a gigantic block of ice. The oxygen just escaped up and around it. I'm sure the woman was just trying to have me do something and try to be helpful. I was of course, and justifiably, very upset and worried. I doubt there is a protocol for oxygen "geysers," and they probably don't deal with a whole lot of volcanic eruptions of oxygen from tanks. Maybe the warm towel would have helped had it been just a leak, but this was much, much more than just a leak.

Although at the time, it was not at all amusing, I now find it rather amusing, and it does make for a good story.