02 cleaning cylinders using biox

adrenalin_junkie

Hi All, I have bought some Biox liquid to 02 clean my cylinders/valves, the instructions for use say to rinse the cylinder with fresh water after using the Biox liquid to clean the cylinder. I was wondering if anyone knows how to stop the steel cylinders from forming a light coat or “rust” before they have dryed

Thanks in advance

Brainx3

Hi,

I'm glad that you brought up this issue as I'm looking for some lights used in the visual inspection. What light did you use to inspect your cylinder before you determined that it needs cleaning?


Best Regards. Wael

rolanddiver

I don't know anything about Biox, I use isopropyl alcohol as second last flush, that removes all the hydrocarbon leftovers. After that I won't let the alcohol evaporate on its on, simply because it leaves its usual odor in the tank. What i do is that I put the shower hose inside the tank and let hot water run thru for a few minutes. It removes all the cleaning material residue, plus significantly warms up the tank(it doesn't do any harm at all). Then I dump the water out of the tank and let it dry upside down on a stand that allows the water to come out and air to get in the tank. Also what you can do (even though it dries the tank in a matter of seconds) is to blow oxygen clean air into the tank using a clean intermediate pressure hose(any regulator hose). Some people might say that what I wrote is not good because of this or that, but it had worked and still works. I never had any problems at all. I hope it helped.

Roland

diverreb

If you have access to a large Home Center type store, they sell flexible rope lighting very inexpensively. It can be cut to length. Just pull the end cap off, cut it where you want and put the cap back in. Needless to say, cut it when it's not plugged in. Makes a great tank inspection light.

As far as rust in a steel tank after rinsing, most call it "Rust Bloom" and claim it is not harmful to the tank or person breathing it.

I prefer to not have it and there are two ways to deal with it. One, blow Nitrogen into the tank as soon as you finish a hot water rinse and it won't rust as you need O2 to form rust, or I suppose you could use a clean Tank whip to remove the bloom. Then use an open ended low pressure hose to blow out all the dust.

Richie

Dave & Sandy

To remove cleaning agents we put a hose into the tank connected to a tap and let the hose run for 5 minutes or so, letting the water run out from the top of the tank.

We then boil some water and place it in the tank, flush it around and remove. We do this a few times to heat up the tank to assit in drying.

A hair dryer with a "special" hose attachment is then inserted and the tank blow dried straight away until you can see no water drops in the cylinder with your light.

All hoses inserted are O2 cleaned before insertion......of course. And do one cylinder at a time from start to finish.

In terms of a light. Simple small globe attached in a holder and electrical wire attached to holder which runs to a power source. In our case a 12V power pack, but it could be a battery source. Just dangle the globe/wires into the tank and you can see the probs, if any exist. Inexpensive. Just visit your local electronics shops for the bits. They will be able to suggest things as well.

Have fun.

__________________
Cheers,

Dave & Sandy

Atvar shows Dave & Sandy testing their new habitat 101 and home build RBMK69's

Brainx3

Hi guys,


Thanks for the tips. The problem is that I would need an ultra violet light so if you have any specific brands or link to where I can find such light then it would be greatly appreciated.


Best Regards. Wael

DrDiverDave

TDI has a class on this, I also recommend reading what DOT, CGA, luxfer, and other suppliers / manufacturers have to say about this.

About Flash Rusting:

To reduce flash rusting, use Compound "O" according to directions, and dry the cylinder quickly, preferably with Nitrogen gas, or with heated, dry, and filtered air (oxygen clean) if necessary. Alcohol is a bad idea, since significant trace levels (parts per million) may be left behind, and the alcohol may be contaminated with other organics such as denaturants, plasticizers, etc. added during processing and storage.

More on Oxygen Cleaning:

UV light will not show all hydrocarbon contaminants, and does not prove that the tank is safe for oxygen service, but a positive UV test does let you know that additional cleaning is necessary. Since there should only be trace amounts of hydrocarbon present before O2 cleaning, a good hot washing with agitation, followed by through rinsing should remove contaminants.

Thorough rinsing is necessary to remove cleaner, and any hydrocarbons dissolved in the cleaner. Since most cleaners a) foam, and b) are basic, pH>8, rinse water samples can be tested by shaking vigorously and looking for foam, and using pH paper to check for residual cleaner. You need to know the pH of the rinse water that has no cleaner in it to see if its pH shifts toward Basic. The problem is that progressive rinses dilute the cleanser to the point that pH differences can't be observed with pH paper. The "solution" is that progressive rinses also dilute any remaining cleanser and residual hydrocarbons to very low levels.

Note: Carbon dioxide in the air reacts with water to make carbonic acid which can neutralize some of the cleanser residual if the rinse water has been agitated for very long. So ...(lots of boring chemistry...)

Conclusion:

Unless you have $250,000 + for a GC-MS instrument and the knowledge of how to perform a head-space analysis for hydrocarbons, and the cylinder is not noticeably contaminated with hydrocarbons: wash with an oxygen approved cleanser, rinse multiple times with hydrocarbon free water, checking for foaming, use "Compound O", to prevent flash rusting, and dry with nitrogen or with heated oxygen clean air.

TDI offers training on Oxygen cleaning and servicing. I highly recommend it.

David

Piling it Higher and Deeper every day

shil

Theoritically the Uv light to use for checking O2 cleanliness could be done with a pen light sized torch used for checking currency , basically a blacklight bulb or miniature tube in the currency checker, light can be dangled into the cylinder .
Anyone tried it ?

Shil