# Bleeding of the O2 regulator



## traumacode10 (Jul 16, 2016)

I have been looking for some evidence that supports the practice of bleeding of the regulator, I'm trying to come up with a training program for work and I need documentation that supports the practice, I am trying to express the importance of bleeding the regulator and also turning off the tank, the nursing staff constantly leaves the regulator pressurized or the tank on 
I would appreciate the help


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## TransportJockey (Jul 16, 2016)

It leaks. That's enough reason lol


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## Summit (Jul 17, 2016)

Turn off the tank is good when you have low frequency use. 

High frequency and the tank will be used before leaving it on has appreciable effect. 

The regulator will self bleed. Only need to bleed manually before removing the regulator.


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## Carlos Danger (Jul 17, 2016)

I have always bled the regulator so that it reads zero and that way I (or anyone else) have to actually open in to see how much pressure is in the tank.

If you don't bleed it, the regulator will display a pressure but it probably won't be accurate, since it will slowly bleed off some pressure on its own.


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## Summit (Jul 17, 2016)

In the ICU we leave the valve on so we can see the value, same for transport setups. We use the tanks long before they leaked and you could always tell at a glance the pressure.


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## Tigger (Jul 17, 2016)

Summit said:


> Turn off the tank is good when you have low frequency use.
> 
> High frequency and the tank will be used before leaving it on has appreciable effect.
> 
> The regulator will self bleed. Only need to bleed manually before removing the regulator.


I'm not sure every few days is high frequency, but if you turn the tank off and don't bleed the regulator it's easy for someone to place someone on oxygen thinking the tank is on when it's not and then when the regulator is finally bled down, there won't be oxygen. Should be an obvious issue, but alas it seems not to be.


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## DesertMedic66 (Jul 17, 2016)

The only time I have ever turned off an O2 tank is to change it with a new one.


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## DrParasite (Jul 17, 2016)

The theory is two fold: 1) it's cheaper to turn of the tank and bleed the regulator than to fix a minorly leaking system & 2) removing the pressure from the system lessens the chance of leaks because all the hoses (and their seals) are not constantly under pressure.


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## Aprz (Jul 17, 2016)

DrParasite said:


> The theory is two fold: 1) it's cheaper to turn of the tank and bleed the regulator than to fix a minorly leaking system & 2) removing the pressure from the system lessens the chance of leaks because all the hoses (and their seals) are not constantly under pressure.


I wonder if the continuous pressure would actually be a good thing. Wouldn't the rapid change of pressure going from 0 to 2000 psi (and slowly less as it is used) over and over everyday be more damaging than continuous pressure? I don't know how retarded that sounds, but it makes me think about one of the explanations for Aloha flight 243 having explosive decompression during flight.



> *What are some of the reasons that cracks might appear in an aircraft's outer aluminum skin? What may have caused the actual rupture?*
> In order to provide comfort or actually make it possible for a passenger to live at the altitude where it's efficient to run a jet engine—between 30,000 and 40,000 feet [9,150 and 12,200 meters]—you have to pressurize the cabin, so that the pressure inside the cabin is the same as it is at sea level.* There's an analogy with a balloon—if you blow up a balloon, the pressure inside the balloon is higher than the outside pressure, which is why it expands. On every flight the airplane takes off, flies to those altitudes, and pressurizes the fuselage. When it descends, the fuselage is depressurized. And then you do it again and again and again for subsequent flights. Each of these events is called a cycle. You're basically putting force into the aircraft's aluminum and [then] relieving it. Eventually, the aluminum begins to give in, and that phenomenon is called fatigue. When you pressurize an aircraft tens of thousands of times, the material's properties change—and one day it's flying and just cannot take the next cycle.


http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/southwest-airplane-aluminum-cracks/


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## Flying (Jul 17, 2016)

Aprz said:


> I wonder if the continuous pressure would actually be a good thing. Wouldn't the rapid change of pressure going from 0 to 2000 psi (and slowly less as it is used) over and over everyday be more damaging than continuous pressure? I don't know how retarded that sounds, but it makes me think about one of the explanations for Aloha flight 243 having explosive decompression during flight.



Gas cylinders and regulators are much easier to make tougher than planes. It's probably safe to say cylinders are tough enough to make leaks caused by fatigue a non-issue. Leaks will generally arise from human problems: physical abuse, improper storage, messing up the threads, reusing gaskets, etc.

I prefer to keep the regulators bled for the same reason as Remi, to encourage people to actually read the pressure.


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## res1551cue (Aug 1, 2016)

In my experience I have not seen any mandate that requires the bleeding of the regulator. There are several issues that do arise one of which being a high pressured hose. In the fire service the hose filling SCBA bottles often comes into contact with sharp edges and if the pressurized hose was to get cut it could become a projectile causing injury. Another issue is the various changes in temperature causing issues with the regulator calibration over time. 

I would say that if your service wants to you to bleed the regulator after every use then they need to write it in SOPs. All in all I would think that it is a safety issue. 

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk


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## Akulahawk (Aug 1, 2016)

When I turn the O2 tank on, I turn the gauge away from me. It's a habit I got into back when I learned to dive. I then crack the tank valve open relatively slowly and listen for gas flow. Once no more gas is flowing (less than 1 second) I turn the valve a few more turns open and open the regulator valve just briefly to ensure that gas does flow (about 1 second). If the regulator is well seated and well maintained, there should be NO self-bleeding. I then simply check the tank PSI every time I go near it to ensure that there's >500 PSI in the tank. For the portable tanks, I want to see around 2,000 PSI for a fresh tank and I prefer >1,000 PSI in any portable tank that's in service. If there's less than 1,000 PSI, I greatly consider taking another portable with me _or_ I consider scene time while a patient is on oxygen. 

I prefer an ambulance "main" system to have a mostly full or completely full tank at the start of a shift especially if my truck is primarily going to be used for IFT use and/or there is historically a lot of use of vents on my truck. If that tank has < 1,000 PSI, I will keep that fact very close to the forefront of my mind as I would expect to possibly have to change that tank out during the shift. It has happened to me more than once where I have had to.


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