• Home
  • Flying
    • First Flight
  • Build by Chapter
    • Ch 3 Education
    • Ch 4 Fuselage Bulkheads
    • Ch 5 Fuselage Sides
    • Ch 6 Fuselage Assembly
    • Ch 7 Fuselage Exterior
    • Ch 8 Roll Over/Seat Belts
    • Ch 9 Main Gear/Landing Brake
    • Ch 10 Canard
    • Ch 11 Elevators
    • Ch 12 Canard Installation
    • Ch 13 Nose and Nose Gear
    • Ch 14 CenterSection Spar
    • Ch 15 Firewall and Accessories
    • Ch 16 Control System
    • Ch 17 Roll/Pitch Trim System
    • Ch 18 Canopy
    • Ch 19 Wings, Alierons
    • Ch 20 Winglets/Rudders
    • Ch 21 Strakes – Fuel/Baggage
    • Ch 22 Electrical System
    • Ch 23 Engine Installation
    • Ch 24 Covers/Consoles
    • Ch 25 Finishing
    • Ch 26 Upholstry
  • Build Mods
    • Liquid Cooling, Numbers, Weights and Flow
    • Cooling
      • Solving Ground Cooling 1
      • Solving Ground Cooling 2
      • Solving Ground Cooling 3
      • Solving Ground Cooling 4
      • Solving Ground Cooling 5
      • Solving Ground Cooling 6
      • Solving Ground Cooling7 – Test Data
      • Solving Ground Cooling 8 – Flap Building
      • Solving Ground Cooling 9 – Hinges
      • Solving Ground Cooling 10 – Lower Flaps
      • Solving Ground Cooling 11 – Upper Flaps
      • Solving Ground Cooling 12 – Completed
      • Cooling the Beast 1
      • Cooling the Beast 2 – Lower Cowl Expansion
      • Cooling the Beast 3 – KW Oil Cooler Diffuser
    • EVS (Enhanced Vision System)
    • Cowl Keeper
    • Rudder Gust Locks
    • Wing Fences
    • Post Cure
    • Hinge Upgrade
    • RAM Air & Hellhole Cover
    • Main Gear Beef Up
    • Pilot Side Windows
    • Baggage Pods
    • Winglet Intersection Fairings
    • Titanium Rollover
    • Nose Gear Doors
    • Wheel Pants/Gear Leg Fairing
    • Cabin heating System
    • Fuel System
    • Roll and Pitch Trim
    • Oxygen System
    • The Ferry Tank
    • Cruise Angle Indicator
    • Fire Extinguisher Install
  • Round the World
    • RTW Route East #12 rev1
    • Survival Equipment
    • Training Flights
  • Other Stuff
    • Blog
    • Around the World: RAAUS Sport Pilot Issue 110
    • Taxi Tests
    • Summary Feb ’24 from an SAAA Meeting
    • AOPA Pilot 27th Sept 2019
    • Build Tests
    • Flying Stories
      • A Long Easy Dream ’06
      • Townsville ’07
      • Cairns ’08
      • Albany ’08
      • East Coast ’08
      • Brisbane ’09
      • Cairns ’10
      • Perth ’10
    • Non Build Mods
      • F16 Scoop for JZE
      • Ram Air Box for JZE
      • Strange Tips
    • Milestones
    • Links
  • Contact

Blog

Home
Blog
Oxygen System Test

Oxygen System Test

7 years ago
Dave Berenholtz
Blog, Build Mods, Oxygen System
Date:  01-17-2018
Number of Hours:  0
Manual Reference:  no ref

My idea is that when traveling the world, getting an oxygen bottle filled might be a real problem. What I want is oxygen supplied that I can use up to 18,000 feet that never needs refilling. No oxygen bottles! Some system that treats the air at those altitudes and gets it to a pressure that I can breath in and retain the same sort of ‘saturation’ in my body that I have at sea level.

To achieve this I’m going to use an Oxygen Concentrator. These are portable devices people use on the ground for supplemental oxygen as required for certain medical conditions. The units compress the ambient air and with come chemical magic deliver oxygen in a pulse method triggered by an intake of breath. This is similar to the pulse demand oxygen systems that normally go with an oxygen bottle.

Before I installed my Oxygen system I needed to test it in real world conditions. I bought an Inogen One G2 second hand and had it serviced and checked. It weights 7lbs and runs off its own battery (good for a couple of hours) or a 14v aircraft power system. It was originally designed for being used at home with 240volts but has an adapter for the car or when traveling on a passenger plane.

Here’s the unit and just on the right is a fingertip pulse oximeter. I had this calibrated at a hospital and I received some instruction on when readings were reliable.  The usual power brick is on the floor and a cannula is shown plugged in. For the test I just used battery power.

I flew with the generosity of a pilot (Dave) with a very nice Mooney. His updated panel was really impressive and convinced me to go for the expensive GTN750 if I both afford and fit it in my panel. The previous plan was the smaller GTN650 which Dave also has.

Dave filed an IFR plan and after take off we headed south and climbed straight up to FL180. That 18,000′ and the limit allowed for a cannula system. Higher than that a full flow mask is mandated.

My plan was that he would be on his plane’s usual oxygen system the whole time and there would be oxygen available for me if my system didn’t work. I’d know this by continuous checking with the finger oximeter. As I was the passenger, he did all the flying and I considered this a good safe method to test my system.

Below are my simple test results. I was at 98% on the ground as we taxied out. At 10,500′ you can see quite a low reading of 82%. I took a few extra breaths and it went right up again. I was learning that I need to concentrate on normal good breaths, not those of a lazy passenger taking in the view and super relaxed. Oh yes and thats my usual handwriting, not those of an O2 deprived person. Too much keyboard work perhaps.

We went into a holding pattern at 18,000 feet for over 15 minutes and I found that while there was one low reading of 94% a few extra breaths and I was back up to 97% which was very easy to maintain there after with normal breathing. I should have been more excited, the system WORKS! It’s going in my plane.

 

Previous Post
Pant Bonnets Good for Now
Next Post
Oxygen Install 1

1 Comment. Leave new

  • Wayne
    11/02/2021 8:14 pm

    Like this a lot. Nice work, Dave.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Fill out this field
Fill out this field
Please enter a valid email address.

CategoryLogsHours
All157617079
Uncategorized135
Ch 3 Education220
Ch 4 Fuselage Bulkheads25231
Ch 5 Fuselage Sides32283
Ch 6 Fuselage Assembly30270
Ch 7 Fuselage Exterior14140
Ch 8 Roll Over/Seat Belts990
Ch 9 Main Gear/Landing Brake71642
Ch 10 Canard28287
Ch 11 Elevators36298
Ch 12 Canard Installation12102
Ch 13 Nose and Nose Gear1291097
Ch 14 CenterSection Spar57525
Ch 15 Firewall and Accessories448
Ch 16 Control System27237
Ch 17 Roll/Pitch Trim System654
Ch 18 Canopy70502
Ch 19 Wings, Alierons1271090
Ch 20 Winglets/Rudders71528
Ch 21 Strakes - Fuel/Baggage65437
Ch 22 Electrical System591031
Ch 23 Engine Installation961152
Ch 24 Covers/Fairings/Consoles25202
Ch 25 Finishing561084
Ch 26 Upholstry340
Fuel System46310
Rollover1050
Cabin heating System60331
The Ferry Tank335
Blog2694182
Build Mods2252513
Nose Gear Doors856
Wheel Pants/Gear Leg Fairing40473
Oxygen System762
Roll and Pitch Trim964
Winglet Intersection Fairings445
Baggage Pods11104
Pilot Side Windows437
RAM Air & Hellhole Cover15177
Main Gear Beef Up322
Post Cure124
Fire Extinguisher16
Wing Fences13
EVS (Enhanced Visual System)130
Hinge Upgrade115
Cowl Keeper110
Rudder Gust Locks19
Cooling20607
Taxi Tests42
Flying10

Complete the Test Flight Program

2025/6/30 10:26:01

Round Australia in Four Flights

2026/4/1 10:26:01

Round the World Departure

2026/8/22 10:26:01

Rough River Flyin, Sept 23, 2026

2026/9/23 10:26:01

© Copyright 2025 Dave Berenholtz