Medical Gas

bean

I have a job in Howard County ,MD .This Job requires medical gas installation. I know the installer must be certified . What I dont know is the procedure for permits & inspection . Any help is greatly appreciated!

Leonard

Dad (99.5) had been in hospital a lot, I noticed hospitals have easy access glass panels on wall with isolation ball valves in case of fire...... oxygen, nitrous oxide?, and a 3-rd gas. Sub-divides the building into zones.

If "pipe dope" is used guessing it's likely a medical grade one, that doesn't stink or grow bacteria/fungus. Especially on oxygen line (fire issue, no oil), check for oxygen compatability.

Might check for one that is FDA approved. For food they have silicone rubber that's approved for "incidental food contact". Used that on rusted racks of my dishwasher.

Worked at a medical company ( made heart balloon and guide catheters). Might not apply to you , but we had FDA rules for "good manufacturing process" that we had to follow.

Intplm.

bean said:

I have a job in Howard County ,MD .This Job requires medical gas installation. I know the installer must be certified . What I dont know is the procedure for permits & inspection . Any help is greatly appreciated!

Commonly the Maryland departments of public health or the department of consumer protection, the department of occupational licensing, in your area has the info you are looking for. Try one of those.

SlamDunk

If hospitals are like pharma, all piping for medical grade anything will be 316 sst using compression fitting or full welds. No pipe dope.

Leonard

Used to do fuel cell work, hydrogen and oxygen. Line were small 1/4 inch used Swagelock fittings. Everything was 316 stainless on the 1/4 inch lines, don;t remember what was on the larger diameter supply pipes overhead. 316 is about most corrosion resistant stainless, ~ 303 or 304 stainless is likely bit cheaper and might be ok if your not running real hot. But I don;t know medical requirements.

EBEBRATT-Ed

No, they use copper all the time and it's brazed. The fittings and pipe come in plastic bags and is very$$$$$$$.

I never got certified. The inspection requirements vary by state. I believe in Massachusetts the plumbers handle this. The pipefitters were not happy

SlamDunk

Leonard said:

Used to do fuel cell work, hydrogen and oxygen. Line were small 1/4 inch used Swagelock fittings. Everything was 316 stainless on the 1/4 inch lines, don;t remember what was on the larger diameter supply pipes overhead. 316 is about most corrosion resistant stainless, ~ 303 or 304 stainless is likely bit cheaper and might be ok if your not running real hot. But I don;t know medical requirements.

We maintain around $50k inventory of swagelock tubing and fittings. And most everything goes thru a .02 micron point of use filter

Leonard

Sounds like a bacteria filter. Used them at that medical co when we flushed catheters we made with water (filtered) . Think we used 2 micron, but could easily be wrong , was 40 years ago.

For that water flushing I specified a large ~ 14 inch tall primary filter then a smaller one of similar micro size downstream (used swaglock filter for small one, was easy came with swaglock compression fitings. My plan was the downstream filter would filter out any partials released when main filter was changed out. That way nothing could get thru to the catheters.

Think gas Lines at hospital I saw were either 316 or might have had a what looked like a nickle coating. But was not a brand new hospital .

Think for liability I'ld have your customer spec out what materials will be acceptable to them, then check if they are right.

Solid_Fuel_Man

I've run Nitros med gas in brazed copper. I think oxygen is the same. Tha ball valves are bolt together braze flanges. Other than that very similar to refrigeration at least here in Maine. Ran 7/8 copper, smaller stuff was 316 Swagelock, mostly for looks and ease of install. Fun to make the SS look good! Swagelock makes a nice bender too.

Leonard

I've bent 316 SS in 1/4 inch OD in a hand held bender tool ( was thick wall ~ .090 inch wall thickness). Not too hard to do. Also used it on 1 inch 316 tubing , but it was thin wall, Not that bad to do. In a machine shop stainless is tougher to machine than regular steel (carbon steel), by maybe ~ 3X. Try it.

Swaglok compression fittings are nice stuff and easy to use , but $$$$. I've used this type, the 2 smaller parts bite into the metal tubing https://www.swagelok.com/en/catalog/Product/Detail?part=SS-400-NFSET Went to pick up several boxes of 316 SS fittings at lunch time, while we were eating at restaurant realized they were worth more than the old car they were in .

Buy the go/nogo gauge tool to make sure you tighten it enough so won't leak. It measures gap between nut and fitting to make sure fitting parts compress enough. Also check if tubing wall thickness is compatible with swaglock fitting, don't want real thin tubing.

Canucker

> @SlamDunk said:
> Used to do fuel cell work, hydrogen and oxygen. Line were small 1/4 inch used Swagelock fittings. Everything was 316 stainless on the 1/4 inch lines, don;t remember what was on the larger diameter supply pipes overhead. 316 is about most corrosion resistant stainless, ~ 303 or 304 stainless is likely bit cheaper and might be ok if your not running real hot. But I don;t know medical requirements.
>
> We maintain around $50k inventory of swagelock tubing and fittings. And most everything goes thru a .02 micron point of use filter

Finished dose or aseptic manufacturing?

SlamDunk

Both

Canucker

> @SlamDunk said:
> Both

Nice. Audits must be a blast. I work in API myself