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Surplus PHODS Check

David Paule

Well Known Member
I bought this Army surplus one-person metering device off eBay in 2016, figuring that if it worked, I'd save a bunch. With one thing and another, I hadn't tested it until today. Since my RV-3B project isn't flying yet, I used my C180 to get to 13k' over the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. I flew from Longmont, CO to Estes Park, CO and turned back there.

The PHODS works just fine. I ran it through all its modes and the only thing that seemed unusual to me was that I could hear it dispensing its puffs of oxygen. Don't know whether I was hearing it through my Zulu headset (I think so) or if it was loud enough to hear it from outside the headset, but I could hear each puff. They were brief and came right at the very beginning of a breath.

It's simple to use and I like it. Incidentally, the regulator that fits over the cylinder's valve fits my Aerox cylinder aboard the C180 just fine. Apparently most and perhaps all aviation oxygen cylinders use common 540 type valves.

Dave
 
I ran a surplus PHODS for a couple years but eventually traded up to the Mountain High system. Nothing wrong with the PHODS.
 
Longer range with a bigger bottle. I make a lot of long cross country trips at altitude.
 
Oh heck yeah.... I'll be using a KF-11 cylinder with 11 cubic feet. I tried this on the larger cylinder in my C180, though. I'm using Mountain High's XCP regulator to feed the PHODS. It screws on to the 540 valve on the cylinder.

Dave
 
Interesting David - I like playing around with O2 equipment, and hadn’t heard of the PHODS. I did a quick Google, and came up with the user manual, and the pictures of the control box are suspiciously exactly the shape and size of the O2D1 from Mountain High that I have in the jet….so I wonder if AquaLung (the name on the PHODS manual) or MH is the actual producer?

Lots of our suppliers in the E-AB world actually make most of their money in other markets……

Paul
 
MH produced it, under contract to AquaLung, as I understand. I asked MH about possible service and was informed that I'd need to go to Aqualung for that if necessary. Fortunately, it works fine.

I'd found a copy of the service manual somewhere too. But servicing one of these takes special tools or at least tools I don't have. I don't plan to do that myself.

Dave
 
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