Re: Looking for a P-10 gas supplier

[roseb@smtp-gw.gdls.com (Boyd H Rose)]

     Myung,
     
     Air Liquide supplies gases worldwide and contact info can be found at:
     
        http://www.airliquide.com/ALGroupe/us/country/usa.htm#1
     
     It appears that they may service your area.  I have received good 
     quality gas and service from them.
     
     You may be having a problem with the vendor inadvertently supplying 
     you gas which may be electron capture detector (ECD) grade (95/5?) as 
     opposed to 90/10.
     
     I had a problem nine years ago similar to what you described.  In my 
     case, I ordered argon-methane gas without knowing if I needed 90/10 or 
     95/5.  I chose 95/5. (if 90/10 was good, then 95/5 must have been 
     better!)  My open window proportional counter, when set as prescribed 
     by the manufacturer, would automatically go into an avalanche 
     condition whenever the detector came close to any surface including 
     its own protective cover.  The counter would peg and remain pegged 
     until it was removed from the surface.  After returning the counter 
     system to the mfr several times and having the detector replaced 
     twice, it was determined that the gas was the problem and not the 
     proportional counter system.  Boy!  Did I feel goofy!  But I lived and 
     learned.
     
     Good luck!
     
     Henry
     
     alpha*beta*gamma*neutron*xray*alpha*beta*gamma
     
     Boyd H. Rose, CM, IHIT
     Radiation Protection Officer
     General Dynamics Land Systems Division 
     E-mail:    roseb@gdls.com
     Telephone: (419) 221-8588
     Fax:       (419) 221-7026
     
     *xray*alpha*beta*gamma*neutron*xray*alpha*beta
     
     
     The opinions and comments expressed in this message are mine alone and do 
     not in anyway reflect those of my employer.
     
     
     
______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Looking for a P-10 gas supplier
Author:  radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu at Internet/Unix 
Date:    8/5/98 5:51 PM
     
     
We are having problem with our gas proportional counter. All electronics seem to
work fine and  we strongly suspect the cause is the new P-10 gas we received. 
Our
supplier gave us a new cylinder (different batch) but the problem still remains.
The
problem of detector is we cannot obtain operating voltage plateau.
     
The gas we use is supplied by a local distributor but it originates from the Air
Gas, San Deandro, CA. The Air Gas company mixes their own gas and cannot reveal 
their supplier. We do not have choices of other supplier here in Reno, NV. I 
used to
get the Linde gas products but they are no longer available here locally.
     
Those who are located in Northern CA, I will appreciate to know good P-10 gas 
suppliers in N. CA area who will deliver to Reno, NV. Please e-mail me direct. 
Thanks. M. Jo
======================================================== 
Myung Chul Jo, RSO
EH&S, Mail Stop 328
University of Nevada, Reno
Reno, Nevada 89557
(702)784-4540
(702)784-4553 fax
     
     
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