Guide

Alternatives to OxySafe, including the cases where you should buy one of them instead

We sell a breathing-air supply and purge system. This page lists eleven other ways to solve the same problem, with prices where the vendors publish them, and names the situations where a competitor's product is the better purchase. We would rather lose an unsuitable sale than be wrong on this page.

Every price and specification here comes from the vendor's own published page or datasheet, linked inline. Nothing is inferred, and nothing has been quoted to us privately.

1. First, exclude the wrong category

High-pressure cylinder-filling compressors are not alternatives

There are two entirely different machine classes sold under the phrase "breathing air compressor," and putting them in one table is the most common error in this market. A low-pressure supply system delivers continuous air to a mask, respirator or chamber at roughly 70–200 psi. A cylinder-filling compressor delivers 5,000–7,000 psig (345–483 bar) into a bottle (Bauer Breathing Air Catalog 2023: VERTECON and VERTICUS lines at 6000 PSIG / 414 bar and 5000 PSIG / 345 bar, VERTECON 7K at 7000 PSIG, UNICUS 4S/4i 7K up to 7000 PSIG / 483 bar, portable JUNIOR II and OCEANUS up to 5000 PSIG).

That is a factor of roughly 28× in pressure. The machines are not substitutes, their prices are not comparable, and a comparison that lists them together is misleading whether or not it intends to be. So we exclude, by name, all Bauer VERTECON, VERTICUS, UNICUS, TCOM, DMT II, JUNIOR II and OCEANUS units, all Coltri units, and Nuvair's MCH series. If you need to fill cylinders, buy from that category and ignore this entire page.

2. Low-pressure systems with published prices

Eight of the eleven publish a price. That is unusually transparent for this market, and it is worth rewarding with your attention.

Vendor and model	What it is	Published specification	Published price
Air Systems International COMP-3	Complete portable package	TA-3 Twin-Air compressor with BB30-CO3 Breather-Box, 3 respirator fittings, 115/230 VAC	$8,650.00
Air Systems International COMP-1 / COMP-2	Complete portable package, 1 or 2 users	Grade D TA-1 compressor with BB15-CO or BB30-CO Breather-Box; COMP-1 includes an H-25-3 hose	$4,095.00 / $4,495.00
Air Systems International TA-3	Compressor only	Twin-Air, 115/230 VAC, 1 phase, 2 HP, 20 A	$6,850.00
Air Systems International BAC-10-3T / BAC-103TCO / BAC-17-3T / BAC-203TCO	Compressor with tank, 2–4 users, with or without CO monitor	Twin-Air with receiver	$2,450 / $4,250 / $4,250 / $6,250
Air Systems International TA3-AXAF	Explosion-proof compressor with Grade D filtration	Explosion-proof rated	$13,450.00
VAIRIFY / Rapid Air VAIR-150 kit	Filtration and CO-monitoring panel for an existing compressor	Three stages — moisture separator 175 CFM 1" NPT; oil coalescing 150 CFM at 0.01 micron; activated carbon 150 CFM at 0.003 ppm. 70–150 psi. CO monitor: electrochemical, 0–99 ppm, alarm at 10 ppm, sensor life over 1 year, 83 dB at 1 ft, external horn 90 dB at 1 m, 110 VAC, sample flow 1.0 SCFH	$4,950.00
Nuvair Nomad LP-B15-G	Petrol-engine portable compressor	"Fully loaded with Grade D breathing air filtration." Flow, pressure and hp Not published on the listing	$3,700.00
Air Systems Breather-Box panels BB15-CO … BB100-CO	Filtration panels for an existing compressor	15–650 cfm; Stage 1 particulate, Stage 2 coalescing, Stage 3 charcoal	$1,095 / $1,595 / $1,895 / $2,095 / $2,395 — 2006 price list, historic
Air Systems Breather-Box monitor-panel variants	As above with panel-mount monitors; BB50-CO2PM is a Grade D panel with CO and O₂ monitor	BB50-COPM, BB100-COPM, BB250-COPM, BB650-COPM, BB50-CO2PM, BB50-COO2	$1,850 / $2,295 / $4,795 / $6,895 / $2,295 / $2,495 — 2006 list, historic
Tsunami 21999-0265	Multi-user breathing air system	Three-stage pre-filtration with automatic drains, digital CO alarm, Autocal, up to 4 users, ½" NPT inlet / ¼" NPT outlet	Not published on the vendor page

Sources: Air Systems International portable breathing air compressors; Rapid Air VAIRIFY kit; Amron listing for the Nuvair Nomad; Air Systems price list hosted by MSC; Tsunami multi-user system. Two warnings. The Breather-Box panel prices come from a price list effective 1 January 2006 — treat them as historic and get a current quote; we publish them because a twenty-year-old list still tells you the relative ordering of the range. And a third-party site showed a price for the Tsunami unit that we could not verify against the vendor, so we have left it as Not published rather than repeat an unverified figure.

3. Low-pressure systems where no price is published

Vendor and model	Published specification
Nuvair Q-5120	Lubricated. 95 CFM / 2,690 L/min at 175 psi, max 200 psi / 14 bar. Hankinson 24 Series three-filter system at 0.003 ppm oil vapour and 1 micron, with differential-pressure gauge and automatic drain. Kubota D-1803-M 37.4 hp, Deutz 48 hp, or WEG electric 25 hp at 87 CFM. Two 60-gallon ASME tanks at 200 psi. Remote air-intake option.
Powerex SLAE03EB / SLAE05E / SLAE05EHP	Oil-less scroll. 3 hp: 8.8 SCFM at 100 psig. 5 hp: 15.2 SCFM at 100 psig. 95–115 psig standard, 116 psig max system. Grease-filled bearings, PTFE tip seals, final filtration 0.5 micron or better, duplex desiccant dryers, high dew-point alarm 35 °F, high CO alarm 10 ppm.
Atlas Copco SF+ 1-6 / SF+ 8-22 / SFe 2-6	Oil-free scroll. SF 1+ 6.1 cfm, SF 6+ 20.8 cfm, SF 22+ 87.0 cfm, all at 116 psig per ISO 1217 Annex C. 2–30 hp. 1 µm inlet filter. Full-Feature integrated refrigerated dryer at ISO 8573-1 Class 4, pressure dew point 3 °C / 38 °F. 52–74 dB(A).
Maine Air Power medical air lines	Oil-less reciprocating 1–60 hp to 150 PSIG; Scroll Multiplex oil-less 3–60 hp with integral CO monitor, integral dew-point monitor, ASME receiver, UL-listed NEMA 12 control, dual refrigerated or desiccant dryers.
Sechrist Industries medical gas design	No model, specification or price published.

4. Where a competitor is the better buy

This is the part of the page that matters. Read it before you talk to us.

You already own a suitable compressor and only need the air cleaned and watched

Buy a panel, not a system. The VAIRIFY VAIR-150 at $4,950 publishes 0.01 micron coalescing, 0.003 ppm carbon, and a CO monitor alarming at 10 ppm — which is the OSHA number — in one kit at 70–150 psi. Or a Breather-Box panel if you want the cheapest three-stage route and will source monitoring separately. Adding a second compressor when your existing one is adequate is money spent on the wrong problem.

You need one portable unit that moves between sites

Buy a packaged portable. COMP-1 at $4,095 is compressor, filtration panel and hose in one part number, and COMP-2 at $4,495 covers two users. If there is no mains power where you work, the petrol-engine Nuvair Nomad at $3,700 is the cheapest published route — though note its flow, pressure and hp are not published, so ask for those in writing before you buy.

Your installation is in a classified or explosion-hazard area

Buy the rated unit. TA3-AXAF at $13,450 is explosion-proof with Grade D filtration. We do not offer an explosion-proof option, and a non-rated machine in a rated area is not a saving.

You need continuous high flow — 80 CFM and up

Buy an industrial package. The Nuvair Q-5120 at 95 CFM / 175 psi or the Atlas Copco SF 22+ at 87.0 cfm are built for duty cycles a small purpose-built system is not. Neither publishes a price, so expect a quotation process.

You are equipping a hospital medical air plant

Buy from a medical-air specialist with the state approvals already in hand. Powerex publishes an OSHPD pre-approval number, OSP-0380-10, and describes reserve-pump configuration against a named NFPA 99 category. That paperwork is worth real money in a hospital project and we do not have an equivalent.

You are filling cylinders

Buy high pressure. See section 1. Nothing on this page, ours included, will fill a bottle.

5. Where OxySafe fits, stated with its own gaps

OxySafe is a purpose-built breathing-air supply and purge system for a hyperbaric chamber installation, built to order, with a published price of $4,000 plus $100 shipping and a 12-month warranty. It is designed for the case a general-purpose industrial or job-site package does not address: a chamber that needs continuous ventilation air and a purge path sized to the occupancy, installed and documented as one system by people who work on chambers.

What we do not publish, and you should hold us to it

Several of the competitors above publish SCFM, discharge pressure, horsepower, filtration micron ratings, dew point and alarm setpoints. Our published product page does not currently publish an SCFM figure, a discharge pressure, a horsepower, a filtration micron rating, a dew point, or a CO monitoring specification. Those are Not published, and that is a genuine disadvantage compared with the datasheets on this page. If you are comparing us against a VAIR-150 or a Breather-Box, ask us for those numbers in writing for your configuration before you buy, exactly as you should ask the Nuvair Nomad reseller for the flow figure its listing omits.

We also do not claim, and cannot claim, that OxySafe makes a chamber compliant with anything. NFPA does not certify, approve or list products. Compliance is a property of your installation as judged by your authority having jurisdiction — see what the code requires.

6. How to read the compliance language on every page in this market

A quick calibration exercise using real published claims, best to worst:

Published claim	How to read it
"Provides Grade D Breathable Air when properly maintained" (VAIRIFY)	The best-worded claim we found in this research. Names a real specification and makes it conditional on maintenance — which is the actual dependency.
"Meets OSHA Grade D breathing air quality specifications" (Tsunami)	Defensible in form — a specification with a numeric table behind it — but still the vendor's own assertion rather than third-party verification.
"Intended to provide Medical Air as where risk meets the Category 3 requirements in NFPA 99" (Powerex)	Careful and checkable: intended to, a named category, plus a real state pre-approval number.
A page headed "Medical Air Compressors – NFPA 99 Compliant" (Maine Air Power)	Presents a code as a product attribute. A compressor cannot hold NFPA 99 compliance; a facility can.
Packages that "ensure reliable, code-compliant performance that meets NFPA 99, UHMS, and Joint Commission standards" (Sechrist)	Unfalsifiable, published with no model or specification, and asserts conformity with accreditation criteria that apply to facilities rather than equipment.

For contrast with any "certified" language: FDA's product classification for code CBF, "Chamber, hyperbaric," regulation 868.5470, lists recognised consensus standards including NFPA 99:2021, ASME PVHO-1-2019, NFPA 99:2024 and ASME PVHO-1-2023 (FDA Product Classification database). A standard being recognised in device review is not a product being certified by NFPA. No mechanism for the latter exists.

Keep reading