Are medical gas outlets interchangeable between countries?

Not in general. ISO 9170-1 leaves probe dimensions to national standards such as BS 5682, DIN 13260-2 and NF S90-116, so a probe made for one style will not fit another.

What is a NIST connector?

A non-interchangeable screw-threaded connector, covered by ISO 18082 for operating pressures up to 1 400 kPa. NHS England's HTM 02-01 puts NISTs on line valve assemblies and AVSUs and above medical supply units for flexible hoses; for pressure gases they include a check valve.

What types of medical gas outlet exist?

Q: What types of medical gas outlet exist (DIN, BS, AFNOR, ISO 9170-1, DISS, NIST)?

Medical gas outlets, or terminal units, come in several non-interchangeable national connector styles, such as BS 5682 in the UK, DIN 13260-2 in Germany and NF S90-116 in France, plus DISS and others listed by WHO, because ISO 9170-1 sets performance and gas specificity but not probe dimensions.

What types of medical gas outlet exist (DIN, BS, AFNOR, ISO 9170-1, DISS, NIST)?

Why there is no single outlet

ISO 9170-1:2017 is the international standard for terminal units on medical gas and vacuum pipelines. Its purpose is gas-specific assembly, mechanical resistance, flow, leakage and pressure drop, and preventing a terminal unit from being interchanged between gases. It does not specify the dimensions of probes, so national standards fix the geometry and the outlet must match the probes on the equipment used in that country.

Main connector styles

Style	Where it is set	Notes
BS 5682	United Kingdom	HTM 02-01 (2026) asks for all terminal units to conform to BS 5682 and BS EN ISO 9170-1
DIN 13260-2	Germany	DIN 13260-2:2025-06 sets the dimensions and allocation of probes and gas-specific connection points
NF S90-116 (AFNOR)	France	Edition of October 2020; the socket must comply with NF EN ISO 9170-1
DISS, JIS, AS and others	Listed by WHO	WHO lists DISS, AFNOR, DIN, BS, JIS, AS and AGA styles, alongside several styles named after manufacturers
NIST	ISO 18082	Non-interchangeable screw-threaded connector for operating pressures up to 1 400 kPa; HTM 02-01 puts NISTs on line valve assemblies, AVSUs and flexible hose connections, and uses the NIST body as the wall outlet for nitrogen for surgical tools

WHO describes each style as a system of non-interchangeable indexing that works like a key, so that a probe for one gas cannot enter an outlet for another. Because each style only accepts its own probes, the outlet style has to match the equipment probes and adapters used in the hospital.

What every outlet should do

Accept only the probe for its own gas, and identify the gas by symbol and colour as well (HTM 02-01).
Resist rotation and hold the probe securely in a wall-mounted unit, while a pendant-mounted unit lets the probe rotate (HTM 02-01 Part B quarterly test).
Keep pressure losses within BS EN ISO 9170-1; for vacuum, HTM 02-01 asks for at least 315.5 mmHg at the front of each terminal unit at a design flow of 40 L/min.
Not be floor-mounted (HTM 02-01) and, in Portugal, be double-closure and non-interchangeable between fluids (ACSS ET 03/2006).

Low-pressure hoses that connect equipment to outlets are covered by ISO 5359, for pressures up to 1 400 kPa and vacuum not greater than 60 kPa absolute. Ultra Controlo supplies medical gas outlets among its accessories for medical gas pipeline systems (ULTRAOX SC datasheet, p. 4).