Poll: How Prepared Are You Regarding A Cpap Backup Plan

[Jaylee]

I have 4 masks, two hoses and only one machine. No power back up, but that is on my list. I have to prioritize. So far we have not lost power. However, if we did lose power here, there are a few places where I work that I can stay, plus my actual office. So I don't worry too much about that. I work far enough from my home that there is a chance there would be power in that area.

Neat thread, Mars.

[nosenabook]

What I want is a power supply for when the power is out for a week. I can manage a night, or part of a night, but not four or five nights or more.

The power is getting more stable in my neighborhood; still, in 20 years we have been without power for most of a week due to 1) a hurricane, and 2) an ice storm.

A generator seems to be the fix, as nothing else would run long enough.

[Uncle_Bob]

1 * S8 Elite II CPAP
1 * S8 Elite II Autoset
1 * H4i humidifier
1 * S9 Autoset + H5i humidifier

3 * Regular Hoses
1 * Slimline Hose
3 * Quattro FFM
2 * F&P Flexifit HC432
3 * Mirage Liberty
1 * Opus 360
3 * Swift LT
1 * Swift FX
1 * Mirage Micro Nasal
1 * Comfort fusion Nasal
1 * ComfortGel Nasal
1 * Nasal Air II Prong
2 * PapCap chinstraps

I do not have any backup power and have not needed any in the 16 months I've been on this therapy.

[Janknitz]

I'm not in a financial position to purchase any backup machines or power supplies, but a battery system is on my wish list because I live in earthquake country and I know that when the "big one" comes we may be without power for several days.

Not that I'm all that sure I could sleep in such a situation anyway, but I know any sleep I get without my machine is certain to make things worse.

[cobra4x4]

1 * S8 Elite II CPAP
1 * S8 Elite II Autoset
1 * H4i humidifier
1 * S9 Autoset + H5i humidifier

3 * Regular Hoses
1 * Slimline Hose
3 * Quattro FFM
2 * F&P Flexifit HC432
3 * Mirage Liberty
1 * Opus 360
3 * Swift LT
1 * Swift FX
1 * Mirage Micro Nasal
1 * Comfort fusion Nasal
1 * ComfortGel Nasal
1 * Nasal Air II Prong
2 * PapCap chinstraps

I do not have any backup power and have not needed any in the 16 months I've been on this therapy.

Wow! You accumulated all this in 16 months, Are you opening a shop soon ?

[Goofproof]

What I want is a power supply for when the power is out for a week. I can manage a night, or part of a night, but not four or five nights or more.

The power is getting more stable in my neighborhood; still, in 20 years we have been without power for most of a week due to 1) a hurricane, and 2) an ice storm.

A generator seems to be the fix, as nothing else would run long enough.

A generator is a good fix, but you must add in service on it and fuel will need to be changed at least every 6 months. Using the generator to recharge a Deep cycle battery would be better than using the gen to run the XPAP. Jim

[happysleeper]

How interesting, my husband and I were just talking about this today, as we're getting ready to go stay in a cabin in the California Sierras for four nights. The cabins have AC electricity during the day converted from solar cells, but none at night. We're using the excuse to set up battery backup for my CPAP machine. Since I'll have some power to recharge the battery during the day, I'll use my humidifier while I'm there (COOOOLD, dry nights, so I want the warmth as well as the humidity for my sinuses).

But I do live in earthquake country. If/when The Big One hits, we may be out of power for an extended period of time -- multiple days or weeks.

Me too, Dream On. We're going to use this trip as a trial run, and when we get back figure out how to set up battery back up for my CPAP to last a week; I'll need to go without the humidifier in that situation, to lessen the energy drain and allow the battery (ies) to last as long as possible. We have food for a week, now I also want to be able to sleep safely at night for a week without power. We look forward to the power adapter which Resmed is going to put up for sale any time now to allow for more efficient power conversion...

1 power outage alarm that get checked weekly as I do not wake up when the power goes out...slept 1 hr 15 mins trying to breathe thru exhaust vents on my pillow mask until my gasping & huge chest movements woke me up..

Yep, that happened to me twice with my nasal pillows. I don't breathe through my mouth when the power goes out, and then I breathe through fluttering lips when I nap! Since I've started to use Polident strips to tape my lips to stop the flutter, we just got a "Power Out" power outage alarm this week; thanks Muse-Inc for your good idea to check it regularly!

[jabman]

I can't afford a back up system, yet, and really haven't thought about one until this thread.
That goes for a back up power supply. I have lived in my house now for 7 years and have never had a power surge until yesterday.

[journey]

Hi SleepyTiger

The box says - 900amp pwer supply 12 volt 17 amp hour.

For info this is a car starter device with 900amp peak or 400Amp continuous for cranking a car engine for a short time. 12 volt 17 amp hr is 12 * 17 = 204 watts for an hour. I have an S9 which the spec of the S9 says requires about 20 watts to run the S9 without the humidifier so the unit will run for about 10 hours on this power supply before the battery needs recharging. This power supply would seem to be suitable for a night of sleep where the mains supply has failured. The battery unit will probably crank a car for a bit more than 2 minutes at 400amps.

As suggested elsewhere a deep cycle battery with greater capacity is needed for several days or combine with a small generator as are used with some offroad RVs, to use as a charger for the battery when required.

I have only been attached to my S9 for about two months now and have not advanced to backup plans. It has given me my life back so I expect that I will purchase some backup equipment in the near term.

Thanks to all for the tips.

[bearded_two]

I believe in being prepared for equipment and utility breakdown and I have a backup of my xPAP equipment, including batteries. I see no need for an oximeter.

In addition to backup equipment, I have a fully equipped CPAP bag set aside for emergencies and I have a travel bag (a camera bag) that has a spare mask, hose, cord, and extension cord. When I travel, I put my everyday mask, hose, cord, and li-ion battery in my travel bag so that I have my accustomed equipment and I have a backup mask and other things with me when I travel. The spare travel mask, hose, and cord in my travel bag weigh almost nothing.

[nanwilson]

I only have 1 machine & l hose, but 2 masks. I recently added a deep cycle battery and inverter, I also have a motorhome, so extra batteries there too. I have only been at this for 3 months and do not have insurance, so it all comes out of my pocket ( which are pretty threadbare ) I have a friend that is hooked on garage and auction sales & I have shown her what all I need, hopefully she will find something as a backup for me. Otherwise I will keep on looking, and hope to find something.
Cheers
Nan

[SleepyTiger]

Do you mean 600 and 900 amp-hours (still huge, like 7-15 car batteries)?
or 600-900 VA as a UPS?
or 600 to 900 ma?

Need some help here.

Hi SleepyTiger

The box says - 900amp pwer supply 12 volt 17 amp hour.

The model I have is at http://www.vektools.com.au/projecta-900 ... -7496.html

So as far as I can figure out the 900amp indicates how much charge it holds, then I have to figure out how much charge my machine uses per hour to get how long the power supply will last before being totally discharged.

Hope this makes sense, but I am open to expert elucidation.

OK, I've got it. The power supply you have is a jump-starter. It will provide up to 900 amps for a fraction of a second to jump start a car/truck.

The number YOU actually care about for your CPAP machine is the "12 volt 17amp hour" number.

In theory it means that supply will provide one amp for 17 hours. (Or alternately 12 watts for 17 hours). In practice you'll get about half of that.

The question becomes how much current (amps) or power (watts) does your CPAP machine eat? Most of the Resmed CPAPs look to use between 0.8 and 2 amps at 12V. So your 17 amp-hour supply would last between 21 and 8 hours depending on the unit and the pressure.

Does any of that help?

S/T

[mars]

Hi SleepyTiger

Thank you for that info.

What I got from the Sandman manual was -

Maximum power consumption 90va at maximum setting.

No one seems to use the same abbreviations. I have no idea how to relate 90va with the information above in your post, unless it means 0.9 of an amp, and therefore the power supply would theoretically last 19 hours.

Is this right ?

cheers

Mars

[torontoCPAPguy]

For me CPAP or more precisely APAP is a lifeline and is not just about good sleep. My lungs were damaged while on three weeks of life support in hospital and when I sleep my breathing gets shallow, my blood oxygen drops and my blood pressure skyrockets bigtime. So CPAP is critical for me and not just a matter of a good night of sleep. I have total redundancy right down to the backup power supply and if I am running the humidifier, the power fail alarm on the backup power supply will sound during a power failure telling me to unplug the humidifer and carry on, since it is the humidifier heater that draws the majority of the current. I actually have a third system that I dedicate strictly to travelling so that I don't mind the risk of it being damaged in transit. I repeat that it is a totally redundant system right down to the masks and hoses so that if the dog chews up a mask or bites a hose or whatever, I am prepared for THAT very night. And if we have a long term power failure we have a power inverter that we can hook up to a huge deep discharge battery to give us power for the blower alone that will last for a few days before we start pulling the batteries out of the cars. (Since we're not going to be going anywhere but protecting our homes in the ensuing chaos - and we carry sufficient canned and dry goods as well as bottled water and liquids to last for a week or more as well as high power protection to protect ourselves and our home from looters - the whole nine yards. Remember New Orleans huh?). A good standby blower is so cheap today there is no reason not to have one for peace of mind and I highly recommend it).

One other thing. On the survey I said I would NOT loan out my spare CPAP machine to help someone. This is true as I am a survivor of H1N1.... and now a confirmed germaphobic. I WOULD, in a blink, loan out my travel machine though along with a mask and anything else someone might need in order to help them. Just not MY redundant machine. So my answer is skewing the data. Sorry.

[jdm2857]

Hi SleepyTiger

Thank you for that info.

Maximum power consumption 90va at maximum setting.

No one seems to use the same abbreviations. I have no idea how to relate 90va with the information above in your post, unless it means 0.9 of an amp, and therefore the power supply would theoretically last 19 hours.

Mars

Nope.

VA (volt-amperes) is basically equivalent to power in Watts. VA takes into account something called "phase angle" the understanding of which involves imaginary numbers and polar coordinates. (I'm not making this up.) You don't want to know. VA and phase angle are typically worried about by large industrial electrical users and utilities.

If you want to know current in Amps, divide the Wattage (or VA) by the input voltage.