cpap use during thunderstorm

General Discussion on any topic relating to CPAP and/or Sleep Apnea.
Airborne
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Re: cpap use during thunderstorm

Post by Airborne » Sat Apr 11, 2009 5:25 pm

I think you should get a backup solution.
I have got an 12v DC to 220V AC inverter and run it from one of my two 50Ah lead-acid batterys.
I dont like the idea to be connected to an electric appliance in a thunderstorm, even if you not get a direct hit a power surge can destroy your cpap.
If the weather service talking about thunderstorms i know i can sleep restfully the whole night even if there will be a power outage.
Daytime i charging batterys with a mains-charger or via my generator if there is a total power outage.


For a couple of years ago we experience a very powerful winterstorm and there was a half week without any power or telephony.
At that time i have no backup equipment and i become aware that i was no funny at all after 4 nights without sleep and decided i will not let it happent anymore.
So now i also have a gasoline driven generator as backup, but i using it daytime to charge my batterys so i not disturb my neighbours with the noise at nighttime.
The generator is also fine if i go camping, its a 1000watts kipor 4stroke sinewave inverter wich run relatively quite and have low fuel consumption.

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roster
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Re: cpap use during thunderstorm

Post by roster » Sat Apr 11, 2009 6:37 pm

On another subject, what about bathtubs?

I came home from hiking yesterday after lightning ran us down the mountain. I was dead tired and dirty and badly wanted to take a bath in the big tub with a big closed window above the tub. The lightning storms were pounding around my house. But that tub looked so good.

I reasoned out, "I have been reading newspapers for many years and never read of an account of lightning killing anyone in a bathtub. I'll take my chances on making Guinness."

It was a great bath.

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Last edited by roster on Thu Mar 31, 2011 9:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Rooster
I have a vision that we will figure out an easy way to ensure that children develop wide, deep, healthy and attractive jaws and then obstructive sleep apnea becomes an obscure bit of history.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ycw4uaX ... re=related

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kopoloff
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Re: cpap use during thunderstorm

Post by kopoloff » Sat Apr 11, 2009 6:42 pm

Keep taking a bath during a thunderstorm and one day I might not need to fight with you over lobbying Resmed!

The chances of anything happening are small, but if they do, the risk of getting your feathers singed is pretty high. Plucked rooster!

K

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roster
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Re: cpap use during thunderstorm

Post by roster » Sat Apr 11, 2009 6:49 pm

I will call the lawyer Monday and ask him to add to my will that the heirs must post the cause of my demise on cpaptalk before they can collect the inheritance.

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Rooster
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billbolton
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Re: cpap use during thunderstorm

Post by billbolton » Sat Apr 11, 2009 7:08 pm

Keep in mind that if you get a close-by lightning strike, having electrical equipment running off a 12V battery supply will not necessarily mean that it will not end up failing.

In the immediate vicinity of a lightning strike the potential of the "ground plane" undergoes a massive change in a very short period of time (a very sharp dV/dT) and this is usually what fries anything with semiconductor junctions in it (which is just about all electrical systems nowadays) even if its not turned on and/or plugged in.

Cheers,

Bill

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kopoloff
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Re: cpap use during thunderstorm

Post by kopoloff » Sat Apr 11, 2009 7:10 pm

I wonder if rooster has any semiconductor junctions

K

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roster
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Re: cpap use during thunderstorm

Post by roster » Sat Apr 11, 2009 7:30 pm

kopoloff wrote:I wonder if rooster has any semiconductor junctions

K
I am happy for all of my semiconductor junctions, thank you.

It is the ones that were damaged by apnea and are no longer juncted at all that make life difficult.

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Rooster
I have a vision that we will figure out an easy way to ensure that children develop wide, deep, healthy and attractive jaws and then obstructive sleep apnea becomes an obscure bit of history.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ycw4uaX ... re=related

FR

Re: cpap use during thunderstorm

Post by FR » Thu Mar 31, 2011 3:36 pm

I have the same concern. I know the hose is plastic but remember that if you have and humidifier that water runing through the hose is an excellent conductor. I do not have an answer but it worries me everytime there is a thunderstorm.

BernieRay
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Re: cpap use during thunderstorm

Post by BernieRay » Thu Mar 31, 2011 4:27 pm

roster wrote:
kopoloff wrote:I wonder if rooster has any semiconductor junctions

K
I am happy for all of my semiconductor junctions, thank you.

It is the ones that were damaged by apnea and are no longer juncted at all that make life difficult.

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archangle
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Re: cpap use during thunderstorm

Post by archangle » Thu Mar 31, 2011 4:41 pm

If you have a heated hose, that has conductive heating elements in the hose and presents a risk of the voltage flowing down the hose and into you. Also, many hoses I've seen have a spiral "spring" in them, but I haven't ever cut into one and seen if they're metal or plastic. Heck, moisture on the inside of the hose may be sufficiently conductive to send current down the hose in some cases.

Because of the way the electrical path involved works, a surge protector strip is NOT going to make much difference in the risk of lighting electrocution of the person using a CPAP machine. A whole house surge protector may well reduce the electrocution risk to a CPAP user because much of the lighting's energy may flow through the junction box instead of through the house wiring.

Surge protectors WILL help protect a CPAP machine from lightning strikes. No, they won't protect it every time. If the lightning decides that the path through your surge protector is the one it wants to take, you're screwed. Heck, lightning sometimes decides it wants to jump out of the electrical socket and jump through the air to something that's not plugged it.

Surge protectors are like a bullet "proof" vest. They won't stop every bullet. Some will go through. Some bullets may hit you in some place the bullet doesn't cover. They do improve your odds, though.

However, most of the time, the energy from a lightning bold spreads out through numerous paths to ground when it travels through the house wiring. A surge protector won't stop the main lighting bolt, but it will often stop or reduce the small percent of the surge that wants to go to a particular device.

If you do use a surge protector, be sure to check it often. Many of them have a light on them that's labeled "protected" or some such. Over time, small surges on the power line will burn out the element on the surge protector that does the protection, the light goes out and the protector no longer does any protection. They often use a Metal Oxide Varistor (MOV) which becomes conductive when it's exposed to a voltage spike and shunts the current to ground. The MOV takes the brunt of the current of a surge and often gives its life in the process. Small surges over time and age will eventually destroy the usefulness of the MOV.

Real surge/lightning protection is a complicated issue. Surge protectors usually improve your odds, but there's still some risk remaining.

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Re: cpap use during thunderstorm

Post by rested gal » Thu Mar 31, 2011 6:05 pm

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