Travelling with cpap to france

[judy sawhney]

Any challenges traveling with cpap, ie access and distilled water?

[hobbs]

Just use bottled drinking water and you will be fine.

[RandyJ]

Distilled water can be either found in pharmacies (look for green cross outside storefront) or in any "drogherie" or market where the laundry detergents are sold. Everyone there uses it for their irons.

[hueyville]

Remember the plug converter so you can plug into European electrical outlet. My machine runs off 120V or 220V but check yours. If it is 120 only you will want a voltage converter. About 20 bucks at Radio Shack. I always have at least one device in my travel kit that needs 120V.

[judy sawhney]

Thanks all. Last year I could barely walk, very severe sleep apnea undiagnosed for years. Lost my job, income, but now with a new lease on life am out to see the world. I am one of the lucky ones to rediscover an improved health and outlook!

[McSleepy]

Remember the plug converter so you can plug into European electrical outlet. My machine runs off 120V or 220V but check yours. If it is 120 only you will want a voltage converter. About 20 bucks at Radio Shack. I always have at least one device in my travel kit that needs 120V.

I would warn against any $20 power inverter with sufficient current to power a CPAP machine. That would be a square-wave inverter, but even a modified sine wave inverter could be harmful to the machine. There are plenty of discussions here about inverters for CPAP machines; a search would reveal them easily.
I only needed a plug adapter for my machine (and the flat kind - in France they have a prong in the middle that prevents some other 220V plugs from being used).
McSleepy

[idamtnboy]

I would warn against any $20 power inverter with sufficient current to power a CPAP machine. That would be a square-wave inverter, but even a modified sine wave inverter could be harmful to the machine. There are plenty of discussions here about inverters for CPAP machines; a search would reveal them easily.
I only needed a plug adapter for my machine (and the flat kind - in France they have a prong in the middle that prevents some other 220V plugs from being used).
McSleepy

220 to 120 volt uses a transformer which by nature is sine wave.

[McSleepy]

220 to 120 volt uses a transformer which by nature is sine wave.

"$20 at RadioShack" is not an inductive-coupling transformer, nor would you want one, which at ~150-200W would weigh too much to want to want to lug around, anyway.
McSleepy

[idamtnboy]

220 to 120 volt uses a transformer which by nature is sine wave.

"$20 at RadioShack" is not an inductive-coupling transformer, nor would you want one, which at ~150-200W would weigh too much to want to want to lug around, anyway.
McSleepy

This one at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Simran-200-Conver ... =de_a_smtd for $13.49 has a user photo with the unit opened up. Sure looks like a transformer to me. It's rated at 200 watts, but that may be optimistic based on the user comment. Still big enough for a 90 watt CPAP. It weighs two pounds. Is that too heavy to lug around? Depends on who's doing the lugging I suppose.

[judy sawhney]

I've got a res med 36013 elite with humidifier
Purchased 2012 general specs input range 100-240v, 50-60hz, 110 v
Wouldn't a plug adaptor purchased at caa be sufficient as I did not get the voltage converter
Thanks

[PST]

input range 100-240v, 50-60hz

That means you are in business with just the plug adapter, no worries.

[lastlib]

I saw the cone head family on Saturday Night Live. They were from France. I highly recommend you rent the tapes of the early years and watch the cone heads to properly prepare yourself for the trip.

[chunkyfrog]

I spoke with Beldar this afternoon.
He says everything is going to be all right.
Be sure to tip the hotel maid.

[McSleepy]

220 to 120 volt uses a transformer which by nature is sine wave.

"$20 at RadioShack" is not an inductive-coupling transformer, nor would you want one, which at ~150-200W would weigh too much to want to want to lug around, anyway.
McSleepy

This one at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Simran-200-Conver ... =de_a_smtd for $13.49 has a user photo with the unit opened up. Sure looks like a transformer to me. It's rated at 200 watts, but that may be optimistic based on the user comment. Still big enough for a 90 watt CPAP. It weighs two pounds. Is that too heavy to lug around? Depends on who's doing the lugging I suppose.

First, the reference was about the ones at RadioShack. Second, the one at Amazon (a very shady design) is very doubtful to be able to continuously sustain anywhere near 200W. That looks like a peak input rating, and 150W is what you need for a CPAP (200W with humidifier). Third, not heavy??? Two pounds is heavier than some CPAP machines (my VPAP is 2.9 pounds), no one wants to double their bag's weight.
McSleepy

[DLM]

Thought I might add to this thread. I have been travelling to France with my CPAP for a couple of years now. The first year I searched everyway and couldn't find distilled water (eau distille), but finally found eau demineralize (in a garden supplies centre! but have since seen it elsewhere). Don't expect to find it in the water section of a grocery store. Then this past year, I read on another thread on this website advice that said that demineralized water was not the same as distilled water and should not be used because the chemicals used to demineralize should not be inhaled, and distilled water could be found at the pharmacy. So this year, once in France, I went to the pharmacy and after much explanation they said they could get it for me. It was obviously not something they were used to providing, and I discovered that not all pharmacies could even get it for me. Anyway, the distilled water from the pharmacy cost me 5 euros a litre!! Not sure if it was because they thought it needed to be sterilized but there was nothing on the labelling indicating it was sterilized so can't say that is the reason it cost so much. I paid it, but really wonder why the water they use for their irons etc would be any different from the distilled water here that many people use for irons as well. The price of demineralized water in France was comparable to the price I pay for distilled water in Canada. Can anyone confirm whether demineralized water is harmful or not, for my next trip? Thanks for your help