CPAPtalk.com

Do you shave your head? Hair is flammable.

CPAPIST wrote:Do you shave your head? Hair is flammable.

and stinky when it does.

The Apollo 1 disaster happened during my childhood. It gave me a respect for the fire danger associated with oxygen.

Some substances will spontaneously combust in pure oxygen. Some other things that don't burn well or at all in normal air become extremely flammable with pure oxygen.

It's hard to adequately determine the risk of these materials with supplemental oxygen because the results are widely variable. The exact composition of the flammable substance, moisture, temperature, etc. affect the fire risk. The concentration of oxygen may vary considerably. CPAP + oxygen creates a different situation than oxygen with a nasal cannula. Even if someone has used some particular skin cream with oxygen for years, that doesn't mean it won't burn if you use it for a few years.

We don't really know how dangerous a particular oily or greasy substance is going to be with CPAP oxygen. The easy thing is to say don't use any grease or petroleum with O2.

We all know that combustion requires three basic items to occur:

1) Fuel

2) oxygen

3) ignition source

.....an electrical spark could be an issue inside a machine, but I'm not going to worry about a spark inside my plastic, silicone full face mask at the end of a six foot hose. Not to mention that with the free air flow from a CPAP makes the concentration of additional oxygen at the mask fairly inconcequential in terms of fire. Your comparing apples to oranges when you mention Apollo incident which was not only 100% oxygen, but also in a pressurized capsule........let's not get carried away!

I will bet that if I turn on my cpap with the 2 lpm oxygen flowing through the hose, and I hold a lit match three inches from the hose the match will simply blow out much the same as it would without the supplemental O2.......and to put my money where my mouth is, I am more than willing to test it and post a video to prove my point.

TangledHose wrote:and to put my money where my mouth is, I am more than willing to test it and post a video to prove my point.

if you don't have any eyelashes, we'll know what happened *lol* (however, i'm betting you're right)

Burnt Dog Fur doesn't smell very good.......*lol*

TangledHose wrote:Burnt Dog Fur doesn't smell very good.......*lol*

pretty much any kind of burnt fur smells awful!

TangledHose wrote:We all know that combustion requires three basic items to occur:

1) Fuel

2) oxygen

3) ignition source

In pure oxygen, an "ignition source" is frequently not needed. Google spontaneous combustion.

Actually, spontaneous combustion can happen even without pure oxygen. Fires are often started by oily rags. http://www.nfpa.org/research/reports-an ... l-reaction

Spontaneous combustion is a LOT more likely with O2.

Note that I'm not talking about the borderline pseudoscientific "spontaneous human combustion." I'm talking about the well known, scientifically demonstrated "normal" spontaneous combustion.

Like I say, I suspect your Lanolin probably won't combust even if you use O2, but it's conceivable. I don't have statistics, and tests on that particular chemical and environment. The "experts" say "no grease or oils" in an O2 environment. It's your face on the firing line. If you do it every night, you're taking the risk 365 days a year for the rest of your life.

Read up on Apollo 1 if you're not already scared enough of flammable materials in a pure O2 environment.

oy vey.

palerider wrote:

TangledHose wrote:Burnt Dog Fur doesn't smell very good.......*lol*

pretty much any kind of burnt fur smells awful!

burnt eyelashes and eyebrows are stinky too...... speaking from experience due to a mishap with an Oxy-Acetylene unit

archangle wrote:Read up on Apollo 1 if you're not already scared enough of flammable materials in a pure O2 environment.

You bring sooooo much useful information to the forum.

Chevie wrote:

archangle wrote:Read up on Apollo 1 if you're not already scared enough of flammable materials in a pure O2 environment.

You bring sooooo much useful information to the forum.

is that your way of saying "almost none?"

On this site I have been told to use lanolin, Lansinoh specifically, ONLY...not to use petroleum jelly or anything else as it would degrade the cushion material and to use it for air leaks, moisturizing irritations, etc. so I don't think it will hurt to use on your lips. I use it all the time.