CPAPtalk.com

Cool. Ok. I really do try to read for comprehension and thought I was losing it.

At least you found something that will ease your nerves about it, and a cheap solution to boot! Yay!

The big risk is that the air you exhale will go back up the hose out through the CPAP machine and you'll be rebreathing your own exhaled air, and you'll get low O2 and high CO2. The vents that normally allow exhaled air to escape won't help much because the pressure in the mask is too low, and they may not vent enough air.

You would think you'd wake up, but your body doesn't react to rebreathing stale air the way it would if something blocked your nose and mouth and you couldn't breathe. You probably will wake up before suffocating, but it's not a sure thing.

If you use a nasal mask, in theory, you'll open your mouth to breathe just like you do if your nose is stopped up without CPAP.

If you have a full face mask, the anti-asphyxia valve in all full face masks will open up and you'll get fresh air that way.

If you tape your mouth shut and use a nasal mask, there is some risk of asphyxiation from rebreathing. You'll probably wake up, but that's not guaranteed.

Even if you don't have a rebreathing problem, your apnea will be back, but some people live for years with apnea without dying.

The "optimal" solution is called a "UPS," but the readily available home computer UPSs won't run that long. They're mostly for keeping the computer running long enough to save what you're working on and shut down the computer. There's also the risk that the UPS itself may fail more often than the commercial power does.

You can make your own UPS by getting the overpriced ResMed S9 DC power converter, a deep cycle battery, and an appropriate charger circuit. You do have to do a good design to be sure you get enough charge to the battery during a day to run the machine all night, and to keep the battery on the charger full time and not shorten the life of the battery.

notyorz wrote: I highly doubt you'd choke, but you might be uncomfortable with the cessation of CPAP air flow. You would still be able to breathe...

If you have sleep apnea and you don't wake up when the power goes out you will start having apneas. This IS CHOKING! (Don't forget I am The Choker. )

I had it happen to me. I think I slept about 30 minutes after the power went out and when I did wake up my head was pounding and ringing and I am sure there had been some nasty, long apneas.

Later I read about these power off alarms here and bought one for myself. It stays plugged in and armed at all times.

Curious, Choker, what model alarm did you buy?

The Choker wrote:

notyorz wrote: I highly doubt you'd choke, but you might be uncomfortable with the cessation of CPAP air flow. You would still be able to breathe...

If you have sleep apnea and you don't wake up when the power goes out you will start having apneas. This IS CHOKING! (Don't forget I am The Choker. )

I had it happen to me. I think I slept about 30 minutes after the power went out and when I did wake up my head was pounding and ringing and I am sure there had been some nasty, long apneas.

Later I read about these power off alarms here and bought one for myself. It stays plugged in and armed at all times.

Choker, point taken.

In reality, ONE night with the power off and the odds are that the OP would not die. I'd like to see the data if anyone has some that would prove otherwise.

IF the power outages are a major concern for the OP, then perhaps a back up power system would be in their best interest to pursue. I know people who sleep through alarms...

Either way, I wish the OP luck in sorting it all out.

Our neighborhood has regular outages (both short and long). To solve this we purchased a Generac generator that can run our house. It operates on natural gas and comes on within 12 seconds and remains on until returned power has been clean for 12 minutes. This handles the need for my CPAP and other household appliances but still leaves the 12 second kick in gap. I resolve that gap on my PC and CPAP by plugging them into a UPS. The UPS does not have to be big to handle the 12 seconds of actual outage and it arrests any surges when power goes off.

This is not cheap but it does the job on the CPAP plus insures the A/C keeps going and the refrigerator/freezer keeps cold. It also insure I do not need to do anything when power goes off... UPS for 12 seconds and Generac fo as long as the power is off all while I can keep breathing on my CPAP.

Don't assume your CPAP will come back on if the power goes out momentarily.

I think my PRS1 will come back on if the outage is less than some time period and not if it's longer. I think it's around 5 minutes. I presume autostart will work if it's longer.

I'd be more worried about really short outages. Some electronic gadgets get confused and don't "reset" back to normal operation if there is a short power outage.

I have APC UPS systems for my servers. They kick in when power falls. It might be handy for your machine as well.

As someone else noted, you can use the following Battery Backup Design to create your own battery backup system:

viewtopic.php?p=449334

If we have power outages, I just move my ASV unit over to my battery backup and don't worry if we get any power blips. It tests the unit and allows me to sleep soundly.