DIY CPAP machine

Matty332 wrote:Just go down to Goddfreys and pick up a 50 dollar vacuum cleaner. Rig it to blow instead of suck and gaff tape the nozzle into your mouth every night and silicon your nostrils shut. Open the little pressure port on the handle of the nozzle for C02 expulsion. DIY CPAP done.

Actually, Matty, that was how the first ones were made in, I believe, the 1940's to help premature babies breathe. A lot of respiratory equipment comes from the preemie nurseries. Eventually they realized adults stopped breathing in their sleep too but the first "cure" for adults was a tracheotomy, which is perfect for camping as it requires no power.

@Gumby, LMAO!!

@Blackspinner,

Seriously?! Actually I did recal reading something about the first prototype being a vacuum cleaner. Now that would of made for an interesting nights sleep . Ear plugs would of been required that's for sure!

For a large part of the world a cheap, kludged up CPAP machine could be a real lifesaver. I wonder if anyone is actively working on such a gadget.

You might be able to get pressure regulation by doing something like sticking a tube down into a bucket of water and letting it vent out air if the pressure gets high enough to force bubbles out the end of the tube. Or use a cylinder of some sort with an appropriate weight. If the cylinder rises, you leak air out holes in the cylinder or shut off power to the motor with a switch.

Someone could probably manufacture a really cheap commercial mass produced dumb fixed pressure CPAP machine for third world use, but the medical mafia and liability issues would probably keep that from ever happening.