Hurricane Isaac... and xPAP

I went without electricity for 6 WEEKS after hurricane Hugo, and can understand your ordeal. Fortunately I was not on X pap at the time! You and the electric company have no control over when they can return power to you--they have to return power to their central lines first, then go down the line (no pun intended). I strongly recommend that if you live in a hurricane prone area that you invest in 1 (or 2) generators) (for the next time this happens), a battery will only last so long without recharging! We are campers and use an inverter for our pop up camper battery to power my x pap and then recharge it with a generator if we are in an area where we truly have no power.

RogerSC wrote:If you get flooding like the picture, looks like you might need to put the generator on the roof or up in a tree *sigh*.

Oh, ours wasn't that far up.... and it drained pretty quickly. The Orleans Parish pumps are able to handle an inch of rain an hour for the first, I think, six hours, then half an inch an hour thereafter.

I would put the generator on a slab, though.

chunkyfrog wrote:Stilt houses. Cool pictures.

One of my husband's co-workers has a house south of here on stilts. It's raised more than ten feet off the ground. I haven't heard how they fared.

Guest wrote:moving above sea level would help
as would keeping a houseboat in the driveway
instead of a camper like the rest of the world

Actually, my house is on some of the highest ground in the area. FIVE FEET above sea level, which is quite good when you compare that to the bowl of the city which can be 15 feet BELOW.

We have a 22' sailboat in the backyard.

allenhm wrote:I went without electricity for 6 WEEKS after hurricane Hugo, and can understand your ordeal. Fortunately I was not on X pap at the time! You and the electric company have no control over when they can return power to you--they have to return power to their central lines first, then go down the line (no pun intended). I strongly recommend that if you live in a hurricane prone area that you invest in 1 (or 2) generators) (for the next time this happens), a battery will only last so long without recharging! We are campers and use an inverter for our pop up camper battery to power my x pap and then recharge it with a generator if we are in an area where we truly have no power.

Actually, one of the things which irritated many people was that there were many obvious issues which could have been fixed while they were working on the central lines. You know, minor details like getting the tree branches off the lines, and repairing broken lines.

For instance, my father, 3 blocks over, got power back on Friday. We did not get it back until late Monday, but there were plenty of surge-attempts, which, just incidentally, resulted in us having to replace our outside air conditioner to the tune of $2700. But of course, that wasn't Entergy's fault, and of course, it won't be covered by the home-owners insurance.

I want to get a generator. But I have no place to store a portable generator because Hurricane Katrina took my detached garage -- another insurance gem. The tree that fell on it had nothing to do with the damage. There was "pre-existing" damage, and so it wasn't covered. BY the time I could put a shed in the back and make sure it was hurricane-anchored, and get a couple of small generators, AND a battery big enough to handle my ASV, I might as well try to find the money for a whole house generator.

Kiralynx wrote:

allenhm wrote:I went without electricity for 6 WEEKS after hurricane Hugo, and can understand your ordeal. Fortunately I was not on X pap at the time! You and the electric company have no control over when they can return power to you--they have to return power to their central lines first, then go down the line (no pun intended). I strongly recommend that if you live in a hurricane prone area that you invest in 1 (or 2) generators) (for the next time this happens), a battery will only last so long without recharging! We are campers and use an inverter for our pop up camper battery to power my x pap and then recharge it with a generator if we are in an area where we truly have no power.

Actually, one of the things which irritated many people was that there were many obvious issues which could have been fixed while they were working on the central lines. You know, minor details like getting the tree branches off the lines, and repairing broken lines.

For instance, my father, 3 blocks over, got power back on Friday. We did not get it back until late Monday, but there were plenty of surge-attempts, which, just incidentally, resulted in us having to replace our outside air conditioner to the tune of $2700. But of course, that wasn't Entergy's fault, and of course, it won't be covered by the home-owners insurance.

I want to get a generator. But I have no place to store a portable generator because Hurricane Katrina took my detached garage -- another insurance gem. The tree that fell on it had nothing to do with the damage. There was "pre-existing" damage, and so it wasn't covered. BY the time I could put a shed in the back and make sure it was hurricane-anchored, and get a couple of small generators, AND a battery big enough to handle my ASV, I might as well try to find the money for a whole house generator.

speaking of sheds, i'm a renter in a mobile home park over in mobile and have one of those prebuilt barn looking 14x10 or something like that, sheds. state farm told me that they will cover the shed and contents if it is not anchored down. they say if i anchor it, it gets into the realm of real property and becomes part of the property and they wouldn't cover it on the rental policy. i understand that, but its silly on their part to not want it anchored. so if it blows away, it blows away. they're covering it. if i do anchor it, it could blow away anyways.

IMPORTANT:

Kiralynx, DO NOT plug your BiPAP into any kind of inverter or plug it into a generator unless you verify that the inverter or generator is a "pure sine wave" generator.

I'm assuming your BiPAP is not a PRS1 model, but one of the older ones, probably a "legacy" style machine, correct? Something like this?

https://www.cpap.com/productpage/remsta ... chine.html

If it's anything other than a PRS1 model machine, you might damage the machine with an inverter or generator. Many (not all) inverters and generators produce what is called a "Modified Sine Wave (MSW)" or "Stepped approximation to sine wave" waveform. This can damage some equipment.

While ResMed gives you info, Respironics does not give any info about using a MSW inverter. ResMed says that S8 blowers are OK, but humidifiers will be damaged by MSW. S9 blowers and humidifiers are OK with MSW.

I haven't seen any info from Respironics. My GUESS is that you're OK as long as you completely remove the humidifier on a Respironics unit. I would expect PRS1 units and humidifiers to be OK with MSW. It's just barely possible MSW would damage your legacy BiPAP machine, so no guarantees.

Generators:

You don't just buy a generator. Once hooked up, you have to maintain it. You have to test it. You have to repair it. If it's gasoline powered, you have to keep fresh gasoline around and drain the tank periodically so the gas doesn't go bad. Lots of people find their generator doesn't work or only runs a short time when they actually need it.

They're great when they work, but they take a lot more care than a battery system.

Batteries:

I believe she has one of the machines that requires 24V, so she needs the $170 Respironics DC-DC converter.

This would still work for you for several days: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=62477&p=586370

You will still eventually run out of battery power, but you'll get several good nights.

If you run out of battery, and you have a working car, you could steal the car battery and swap it with your CPAP battery every night. Yes, that requires you to lug the battery back and forth to the car.

Insurance:

I don't think anyone has succeeded in getting insurance to pay. We can complain, and we should complain, but the CPAP runs on electricity, not complaints.

archangle wrote:IMPORTANT:

Kiralynx, DO NOT plug your BiPAP into any kind of inverter or plug it into a generator unless you verify that the inverter or generator is a "pure sine wave" generator.

I'm assuming your BiPAP is not a PRS1 model, but one of the older ones, probably a "legacy" style machine, correct? Something like this?

https://www.cpap.com/productpage/remsta ... chine.html

Actually, it's even older than that one. It's this one:

https://www.cpap.com/cpap-machine/bipap ... -cpap.html

It's hard to believe it, but I just passed the 4th anniversary of my first sleep test (on 9/11 -- is that appropriate, or what?) and on 28 October, will hit my four year anniversary of using my Beastie, the Bipap ASV.

archangle wrote:Generators:

You don't just buy a generator. Once hooked up, you have to maintain it. You have to test it. You have to repair it. If it's gasoline powered, you have to keep fresh gasoline around and drain the tank periodically so the gas doesn't go bad. Lots of people find their generator doesn't work or only runs a short time when they actually need it.

They're great when they work, but they take a lot more care than a battery system.

Actually, that's one reason why I am looking at the whole house generator, running off natural gas. As I have explained several times in this thread, I don't have a garage to store a portable generator in. Nor do I have anywhere to store canisters of gasoline.

A battery system will work very well for my Bipap, but it won't do a darn thing to keep my refrigerator and my freezer going. Due to my special diet, I can't have commercially canned foods nor processed foods nor fast food, and that means a freezer full.

archangle wrote:Batteries:

I believe she has one of the machines that requires 24V, so she needs the $170 Respironics DC-DC converter.

I already HAVE it.

archangle wrote:This would still work for you for several days: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=62477&p=586370

You will still eventually run out of battery power, but you'll get several good nights.

Yes, I'm sure it would work. The problem is, I'm not an electrician. I don't understand this stuff. Anything beyond "unplug the AC adapter. Plug in the DC adapter. Use only passover humidification. Attach red click to red pole and black clip to black pole. Keep the three month old puppy from chewing on the wires" is beyond me.

archangle wrote:If you run out of battery, and you have a working car, you could steal the car battery and swap it with your CPAP battery every night. Yes, that requires you to lug the battery back and forth to the car.

Yeah, well, I'm not physically able to lug batteries back and forth, nor do I have the strength to open the hood on the car to get at the cars battery, and I wouldn't know how to take that battery out.

I realize, once again, that to people for whom this stuff is utter simplicity, they're simply staring and saying, "How can she NOT know how to..." but I frackin' well DON'T. I don't KNOW how, and to have people reiterating that "It's so simple..." just reduces me to tears, because it is NOT so simple. Not to me. It's completely incomprehensible.

archangle wrote:Insurance:

I don't think anyone has succeeded in getting insurance to pay. We can complain, and we should complain, but the CPAP runs on electricity, not complaints.

Yeah. They darn near got to pay for a hospitalization, thanks to their refusal to cover a good battery and a means of recharging it. See my original post. If I'd fallen, I would not have been able to get up again without help. My husband doesn't have the strength to get me up again. I don't even know if 911 would have been able to scramble while the winds were still blowing. That's what scares me.

archangle wrote: Batteries:

I believe she has one of the machines that requires 24V, so she needs the $170 Respironics DC-DC converter.

the specific model she identified with a link runs on 12v. if it's like my cpap of the same design, there is a little 12v jack right next to the 120v plugin. i think all respironics run on 12v, at least my first, second and third generations all do.

greatunclebill wrote:

archangle wrote: Batteries:

I believe she has one of the machines that requires 24V, so she needs the $170 Respironics DC-DC converter.

the specific model she identified with a link runs on 12v. if it's like my cpap of the same design, there is a little 12v jack right next to the 120v plugin. i think all respironics run on 12v, at least my first, second and third generations all do.

No, it's 24V, but Respironics sells a $170 12-24 DC converter. However, she has one.

Edit - The Legacy REMstar CPAPs mostly use 12V for DC operations, but I think the Legacy BiPAPs use 24V and require the Respironics 12-24V converter.

Respironics says it runs of 12V, but it only does so if you have the Respironics adapter, which is a 12-24V converter.

archangle wrote:

greatunclebill wrote:

archangle wrote: Batteries:

I believe she has one of the machines that requires 24V, so she needs the $170 Respironics DC-DC converter.

the specific model she identified with a link runs on 12v. if it's like my cpap of the same design, there is a little 12v jack right next to the 120v plugin. i think all respironics run on 12v, at least my first, second and third generations all do.

No, it's 24V, but Respironics sells a $170 12-24 DC converter. However, she has one.

i know for a fact mine is 12 volt. all 3 of my pr machines are 12 volt. if you read the link she posted about her machine, you'll read the follwing:


Electrical

•AC Voltage Source 100 to 240 V, 50/60 Hz
•DC Voltage Source 12VDC (when operated with the external DC power adapter accessory)
•AC Current 1.25 A maximum
•DC Current 3.0 A maximum
•Protection against electric shock Class II
•Degree of protection against electric shock Type BF Applied Part
•Modes of Operation Continuous
•Electromagnetic Compatibility The device meets the requirements of EN 60601-1-2, second edition (2001)
•Fuses There are no user-replaceable fuses.

Kiralynx wrote:

archangle wrote:This would still work for you for several days: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=62477&p=586370

You will still eventually run out of battery power, but you'll get several good nights.

Yes, I'm sure it would work. The problem is, I'm not an electrician. I don't understand this stuff. Anything beyond "unplug the AC adapter. Plug in the DC adapter. Use only passover humidification. Attach red click to red pole and black clip to black pole. Keep the three month old puppy from chewing on the wires" is beyond me.

I understand. That's why I listed the exact parts to get.

Put the battery in the box.
Connect the red wire from the battery charger to the + on the battery. Black goes to -. That particular charger has wires with ring terminals that will slip over the screw terminals on that battery.
Connect the red and black alligator clips from the Respironics adapter to the battery.
Plug the charger into AC power.
Put the cover on the box so nothing will fall on top.

When power goes out, unplug the charger and the CPAP from AC power.
Plug the output plug from the Respironics adapter into the CPAP.

The whole house generator is better in a lot of ways. However, are you going to get it installed before the next long power outage? Are you going to maintain and test it? If you're not going to get the whole house generator installed soon, you may want to consider the battery.

greatunclebill wrote: i know for a fact mine is 12 volt. all 3 of my pr machines are 12 volt. if you read the link she posted about her machine, you'll read the follwing:

Electrical

•DC Voltage Source 12VDC (when operated with the external DC power adapter accessory)

Yes, it runs off 12VDC with that adapter, but it also runs off diesel fuel if you buy a diesel powered generator.

Most (all?) of the Legacy BiPAPs run off of 24V and require the Respironics 1012975 power adapter, which is a 12-24V converter.

Most of the Legacy CPAPs run off of 12V, as do all M-series and PRS1. All you need is wires and connectors to run off of a 12V battery. Legacy humidifiers run on AC, as do some M-series humidifiers.

For Kyra's case, she has the Respironics 1012975 power adapter, so she doesn't need to worry about the fact that the machine runs off of 24V, not 12V.

archangle wrote:For Kyra's case, she has the Respironics 1012975 power adapter, so she doesn't need to worry about the fact that the machine runs off of 24V, not 12V.

so she has the adapter just needs a battery and has been procastinating for well of a year + half do i have that right? so she could have slept in the car after the storm. or just buy a jump starter but she expects 4 days is that right? uncle

archangle wrote:The whole house generator is better in a lot of ways. However, are you going to get it installed before the next long power outage? Are you going to maintain and test it? If you're not going to get the whole house generator installed soon, you may want to consider the battery.

No, I'm not. I researching generators and installers and have been. We had an outage today, about 7a, with the result that I got about 5 hours of sleep before it went out. Two hours later, it came on for about 15 seconds and went out again for another two hours. It was truly frustrating to hear the soft hum of a neighbor's generator while I was desperately wanting sleep.

As a consequence, even though it's not affordable, and hasn't been (I've been out of work for a year and a half), I'm ordering one of the batteries Hawthorne recommended tomorrow. I'd've ordered it today, but I was in so freaking much pain that when the power did come back, I crawled back into bed and grabbed another 3 hours. I had it in my head that the battery place was in California, but it wasn't, so they were closed when I called.

I'm looking at getting the solar charger for the thing, because with a hurricane, I can count on 7-10 days minimum without power, which means I have to have a way to recharge the battery. The typical hurricane blows through, and then the sky is clear. Easy to use solar.