Power [electricity] failure

[Barely Awake]

Anyone experienced a power failure in the middle of the night when on CPAP?

Not sure what woke me but the clock (comparison of mains and battery) tells me it was within a short time of the power going off. Took me a moment to notice the Sleepweaver mask was deflated and air wasn't flowing.

Would this be a dangerous situation in a full face mask?

Is a battery back up a possibility?

[shuckie]

Hi Barely Awake!

I haven't experienced a night time power failure yet (fingers crossed, touchwood!), but if I did live somewhere susceptible to power cuts I would probably invest in something like this;

http://www.eu-pap.co.uk/super-cpap-battery-pack.html

Part of the description is as follows;

"If you live in an area that is prone to mains power failure just plug both the battery and the machine into the mains and then connect the battery to the machine and leave the battery turned on. In the event that the power should fail the battery will automatically supply power to the machine".

It isn't a dangerous situation to have a power failure whilst wearing a full face mask because the vent in it is designed to let you breathe then your machine isn't running or the hose is disconnected. Obviously you'd still have apneas due to a lack of pressure but otherwise it's no different to not wearing a mask at all.

Hope this helps?


Cheers

shuckie

[puggster]

it shouldent be anymore dangerous than not sleeping with the cpap machine

all masks have various failsafe features which allow normal breathing if the system is shutdown by a fault or power failure,

no matter what mask you have there should be a valve which closes when pressure is coming i the pipe and when the pressure is stoped the valve opens on your own breathing pressure allowing you to breath normaly, i have the resmed quatro ful face mask and the valve is present on the elbow joint that fits to the front of the mask which closes on cpap operation to stop leaks.

my resmed quatro fx has the same valve, it looks like a rubber guitar pick lol

anyways, power failures shouldent cause problems breathing wise, other than your own apnea sysmptoms might return

[Berneta]

Power Failure

Hi--I live out in the country and have experienced several power failures at night. I wake up instantly when the air stops flowing. I can still breathe thru the mask but only slightly. That is what wakes me up. The blast of air is cut off. I don't think anyone would die from a power failure--but for me its uncomfortable. I am used to the forced air and can''t sleep well without it now. I use nose pillows and can open my mouth freely whenever I need to --so don't have any life threatening problems with air being cut off. xx Berneta

[Tired Jack]

Hi there, I live in an area where the power goes off fairly frequently. I use a small ups unit which takes over when the power goes off. It won't run the cpap all night but on one I use, The Resmed Escape s8, it does stop the unit going to standby. Hope this helps Jack

[Guest]

I haven't experienced a night time power failure yet (fingers crossed, touchwood!), but if I did live somewhere susceptible to power cuts I would probably invest in something like this;

http://www.eu-pap.co.uk/super-cpap-battery-pack.html

Part of the description is as follows;

"If you live in an area that is prone to mains power failure just plug both the battery and the machine into the mains and then connect the battery to the machine and leave the battery turned on. In the event that the power should fail the battery will automatically supply power to the machine".




Cheers

shuckie

You cant do that with an S8, when you plug the 12v in (live or not) it shuts the mains power down. Would be better with an UPS or just do as I do have a battery ready, wake up plug in and drift back off.

[Barely Awake]

We had regular power failures in the late 80s and if those circumstances returned I think most hoseheads in my area would have to have batteries. £300 is a big outlay though and they may not last many years.

[Guest]

Ive done it on £20.........

[Fredxx]

For backup battery power at home, the Super CPAP battery pack is an expensive option.

You can do a lot cheaper by getting caravan "leisure" batteries. Be careful to get leisure batteries, which are designed to do deep cycles (i.e. discharge a lot then get re-charged) rather than car batteries, which are designed to operate most of the time with only slight fluctuations in charge.

The super CPAP battery pack is great if you are travelling with it as it is fairly light and compact, and you are allowed on planes with it. Leisure batteries are a lot cheaper, but heavy and bulky, but this isn't a problem if it is just something that is going to live under the bed.

[Berneta]

Electricity

Its VERY HOT in the Midwest-- and my AC is off and on all night long. Sometimes I have noticed that the air pressure on my CPAP drops, when the AC comes on. It doesn't go completely off--but drops enough to wake me up. Looks like I may have to invest in a battery to keep the air pressure up. If this 110 degree weather continues--I expect rolling blackouts. Thats a bummer. Arizonia is having Sand Storms now, they roll in and fill people's swimming pools--and Texas, Kansas, and New Mexico are in drought. Ranchers are selling off their cattle because of no water or forage for them-- wheat crops are dying, Florida is having wild fires. We feel like we're living in an oven. Hope you are all doing better. xx Berneta

[Fredxx]

a basic UPS would help that Berneta - not so much the blackouts (hope they don't come!), but it would smooth the power to the CPAP
Have a few friends over there suffering with that weather! - not a lot of fun over there at the moment

[James @ Intus]

Bit late to the party and much of this has already been said but here goes...

It's not unsafe. CPAP masks (unlike some BiLevel applications) have an exhalation port and some of them valves which will open if no air comes from the machine. Whilst small, this should be enough to keep you alive. Like with sleep apnoea itself, your body will start pumping adrenaline around when you start to suffocate, waking you up. At that point, you will probably automatically tear the mask off, if need be. But with the exhalation port (and leaks), it probably won't come to this.

If powercuts are a regular occurrence, a battery pack can be a handy addition. Some machines, like the SleepCubes, will trip over automagically between AC and DC as and when. you wouldn't notice a thing, though humidifiers would generally switch off, so a dry mouth at worst.

[whisperer]

What happens in a power failure

Was staying at my daughters and we experienced a power failure. I can assure you that you wake up pretty quickly once there is no air getting through the mask!!. Mind you with it being the middle of the night I felt well grotty the next day, but we did get the power sorted.

Absolutely nothing to worry about.

[Sparticus]

I must be odd!

...because when I lost power, I didnt wake up, I have even fell asleep with my mask on before I had a chance to turn my machine on, Ive ripped off my hose from either end at times due to me turning over and Ive even choked myself with my hose.

I can confirm you will NOT suffocate, try wearing your mask without turning your machine on and see if you can breath slowly and maintain it, it shouldnt be a problem

[cwmfelin]

Does anyone have experience of using a UPS like the type you'd connect to a PC. They have alarms that go off when the power fails, but I guess you can disable them.

Where I live, in a small Welsh mining village, if the power goes, usually due to a thunderstorm, they don't reset the power until 1am because everyone has their heating, lights, cookers etc on and it just trips the system again.

If you've used a UPS, what rating was it?