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[Equipment] Is lack of battery an immediate risk?
#1
Is lack of battery an immediate risk?
That is, if power goes out while CPAP user is asleep, is there an immediate risk of death by suffocation, heart attack, …? Are there statistics on this? Does this depend on nature or severity of condition or type of equipment (face mask vs nasal pillows, …)?

I'm not asking about long-term effects of not having power; only immediate effects.

(In my own experience (on-grid), I wake up fairly quickly when there's an outage; I'm asking on behalf of another user new to cpap.)

Thx to all in advance
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#2
RE: Is lack of battery an immediate risk?
With a nasal mask, you would just breathe through your mouth. Full Face masks have an anti-asphixia valve in the elbow that open when there is no pressure. That valve is a flapper and the clicking usually wakes most people up from the noise. As long as you don't defeat a safety feature, the risk is near zero.

If there were a finite risk, I am sure the FDA would have required a power alarm. Oxygen concentrators have power loss alarms.

I have a small light with an alarm that is plugged into my same outlet that can alert me. An internal battery powers the audible alarm and light should power be lost. Such a device may help calm your friend's fear.

One like this:
[Image: 41eH06vSK7L.jpg]
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#3
RE: Is lack of battery an immediate risk?
Over the years, I have lost power many times. Usually I awaken gradually as I realize breathing effort has increased. Although I use nasal pillows, I do not breath through my mouth in an outage; it just wakes me up. There is no health hazard, and we both use the same mask.
Sleeprider
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#4
RE: Is lack of battery an immediate risk?
G'day FeelingBetter. Welcome to Apnea Board.

Put your mask on and lie down. Don't turn the machine on...

Did you die?

Masks are vented and have an anti-asphyxiation valve. Even if for some reason the valve and vent fail, the human urge to preserve life is overwhelming. Even if the systems failed, you would tear the mask off your face long before you asphyxiated. This is, of course, assuming you have normal upper body mobility. A quadriplegic would be in a different situation, but (from my limited knowledge) wouldn't be using standard CPAP equipment anyway.
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#5
RE: Is lack of battery an immediate risk?
(04-08-2017, 08:49 AM)DeepBreathing Wrote: G'day FeelingBetter. Welcome to Apnea Board.

Put your mask on and lie down. Don't turn the machine on...

Did you die?
Wait ....  They didn't answer.  Can somebody go check on FellingBetter?

OMMOHY
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#6
RE: Is lack of battery an immediate risk?
Thanks all -- very helpful : )
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#7
RE: Is lack of battery an immediate risk?
Hi FeelingBetter,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
Good luck to both you and your friend with your CPAP therapy.
trish6hundred
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#8
RE: Is lack of battery an immediate risk?
Luckily the only power loss I have had is when the cats knocked the plug out of the unit. Could still breath without any issues.

I have also gotten up in the night, got back into the bed, put my mask on and forgot to turn the unit on and went back to sleep. No problems. If you haven't done this yet, you will.  Too-funny

Homer
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