Oxygen therapy while touring

[Essgeebee]

I have lung fibrosis which after a recent chest infections has worsened to the point I am increasingly reliant on oxygen. I’ve a liquid oxygen storage tank at home which fills portable flasks and that works fine but isn’t portable. I have a small battery powered oxygen concentrator but that no longer gives enough output.
I’m sure I’m not alone among Funsters in using oxygen and I wonder what devices others use when touring.

 

[Googlebot]

Can you not get a mains concentrator? I am fairly sure some will do 7 lpm as below.

Amazon product ASIN B0948DGV9S
If you are off grid then this may be a problem.

You may also be able to get some 10 litre bottles if you have adequate storage to secure them which last much longer, though there is a shortage at present due to pressures in the NHS.

 

[sedge]

Well if you know where you're going, you can actually arrange for the campsite to accept deliveries on your behalf. I have no idea what you have to do to enable it, only know it can be done cos someone we know mentioned it.

 

[Essgeebee]

Can you not get a mains concentrator? I am fairly sure some will do 7 lpm as below.

Amazon product ASIN B0948DGV9S
If you are off grid then this may be a problem.

You may also be able to get some 10 litre bottles if you have adequate storage to secure them which last much longer, though there is a shortage at present due to pressures in the NHS.

Thanks very much. I will look at those.

 

[Essgeebee]

Well if you know where you're going, you can actually arrange for the campsite to accept deliveries on your behalf. I have no idea what you have to do to enable it, only know it can be done cos someone we know mentioned it.

Thank you. I’ll make some enquiries.

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[Richard J]

I guess you are going to be looking at a O2 concentrator unless your use is relatively infrequent. I see the commercially available ones are a lot more compact then the traditional NHS home offering and seem to weigh around 10k so lighter and more compact than a pile of cylinders. The one I looked at was rated at 1Amp at 250v so within the scope of a modest inverter and easily managed by a mains hook up. So if you have a lithium battery and a reasonably powered inverter it should be quite feasible. Probably safer than O2 cylinders in a van too.

 

[Essgeebee]

I guess you are going to be looking at a O2 concentrator unless your use is relatively infrequent. I see the commercially available ones are a lot more compact then the traditional NHS home offering and seem to weigh around 10k so lighter and more compact than a pile of cylinders. The one I looked at was rated at 1Amp at 250v so within the scope of a modest inverter and easily managed by a mains hook up. So if you have a lithium battery and a reasonably powered inverter it should be quite feasible. Probably safer than O2 cylinders in a van too.

Thank you, another post above suggests the same which I’m looking into. I need oxygen when out doing almost any activity so ideally I need a portable supply (currently at home I use my two liquid oxygen flasks in backpacks). Refilling those isn’t feasible away from home as the safety and other practicalities of carrying a liquid O2 canister in a motorhome seems problematic. However, I’m hopeful some Funsters have cracked this nut already and can suggest a portable solution to complement a small van-based mains concentrator.

 

[Widge]

Sorry to hear of your problems, my brother has it as well. The only thing that i would point out is pure oxygen or oxygen concentrators dont mix too well with gas appliances, so be carefull.

M y mother in law had a semi portable concentrator on a little trolly from the NHS that she brought with her to france on the plane, but again maybe not powefull enough for your condition.

 

[Widge]

Sorry to hear of your problems, my brother has it as well. The only thing that i would point out is pure oxygen or oxygen concentrators dont mix too well with gas appliances, so be carefull.

M y mother in law had a semi portable concentrator on a little trolly from the NHS that she brought with her to france on the plane, but again maybe not powefull enough for your condition.

Sorry forgot to add, you had better check with tunnel/ferry, they probably have rules about pressurised gasses. They will know if you have a camper or caravan you will have butane or propane, but might not like bottles of oxygen in the mix as well.

 

[autorouter]

I'm no expert on this, but I would have thought, with a motorhome with plenty of solar and battery storage, you could run an oxygen concentrator, with enough left over to push into a small cylinder with a compressor. I know some people have this arrangement at home, and I'm sure it can be made portable.

Maybe not fully off-grid, but many motorhomers like to always have mains hookup, and there's plenty of aires with hookup if you don't like campsites.

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[Essgeebee]

I'm no expert on this, but I would have thought, with a motorhome with plenty of solar and battery storage, you could run an oxygen concentrator, with enough left over to push into a small cylinder with a compressor. I know some people have this arrangement at home, and I'm sure it can be made portable.

Maybe not fully off-grid, but many motorhomers like to always have mains hookup, and there's plenty of aires with hookup if you don't like campsites.

Thank you. I rarely spend much time off grid, usually only for a day while we move to another place or travelling home and perhaps stop off for a few hours at a beach or something. While sitting driving, I don't need oxygen (at the moment anyway). So, the mains powered side of things would be relatively sorted. It's having a refillable or rechargeable portable supply with the capacity to enable me to spend a few hours out and about that is the main challenge I think.

 

[Vowler]

I've got one of these.. 5l/min.. rechargeable using mains or car battery lighter socket.. Nice and light.. not too noisy when used indoors..

 

[Essgeebee]

I've got one of these.. 5l/min.. rechargeable using mains or car battery lighter socket.. Nice and light.. not too noisy when used indoors..

That’s the same as the battery powered unit I have. Until recently, it was adequate but not any longer. That’s why I now have a liquid oxygen system with portable flasks at home. Better flow rates and continuous as well as demand settings.

 

[Vowler]

Sorry to hear that.. I had cylinders for a while but filling them was a real pain...Luckily 5L/min was sufficient for me.... Hope you find a solution soon.

 

[autorouter]

Would a system like the Invacare Homefill or DeVilbiss iFill be suitable? There's a concentrator, and a small compressor that fills a cylinder from any excess oxygen.

The system looks like it takes about 2A, or 500W. This is quite possible to run on a campsite hookup. To run it for a few hours on an inverter would be feasible, 8 hours would need about 4kwH of battery, that's 4000/12 = 333Ah at 12V. So 400Ah of lithium batteries would do this, with a 1000W or 1200W inverter.

If you had this set up in your motorhome, with a Victron Multiplus inverter/charger, that would also act as an emergency power supply if someone trips the hookup supply and no-one is available to reset it. Or at home if the grid power fails.

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[Essgeebee]

Would a system like the Invacare Homefill or DeVilbiss iFill be suitable? There's a concentrator, and a small compressor that fills a cylinder from any excess oxygen.

The system looks like it takes about 2A, or 500W. This is quite possible to run on a campsite hookup. To run it for a few hours on an inverter would be feasible, 8 hours would need about 4kwH of battery, that's 4000/12 = 333Ah at 12V. So 400Ah of lithium batteries would do this, with a 1000W or 1200W inverter.

If you had this set up in your motorhome, with a Victron Multiplus inverter/charger, that would also act as an emergency power supply if someone trips the hookup supply and no-one is available to reset it. Or at home if the grid power fails.

Thanks for that suggestion and info. I’ve had a look at both models you mention. Having a combination of concentrator and portable bottle filler seems perfect. I wouldn’t normally be off grid so powering it would not present a problem. I’ll have a closer look and discuss it with my hospital team.