Thank You. Hope you had a great Canada Day.
With this heat wave, I had to keep the place sealed up tight so my undersized AC could keep things just bearable with COPD, & prayed we didn't get a power failure. Depending on clean filtered, climate controlled air, & oxygen to survive, a power failure more than a couple hours during a heat wave could be fatal. With fans in the windows it can get 8-12 degrees hotter up here than outside. So I really need at least some AC, High humidity or low air pressure also isn't easily breathable with COPD either.
My AC couldn't keep up with the heat. I had to shut down everything in the house that generated just a little bit of heat to keep it survivable... even my O2 machine, which gives off a lot of heat. I would just fill my O2 storage bags for my O2 needs, & as soon as they were full, shut the machine off. I tried to open & close the fridge as quickly as possible, because every time it kicked on, it would blow lots of heat off the back. Computers were shut off too because they gave off too much heat... which I need for my work. I've been getting by just using a small efficient laptop instead, but not getting enough work done that way.
Had a scare a little over a week ago. My O2 machine died on me with only 2,900 hours on it. Fortunately I had the insight to get another one just like it as a backup. When you're life depends on it, you want a backup plan. But now I don't trust the backup after the identical one blew out, so I needed another backup machine. But not another cheaper Chinese model again. So I went into debt up to my eyeballs again to buy a medical grade better model. Boy, I just can't get ahead. As soon as things are looking up a little, something else comes up to set me back a lot again. It's gotten incredibly expensive just to stay alive with COPD.
Gotten some more work, but all the extra money, plus more loans goes to the new machine & treatments. Unlike my old O2 machine that only drew 100 watts, this new one draws 350 watts & gives off even more heat. It does put out up to 5 times the O2 though, so can fill the O2 storage bags 5 times faster, or recover directly from the machine rather than drawing large puffs off the bag. But at 350 watts & all that heat, I'm just running it to fill the bags anyway, & then shutting it right back off. Maybe in the cold winter I won't mind leaving it on longer if it gives off some heat, so all that energy isn't wasted. It was always nice a warm near my smaller O2 machine this winter. The dang thing is heavy too. Thank god it's on wheels.
No battery backups for that monster... it draws too much power. Generators aren't an option for apartment living. So I want to save my 100 watt backup O2 machine for emergency backup only now. I have 2 lithium battery packs with built in invertors, that will each run the 100 watt O2 machine for about 2 hours. That's enough to fill my 42 liter O2 storage bags 5 times with 90% O2... or 10 times with 50% O2. In a power outage emergency, I'd probably ration it out at the lower 50% concentration so it lasts longer, but 50% isn't as effective as 90 concentration... just survivable.
I tried to fix the one that died. I took it apart, I found the hose from the compressor to the cooling coil had popped off. I firmly re-arrached it -- more than firmly enough to hold under the 20 PSI operating pressure. It ran fine for about 4 hours & popped off again with a loud pop & hiss. These were not designed to be taken apart & serviced. It took about 3 hours to get it apart, 10 mintues to fix it, & another 4 hours to get it all back together.
I took it apart again, re-attached the hose making absolutely certain it was on there good & tight, & put it back together. This time it ran for about an hour, & popped again. So whatever is wrong it was getting worse. I don't see any pressure relief valve in it like in higher-end models. What could be causing the pressure to go that high to pop off the hose, or is the hot compressed air coming from the compressor getting too hot causing the hose to become soft, stretch, & get lose, but is firm & tight when it cooled down?
I'll have to poke with it another time when it's cooler up here, & I'm breathing better. There is no service manual, service data, or parts available for these. If I can't figure out the problem, maybe I can just bypass it. Maybe add a pressure release valve set to about 25-30 PSI & a thermal shutoff that shuts down the compressor if it gets too hot. That way it still runs fine most of the time, only cutting off a few seconds to a few minutes to release extra pressure or cool down.
We missed another Betty holiday Saturday, my birthday. Even I skipped it. I knew it was going to be miserably hot that day, so already celebrated it the Thursday before. Saturday, I spent most of the day way too hot even with the AC on, staying in bed or a chair most of the day & night. The new O2 machine arrived Friday. I had to rely on the assistance of others just to get it up here. It sat in the corner until Sunday night when it got cool & breathable enough for me to roll it where it needs to be & set it up. I used the smaller 100 watt machine in the meantime.
2:40am in the morning, & I still hear lots of fireworks going off. Boy, stupid people, most people aren't awake to see them at this hour, but they just woke everybody up anyway.
Topic: HAPPY 4th. of JULY (Read 6459 times)
