Power Outages

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Permalink Reply by Mike on February 1, 2010 at 4:56pm

Les -- how long do you think you slept without realizing the power was out? I know that if i were to go any length of time -- even a short time -- without my CPAP, I'd have a massive headache in the morning.

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Permalink Reply by Les Blatt on February 1, 2010 at 5:49pm

Probably no more than a few seconds - with a nasal mask, it's a pretty complete cutoff of air, and that wakes you up FAST.

Mike said:

Les -- how long do you think you slept without realizing the power was out? I know that if i were to go any length of time -- even a short time -- without my CPAP, I'd have a massive headache in the morning.

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Permalink Reply by Mike on February 1, 2010 at 8:44pm

i'll be interested where your research leads you on picking out an Uninterruptible Power Supply. I have no idea what's involved -- price, options, how they work, etc. If you wouldn't mind sharing when you know more, I'd appreciate it.

Les Blatt said:

Probably no more than a few seconds - with a nasal mask, it's a pretty complete cutoff of air, and that wakes you up FAST.

Mike said:

Les -- how long do you think you slept without realizing the power was out? I know that if i were to go any length of time -- even a short time -- without my CPAP, I'd have a massive headache in the morning.

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Permalink Reply by M'Lady Wench on February 1, 2010 at 11:42pm

I would love to hear more about this as my partner and I both have cpap's. In the past, my partner has set up a car battery with a inverter, but I don't think he was able to run his humidifier on his old machine. Both of us love our humidifiers so if a battery back up could be found to run both the machine and the humidifier that would be great. I know I wake up almost immediately when the power goes out. We haven't had any power outages that lasted longer than during the day, but I like to be prepared just in care. Thank you and take care!

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Permalink Reply by Sandra Kay Goodwin on February 2, 2010 at 6:02am

Les, you have a good point there. When you have sleep apnea, there should always be another source around to keep your c pap running while you are sleeping. Last January, we had a power outage for about 3 weeks or more. During that time, I couldn't use my pap machine at all. It was really rough because I have Central Sleep Apnea and I was afraid to go to sleep for fear that I would not wake back up. I live way out in the country. I finally had to go stay with a sister until my electric was restored.

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Permalink Reply by Amy on February 2, 2010 at 6:03am

There are plenty of the uninterrupted back up batteries available. Just make sure you get one that supplies enough power. They all will say how much energy they support. It is not for the long power outage but for a short one of an hour or so it might be a good choice.

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Permalink Reply by Ann Courmouzis on February 2, 2010 at 6:11am

I, too, would be interested in what you find in the way of a battery back up for your CPAP. The Resmed ones that I found "on line" are expensive, for me: around $300. I have found out that what I need is a marine battery, with some sort of adapter system, but that sounds 1.) Complicated, and 2.) Bulky, and still not much under $200. for a good one. Also, I am not too sure how the whole thing works. Any suggestions?

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Permalink Reply by Andy on February 2, 2010 at 6:15am

I live in an area where the power goes out fairly often. A few things I've learned:

1) When the power goes out, I wake up FAST!

2) If your doctor prescribes a battery pack for your CPAP, the insurance company will likely pay.

3) If you're planning on an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) you need to be sure that you get one that's compatible with your CPAP. All UPS devices are not alike! Some generate "square wave" output, and some generate "sine wave" output. Sine wave output is generally what we're looking for.

4) There are different types of UPS devices, the most common being "stand-by" (low-cost, compact, efficient, but uses battery power during brownouts) and "line interactive" (high reliability, high efficiency, ideal for harsh power environments).

5) A good UPS will also protect the devices plugged into it from power surges.


I have a few "line interactive" UPS devices in my house, one on the TV, one on the computer, and one on the outlet that powers the telephone, DSL MODEM, and router. I also have a spare in case there's something that needs to be run when there's no power.

I have always used APC brand UPS, and have had great results with them, and I'd say they're the top UPS manufacturer.

I haven't yet tried my CPAP on one, though.

My ResMed AutoSet II is rated for 2.5 amps @ 120 volts, and 2.5 amps @ 12 volts DC (it has a built-in battery power connector).

I thought about all this the first time the power went out, but haven't since. Maybe it's time I looked into it!

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Permalink Reply by Noel King Piros on February 2, 2010 at 6:20am

Are you talking about the battery back-ups that you use for your computer? If so, the one I have beeps very loudly when the power goes out to let me know that it's in use and I need to power down my computer correctly before it stops working (about an hour or so). Wouldn't be able to sleep anyway with it beeping if that were the case. I live in Florida and when the 2004 hurricane season hit, I heard a lot of people recommending a marine battery because we were out of power for about a week (some people more) with each hurricane. I don't know if there is a way to hook up a marine battery as just a back up rather than a main power source.

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Permalink Reply by Ann Courmouzis on February 2, 2010 at 6:21am

Thanks - I have the exact CPAP as you, so I'd love to hear what happens when (or if) you try to connect one of these UPS devices to your machine. I am planing to go camping in the Everglades and will be without any power source for a few days. I'll look up the company that you suggest on line.

Andy said:

I live in an area where the power goes out fairly often. A few things I've learned:

1) When the power goes out, I wake up FAST!

2) If your doctor prescribes a battery pack for your CPAP, the insurance company will likely pay.

3) If you're planning on an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) you need to be sure that you get one that's compatible with your CPAP. All UPS devices are not alike! Some generate "square wave" output, and some generate "sine wave" output. Sine wave output is generally what we're looking for.

4) There are different types of UPS devices, the most common being "stand-by" (low-cost, compact, efficient, but uses battery power during brownouts) and "line interactive" (high reliability, high efficiency, ideal for harsh power environments).

5) A good UPS will also protect the devices plugged into it from power surges.


I have a few "line interactive" UPS devices in my house, one on the TV, one on the computer, and one on the outlet that powers the telephone, DSL MODEM, and router. I also have a spare in case there's something that needs to be run when there's no power.

I have always used APC brand UPS, and have had great results with them, and I'd say they're the top UPS manufacturer.

I haven't yet tried my CPAP on one, though.

My ResMed AutoSet II is rated for 2.5 amps @ 120 volts, and 2.5 amps @ 12 volts DC (it has a built-in battery power connector).

I thought about all this the first time the power went out, but haven't since. Maybe it's time I looked into it!

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Permalink Reply by Brian Katzung on February 2, 2010 at 7:03am

Making sure a UPS has enough power for the time you expect to need it is key. For example, a 750VA UPS is only rated to power a 50W load for about an hour and a half. (citation)

Battery backup has been discussed quite a bit in several forums. If you want to check what's already been written on the topic, I suggest searching for terms like "battery backup", "power failure", "power outage", and "camping" at http://tinyurl.com/scan-cpap-bbs.

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Permalink Reply by Judy on February 2, 2010 at 7:10am

We live in a rural area. After a severe ice storm in 1976 we were w/o power for a week. Since that time we've bought two gas powered generators. Hubby is an electrician so one is pretty much stationary and mufflered in an attractive outdoors shed the opposite end of the house from the bedrooms where our meter from the power company is. The other is mobile - just in case. We've used it to bail out more than one neighbor thru the years.

Hubby has it set up so that all I have to do if he is not home is flip a switch that switches us from company power to generator power. The generator isn't big enough to run the entire house so we do have to do some switching between the furnace and the freezer but he has them set up on "circuits" or something so it is just a matter of unplugging the one "circuit" and plugging in the other "circuit". He's been going to change that tho so that it is just a matter of flipping switches from one "circuit" to another. But he's not in a big hurry to do so as he wouldn't want me to inadvertently have both switches turned on at the same time.

Yeah, it wouldn't be a surprise if I forgot or wasn't thinking and did just that!

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