Hello can you help please, I have ambulatory Oxygen supplied in 400lts cylinders, with a conserver, at home a mains operated concentrator with B10 cylinder back up for power failure.
Does any member have first hand experience of using liquid Oxygen both at home and away, my present prescription is 4lts/min continuous from the concentrator and 4 lts/min pulsed (ON DEMAND) which I prefer, from the cylinders.
I have "lugged" the cylinders around for six years now and at 7.2kg plus conserver plus bag ~ 15lbs total am more than happy to put it down at any opportunity!
So a few questions; How reliable is the Oxygen supply both from my now new supplier (Air Liquide) and then from the Dewar and Portable unit as regarding flow rates and on demand flow?
Are there any issues regarding icing up?
Are there any issues generally?
Could you vocalise from your personal knowledge and/or opinion?
What is the general set up, do you have Liquid Only or a mix of Liquid, Concentrators and/or Cylinders.........home/away?
I have recently had to use the concentrator 24hrs/day with an exacerbation and even in July/August when air temperatures were in the low 20's (Celcius) I found nasal irritation (to the point of bleeding) due to relative low Oxygen temperatures from the concentrator, has anyone else had a similar problem?
Oh, one final point I omitted, hoping to get away (if the rain ever stops!) with the caravan in September are there any problems taking the Dewar (base unit) in the car/caravan?
Thanks in anticipation of you replies,
Dave
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Davybaby
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I have liquid 02, concentrator, cylinders the liquid 02 lasts longer the portable unit I find difficult now to fill! Liquid 02 is pretty reliable it does freeze up at times, you need to leave the portable unit a while before refilling as it will sometimes freeze on Dewar.
Going to have a test to see if I can use a conserver on the 14th, try KY jelly for your nose it does help, the Dewar is too big to take to your caravan they will supply oxygen for your time away they deliver it to your destinations address.
Air Liquide I had problems with them last month not supplying the correct oxygen for my holiday in Chester - complaint has gone in hope this has helped you Val
Thanks for your information Val it really does help, sounds as though your have the best of "pick and mix", as stated I've been lugging these things now for 6 years, I have had severe lower back pain for a few years which has limited my PR and exercise and subsequent weight gain (our diet is excellent), last year it was diagnosed as Spondiolithesis and the cylinders really don't help.
I have an Eclipse Sequal2 POC bought a few years ago S/H to visit our eldest on Cyprus it is ideal for driving and emergency back up for a few hours (not made it to Cyprus alas but she is back in the UK for a few weeks on Wednesday, my 21st birthday too LOL). The Sequal is OK but not exactly portable!
Caravanning by its very nature is unpredictable and we tend to be weekend/weekly/monthly Gypsies so to speak, so filling in a HOOF for a month hence, giving a specific destination, dates etc., is impracticable, if its raining in the west of Scotland and sunny in Cornwall we follow the sun and vice versa.
Read your blog re Chester at the time, sorry to hear that; the technicians here are generally a great crew.
Thanks again for the info' it really is appreciated.
I have liquid oxygen for ambulatory use and a concentrator at home. the tank is a Helios u-46.eu by Puritan Bennett.
Vitalair supplies a replacement tank, and has once been one day late. They increased the frequency of changeover shortly after I started using it and now I receive an automated message three days before delivery asking me to contact them if the tank does not need changing.
On several occasions there have been issues in refilling the mobile unit. I am not sure how or why but a valve seems to open and cloudy gas is emitted and nothing can be done until that stops. It has not happened for a while though.
The delivery system is through two tubes all the way. One senses breath intake, the other delivers oxygen. The delivery is therefore twice normal. I am on 2 lpm at rest, but used to use more at the gym. I recommend swapping tubes each use so that one nostril is not continually bombarded. And yes, I too have bloody nostrils sometimes. My GP prescribes naseptin for just around the rims to guard against bacterial infection. I too have used KY jelly (but was embarrassed when looking for it in Sainsbury's as it is not near the Vaseline!).
I very much prefer liquid to cylinder because of the weight and my preference for continuous rather than on demand. The quantity on hand is greater with liquid, too. It is necessary to have a back up cylinder, and if used there is the usual business of exchange.
When going away I used to only get cylinders for ambulatory and only according to my prescription of 3 hours per day, but at home it is not calculated like that at all. I use a concentrator in the house and need it to be like that as I also use a NIPPY overnight and have 1 lpm oxygen through it. I don't think liquid is suitable for overnight use.
Sorry to hear about your exacerbation and I hope you get sorted out with the best mix.
Thanks so much EJ. Your comment about the KY jelly at Sainsbury's, gave me a chuckle! don't shop there but can image where it's kept!
I wouldn’t be embarrassed but shameless and give the checkout staff a big wink as its going through.....(still life and devilment in the old dog yet! attitude LOL).
The bleeding nose is a pain, never have it with the cylinders, suffer from hay-fever too and it seems to deliver pollen straight to my nose!
Thanks again for your comments and lovely to meet you.
Whilst I don't have an 02 concentrator, I do have Liquid 02 for use outside the house and both a large back up tank and a smaller tank with a conserver for in house.
I am so pleased with the Liquid Oxygen set up as I just found that even the small 02 tank with conserver just way too heavy for me to carry around. Air Liquide understood this problem and supplied me with the LOX. Initially, after my hopitalisation, the driver arrived with around 10 small tanks - I was mortified as nowhere to put them and too heavy hence AL supplying me with LOX.
The Helios Marathon settings are Demand 4 and Continuous 6 whilst the small Helios 300 has just a maximum Demand of 4. I don't think they last the hours quoted in the brochure though - probably evaporation??
Yes, there are the odd "freezing up" when filling but not too often.
The Dewars (for me) are delivered fortnightly.
I'm listing some links for you to take a look at - hope they help you.
Hello as traveling oxygen user our motorhome carries my iGo for overnight use and we pick up smaller dewars at sites we have booked in advance this lets us travel with liquid oxygen and my helios marathon.
ps have to remember the iGO is running when thinking about how much electric we are using as this is limited on most sites to 10amps
I use a concentrator at home and liquid oxygen from a small tank which i fill from the big one, it lasts about 4 hrs per fill on 2 ltr continuos I fInd AirLiquide very good and very helpful the people who answer the phone always so nice and if I ring to have the large liquid oxygen tank replaced it is always 2 days and they ring to let you know when they will arrive. I also holiday in a caravan, you do not need to take your home concentrator with you. If you ring about a fortnight before you go they will loan you a mini concentrator which will run and charge off the electric supply and will charge in a cigarette liighter in the car and is like a small wheeled suitcase so can be taken around places you want to visit
Thank you all so much for your help and a special thanks to Jemma for all the links After studying the links and following advice given I have decided that my best option is a Low loss Dewar, with a C550 Portable Unit c/w a Dual Lumen Cannula for portable use back up with (the already supplied) 400lt cylinders x 2 c/w conserver and bag. Plus the concentrator already supplied c/w B10 backup cylinder
Or
A Standard unit c/w optional humidifier to supply portable Oxygen as above and home use, again backed up by compressed gas in cylinders.
This will free up 2 x 400lt cylinders and 6 x 400 cylinder deliveries/week.
I tried several times yesterday but my posting were immediately deleted by some nasty sick nerd who has hacked into the site and obtained “moderator” privileges.
I sincerely hope his next anal voiding feels like a couple of porcupines.
Holidaying with Oxygen; again thanks for your advice, as explained below I did try to reply but was censored by a brain dead idiot who was aptly described by crazylady on Gordon57's hopefully soon to be rescinded “Goodbye”
Our problem is that after many year of camping, trailer tenting and caravanning the latter since 1981 we are very much “pack-up and go” if the sun is shining Cornwall or the Western Isles then that is where go, if the is like it has been this year we stay at home and watch the rain LOL.
Our preference is for CL's or Hideaways (CC C&CC) now with hook up!
I have a Sequal Eclipse POC, which isn’t that portable so cylinders or Portable LOX system is required.
Again thanks for the advice, may meet you on a site sometime! but not now until September, we've had the time with ours and others children, bit of peace and quiet earned now, Married 36 years today, not many things I would have chosen apart from ceasing to me a nicotine addict, never thought of myself as a “junkie” at the time.
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