Sat Feb 27 2021

Is it possible to temporarily operate this unit on an uninteruptible power supply for a computer?

First off, I'm not a medical professional, I am an electromechanical technician and mechanical engineer so if I'm missing any medical reasons why this idea won't work please tell me. I need to know if it is possible to operate an EverFlo unit, or really any concentrator off of a PC UPS. It doesn't need to work for long, just enough time for someone to be able to set up a tank or get help in the event of a power failure, basically 10 to 20 minutes. I know they sell big expensive generators for this, but those are for 36 hour or more outages. If my calculations are accurate, the EverFlo has a peak consumption of 408 Watts and according to the units spec sheet, typical is 350 watts. Assuming a 25% loss in power for conversion from DC to AC a 900 watt UPS should be able operate the unit for a little over an hour, Does this seem reasonable? Am I missing something that would prevent this from working? Any input would be greatly appreciated.

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Wed Mar 03 2021Reply from Chris-CBET
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harmonics might be a factor, also the large surge in current draw at startup. Otherwise it shouldn't be an issue. 4A isn't much


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Wed Jun 02 2021Reply from vjjohn
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You probably need something that will take the 1-second startup surge of about 1,000 watts. Due to lossses in the invertor/conversion, it should require to run 450 watts continuous too... perfect sine wave. Modified-wave UPS/inverters may damage the circuit or overheat the compressor. You'll probabaly need something rated at 400 watt/hours to run it for about an hour. Look for lithuim power packs or what they call "solar generators" instead of UPS for a computer. Some call them solar generators because they can be charged with solor panels, car power, as well as AC power. Leave a hose attached to an O2 tank all the time so you don't have to waste time switching hoses around if the machine fails.


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Wed Jun 02 2021Reply from Curtis B.
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Thanks for the replies. The reason I was wondering about the computer UPS is because the gasless generators I saw that could handle the power requirements were well out of my moms price range. They start at around $1000 while a UPS is around $170. She's on a fixed income and the power only goes out a few times a year and generally for less than an hour. She does keep a hose on her spare tank but she needs to have enough time to get to the tank and turn it on. She has asthma and COPD and needs the oxygen constantly. When the power goes out and she wakes up because she's not getting any air and the machine alarm is going off, she panics and can't think straight. She struggles to find the flashlight that's right next to her bed and has trouble turning the tank on because she's too oxygen starved.

All of that being said. I actually went ahead and bought an APC 1500VA UPS back at the end of March. The power has gone out twice in that time and both times the UPS was able to take the load. It won't keep the unit running for as long as I had calculated due to the fluctuations in current draw, but it will keep the unit running for about 15 minutes, which is plenty of time for my mom to get to her tank, turn it on and power off the condenser unit. So yeah, a computer UPS can be used to power an O2 condenser temporarily in an emergency.

Now all I have to do is to convince the insurance company that even though she has a portable condenser she still needs at least two tanks for emergencies since the portable only seems to hold a charge for about an hour.

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