I've got off-grid customers where both the husband and wife use oxygen
at night. Because of energy supply limitations they use a liquid O2
system. But that may not be practical for a weekend use cabin.
Kent Osterberg
Blue Mountain Solar, Inc.
www.bluemountainsolar.com
On 4/21/2012 12:12 PM, Dan Fink wrote:
Esteemed Wrenches;
One of our clients, 79 years old, has an off-grid cabin at 8200 ft
altitude that he built and has been using on weekends since 1982. Due
to a heart condition, his doctor is now advising supplementary oxygen
at 2 liters per minute only at night when he is trying to sleep. Not a
life threatening condition, but very uncomfortable (and no sleep)
during a bad night.
Does anyone here have any experience with clients who need to run
oxygen concentrators off the grid?
The power system is 12 volt, 4 x L16 batteries, Trace DR series
inverter. Not a lot of backup there. We can add more PV easily and
cheaply, but would prefer not to completely replace the battery bank.
This is mostly a weekend cabin, it doesn't NEED a big battery bank.
Of course the doctor, nurses, oxygen supply companies, insurance
company etc. don't even know what the words "off the grid" mean. My
research so far has shown that "Energy Star" ratings don't exist for
O2 concentrators.... they assume that everyone has cheap, unlimited
energy. I am seeing 280-550 watts load from non-portable units specs
online. The portable O2 concentrators cost twice as much, and seem to
work only off of their own proprietary super expensive Li-ion battery
packs, but only draw 75-150 watts...just barely in the range of the
existing power system. Nobody in the O2 business seems to know if any
of these can be powered directly from the off-grid system (at either
120vac or 12vdc, he has circuits in each room for both), as "off grid"
is not in their lexicon. I just hate the idea of using 2 battery banks
-- the L16s to charge the Li-Ion? geez.
Just to add to the imbroglio, the health insurance company refuses to
pay for a (twice the price) "portable" O2 concentrator for a patient
that only needs it at night, sleeping. They do not seem to understand
the words "off grid", "watt hours" , "solar" and also seem to have no
concept of either "Energy Star" or "Efficiency". Having been off grid
since 1991 myself, my only response can be "Dumb townies!" but that
doesn't help much. They don't even know that "townie" is a perjorative
up here....they probably think it's a compliment!
Any help appreciated, thanks in advance, and I hope some other Wrench
on this list has dealt with this situation before so that maybe I can
learn from you.
--
Dan Fink,
Executive Director;
Otherpower
Buckville Energy Consulting
Buckville Publications LLC
NABCEP / IREC accredited Continuing Education Providers
970.672.4342 (voicemail)
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