DIY oxygen treatment? Just in case the NHS runs out.....

[David]

In these harsh Covid times there are reports of no spare beds, and hospitals running out of oxygen.

It is a reasonable assumption that one could catch Covid, need oxygen, and find that there are no beds available and no spare oxygen cylinders for home use as supplies have run out.

I can see that you can buy an oxygen concentrator for around £250-£300. I also see from

"Under the NHS oxygen may be supplied as oxygen cylinders. Oxygen flow can be adjusted as the cylinders are equipped with an oxygen flow meter with ?medium? (2?litres/minute) and ?high? (4?litres/minute) settings. Oxygen delivered from a cylinder should be passed through a humidifier if used for long periods.

Oxygen concentrators are more economical for patients who require oxygen for long periods, and in England and Wales can be ordered on the NHS on a regional tendering basis. A concentrator is recommended for a patient who requires oxygen for more than 8 hours a day (or 21 cylinders per month). Exceptionally, if a higher concentration of oxygen is required the output of 2 oxygen concentrators can be combined using a ?Y? connection.

A nasal cannula is usually preferred for long-term oxygen therapy from an oxygen concentrator. It can, however, produce dermatitis and mucosal drying in sensitive individuals.

Giving oxygen by nasal cannula allows the patient to talk, eat, and drink, but the concentration of oxygen is not controlled; this may not be appropriate for acute respiratory failure. When oxygen is given through a nasal cannula at a rate of 1?2?litres/minute the inspiratory oxygen concentration is usually low, but it varies with ventilation and can be high if the patient is underventilating."

From that I assume that an oxygen concentrator would be the preferred solution if Covid was bad enough to require oxygen.

That leads to a couple of questions:

(1) Is the risk high enough to justify buying an oxygen concentrator as an insurance policy?

(2) If so, how do you tell how good (or not) the ones advertised on line are?

Oh, and Happy New Year.

Dave R

[Owain Lastname]

Couldn't you just split water using electrolysis and vent off the hydrogen?

Owain

[Brian Gaff (Sofa]

I don't think we need to worry, since there do seem to be fewer of those who have gone into hospital with the severe kind as far as breathing is concerned, it seems to be other tissues including the heart that are being affected now for some reason. Of course that could change over time. Brian

[Harry Bloomfield, Esq.]

David presented the following explanation :

Just curious - anyone know how those things work? I have seen one running, they sound rather like a small fridge compressor in operation, but how do they work?

[The Natural Philosopher]

?--------------------------------------------------------------- "An oxygen concentrator takes in air and removes nitrogen from it, leaving an oxygen enriched gas for use by people requiring medical oxygen due to low oxygen levels in their blood. Oxygen concentrators provide an economical source of oxygen in industrial processes where they are also known as oxygen gas generators or oxygen generation plants."

adsorption of nitrogen or by pressure and membranes

[Andy Burns]

I didn't but wiki does ...

compressor pumps air through vessel that contains zeolite, which adsorbs most of the N2, leaving output of mainly O2. Then it swaps a set of valves to continue the same process through a second vessel, while reversing the flow through the first vessel to expel the N2 to atmosphere, rinse and repeat.

Presumably they need good airflow into the room, and maybe an exhaust for the N2 rich output?

[nightjar]

If you get Covid-19 badly enough to need oxygen therapy, you will need more than just the oxygen supply. You will also need the qualified medical staff to look after you. AIUI they are in much shorter supply.

Most of the ones you can buy online are non-prescription concentrators. They won't give more than 1 litre/minute of continuous 99% pure oxygen and some give a lot less. To get higher rated concentrators or medical oxygen cylinders, you need a prescription and would then be looking at something like these:

You can also get portable prescription concentrators, although they do cost quite a bit more e.g.:

[ARW]

During the first lockdown I fitted outside lights around the oxygen plant at Doncaster Royal Infirmary.

The high usage was causing the pipes to freeze and they needed hot hosing down every 2 hours.

I wonder if it is the same thing?

[newshound]

I think if you look at flow rates and air changes even a well sealed (ordinary) room would be OK. (My late FIL was a builder, he had one for a while for severe emphysema caused by asbestos and other dusts).

Not really. I don't know what sort of evaporators oxygen plant has, whether it's just air source or whether they have heaters.

You have to supply enough heat to evaporate the amount of gas you are using. Presumably the "standard" design just wasn't adequate at this time of very high use.

[David]

Thanks. Useful information.

3 or 4 times the price of the consumer models.

I realise that for optimum care there should be medical supervision.

I'm just exploring the case where there is no supervision or oxygen available from the HNS, and if having your own oxygen supply would be an improvement on having nothing.

Instinct says that if you are very low on oxygen almost anything might improve your chances. However when the price gets towards £1,000 the sharp intake of breath might well increase oxygen saturation anyway.

Cheers

Dave R

[ARW]

(My late FIL was a builder, he had one for

Hopefully the next generation of builders will not have to put up with that if they pay attention now that asbestos awareness courses are mandatory (and now exist).

I would agree, not designed for such very high use.

[Fred]

David [e-mail] wrote

Trivial to avoid that happening.

Makes more sense to avoid getting infected or get vaccinated to avoid severe disease and the need for oxygen.

[Harry Bloomfield, Esq.]

David expressed precisely :

You can get digital Oxymeters quite cheaply <£7. They clip on a finger, self contained, working on batteries and show the oxygen concentration in your blood, plus heart rate.

[Fredxx]

You beat me to it. I have 3 of the machines.

They create a modest level of noise from a well muffled compressor. The units each provide up to 5l/min of enriched oxygen.

[nightjar]

The amount of oxygen they take from the air is fairly small, but, if you are in the same room as the compressor and don't have a window cracked open, it can feel a bit stuffy after a few hours.

[Fred]

[Andrew]

Buy lots of house plants ?.

[nightjar]

:-)

If you have a prescription, the NHS appoint one of three contractors, who supply and maintain a static machine free of charge as well as refunding the cost of the electricity it uses. You also get a few portable cylinders that allow you to leave the house and a big reserve one, to keep you going until an engineer arrives if the machine breaks down.

If you go on holiday in the UK and give enough notice (three weeks IIRC) they will also arrange oxygen at your destination, subject to agreement with the property owner. It is more of a problem if you travel abroad, which is why I bought the portable concentrator I provided a link to.

[Jeff Layman]

Hopefully, it's any particulate matter deemed to be an environmental pollutant they should be concerned about. Maybe now that the wearing of masks has become common, the cutting of stones and bricks with discs without wearing a mask (or even goggles) will become a thing of the past.

[williamwright]

Yes you can hear it change over each time.

Bill