Affordable Uninterruptable Power Supply For At Home Dialysis

Discussions for Patients, Family, and Friends
1

UPDATE: Reply from TrippLite suggested the following equipment. Total package very expensive so went with my sons suggestion to just have time to start the generator. Realized dwell time does not require machine, just when draining or filling so picked up the UPS on ebay for about $170 and figure good for about 15 minutes. Not many power outages here, usually, so should be good. Probably will shop around for one battery unit to extend time to about an hour or more. Thanks All.

Qty (1) SMART1200XLHG assets.tripplite.com/product-pdfs/en/smart1200xlhg.pdf
Qty (6) BP36V27-2US assets.tripplite.com/product-pdfs/en/bp36v272us.pdf
Qty (2) 2-9USTAND assets.tripplite.com/product-pdfs/en/29ustand.pdf

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Starting PD at home. First thought is how to keep machine running long enough (8-10 hours) to complete current dialysis during a power failure instead of having to stop at some point in the middle. I could use the same system I have for my sump pump which is a tripp-lite APS700HF inverter/charger which connects to marine or car batteries, keeps them charged and switches automatically between power and battery as needed. Its affordable compared to medical grade UPS. User manual for PD machine says to use medical grade but that costs thousands due to special battery requirement and batteries would be very expensive to replace every 3-5 years.

Not sure what the medical grade requirement is all about. Does a standard UPS expose patient to something or is there a possibility of some interaction with the pd machine itself? The owner manual for the APS700HF has a warning about connecting to medical equipment but the owner manual for the medical grade UPS has the exact same warning so that’s not really an issue.

Owner manual does say do not put directly near magnetic storage media as this may result in data corruption. I would keep UPS setup as far away from patient and machine as possible and maybe some kind of shielding would be good?

Anyone see any real issue with the system I am thinking of using? Anyone have an affordable backup they are using?

Thanks all.

2

When I worked in dialysis, the home training nurse taught people to do manual PD exchanges if there was a problem with power or for traveling without a machine. Would that be a less costly option?

I’d suggest you contact the PD machine manufacturer to ask for advice about what would be required to run your cycler when your power is off. You can also use the search field to search for “uninterruptable power supply” where you will find some responses to previously asked questions.

Finally, there is a Life@Home article on emergency preparedness for home HD and PD here:

3

CyberPower CP1000PFCLCD PFC Sinewave UPS System, 1000VA/600W, 10 Outlets, AVR, Mini-Tower
$129. on Amazon.

4

I’m not familiar with what the electrical requirements are for home HD machines, but see that this UPS is 1000VA/600W. Would this be sufficient to run a dialysis machine and for how long?

5

Thanks for the info. The manual for the machine said UPS is okay and had to be medical grade. I contacted Tripp-Lite and they sent recommendation. The control unit with about 20 minutes backup time is Tripp Lite UPS: 1000VA 120V SMART1200XLHG. I added a battery unit to extends time to about 70 minutes which gives me plenty of time to get the generator started if that becomes necessary. Have had a few short outages and everything worked well. I shopped around and found the main unit and battery pack for about $150 each which made it affordable. Otherwise new price is $700 and up just for the control unit.