For those who are doing nocturnal txs have you had any power failures and if so how do you handle it? I bought a UPS which backs me up for 2 hours if the power goes out. We previously had frequent power failures in our area, but amazingly, a new company took over and I have not had a single power failure since being on SDD! What are the alternatives if the power goes out on a nocturnal tx?
Although I don’t do nocturnal, I too have a Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) for my Cycler and PureFlow. The other alternative is to have a gas generator in addition to the UPS, which obviously would be a bit bulky, but would do the trick. The generator would actually let you get through a greater length of time. Mostr UPS’s which are of the XL variety (Extended Length) also allow you to piggyback additional battery packs (not necessarily cheap) to give you more time on the UPS. That’s what many businesses use.
Rich Berkowitz
NxStage 2/06
In-center 3/03
Hi there are no real answers for this. the same can happen doing sdd. just watch the weather and make your own call
bob
We get the odd unpredictable weather event and a couple of times I have just panicked and ended up throwing the blood lines (with my blood still in them )away! Usually I don’t even bother trying to ring the power company as they can’t tell me when the power will come back on so I just wind back clock and UF and come off within the half hour. The beauty of Nocturnal is it doesn’t matter so much fluid wise if you miss a night and you can always catch up with a short run the next morning anyway.
Cheers
For those who have UPS devices—can you tell us what the amp/hour rating of your device is? Do you mind telling us how much you spent for the UPS?
My UPS cost about $200. It only provides about 2 hrs of back-up. It would serve the purpose of helping me possibly complete a short tx or allow me to return and get off.To get a more powerful model the price jumps up quite a bit. If you go into search on this site and type in UPS, power outages or generator you will find other threads that mention the specifications for the machine for a power source.
We have a gas powered backup generator. Electric goes off and in 1 min and 15 seconds the generator starts and the whole house is powered as if nothing was wrong. I think it is wise to have your machine plugged into a surge protector for both hi and low voltage.
I spent ~$100. It is a higher amp rating than most; the NxStage book gives the requirement. I will be glad to look it up and let you know.
Charles
Can you tell us the amp hour rating of your UPS?
In 2006, I posted a response to a similar question based on information that I got from NxStage for daily dialysis. You can find that post at:
http://forums.homedialysis.org/showthread.php?t=127&page=3
In dialysis clinics when there is a power outage and the electricity isn’t expected to come back on fairly quickly, staff hand crank the machine to return patients’ blood. They take patients off dialysis for the day. Since those using the NxStage System One do dialysis 5-7 times a week, ask your nurse, but it seems like you should be OK if you dialyze the next day. Talk with your dietitian about what diet and fluid limit you should follow.
I’d suggest that anyone using a machine for home dialysis should contact utility companies (for HHD, water and electricity) to let them know you have an essential medical device to do treatment in your home. Ask to be on a priority list to get your utilities turned back on as quickly as possible.