john47 Posted March 19, 2009 Share Posted March 19, 2009 my wife needs oxygen for a medical condition .i would like to know if its o.k to use oxygen in amotorhome.we will be static once on site .i have had different answers .begrateful if anyone as used oxygen while camping thanks john47 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howie Posted March 19, 2009 Share Posted March 19, 2009 Hi John. 'INTERMEDICAL' do a range of portable oxygen supplies especially for motorhomes and caravans. Tel. 0800 028 2194 or portableoxygen.co.uk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donna miller Posted March 20, 2009 Share Posted March 20, 2009 Be sure to display a green compressed gas sticker on the vehicle. This is a legal requirement so that (god forbid) in the event of an accident, the emergency crews know about a possible additional explosive danger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randonneur Posted March 20, 2009 Share Posted March 20, 2009 We regularly meet an English couple at an Aire in France and he has to have Oxygen during the night and doesn't appear to have any problems with it as long as he has an EHU every couple of days. He also has a small disability scooter that travels in the motorhome en-route. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keithl Posted March 20, 2009 Share Posted March 20, 2009 I don't think you are allowed to use oxygen anywhere where there is a naked flame. This is due to an increase of the concentration of oxygen in the air and a risk of explosion - very serious! My late MiL was severely told off for smoking whilst using oxygen for this very reason. It might be worth checking up on further. Keith. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Posted March 20, 2009 Share Posted March 20, 2009 Hi John, my wife also uses Oxygen at irregular intervals so a portable cylinder lasts for several weeks. She has to have it with her, and as Donna points out you should have a vehicle warning sticker - it may be that the supplier can give you one. I have also read the suggestion that you should inform your insurance company that you are travelling with Oxygen. Apart from these points it is obvious that the cylinder needs to be stored as safely as possible from the point of view of a loose heavy object in your vehicle. If you were going abroad and need refills it would be sensible to find a supplier before you go. A friend of ours phoned a French Hotel to ask about Oxygen supplies and was told that all the windows in the hotel could be opened! ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donna miller Posted March 21, 2009 Share Posted March 21, 2009 John, You can get the warning stickers from Diving shops, welding supplies, I've even seen them in those shops that do helium filled balloons. Hope that helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DESCO Posted March 21, 2009 Share Posted March 21, 2009 Don't know if this would be of any help saw it Camping & Caravanning mag. http://www.air-4-u.co.uk Saw this link for medical oxygen equipment. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BGD Posted March 22, 2009 Share Posted March 22, 2009 A thought - If I recall rightly from Biology lessons, most of the oxygen contained in air ( is it about 37%?) that a person breathes in gets breathed out again (ie the lungs only absorb a small proportion of the theoretically available oxygen in that air). If someone was brething pure oxygen from a bottle in an enclosed space like an MH, then it seems very likely that in time the percentage of oxygen in the air inside the MH would rise. Experts will know the level at which such an increasingly oxygen-rich atmoshere becomes explosive, but there's definitely a point at which it spectacularly does. Add gas cooking/gas heating or any other naked flame or spark inside the enclosed MH to the mix, and I suspect that things could get very dodgy. Maybe worth checking out. You may well need also to consult your insurance company too...I'll bet there's something in their terms about what prospectively explosive substances you can and cannot carry, and how you should/must carry them and associated precautions under your policy with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john47 Posted March 24, 2009 Author Share Posted March 24, 2009 thanks donna will get one .would ate to be fined for not having a£1 ? sticker on cheers p.s.like the photo john Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davenewellhome Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 Oxygen content of air at sea level is approx 21% by volume. Oxygen supports combustion but is not actually flammable in itself. Given a high enough concentration of oxygen in the air almost anything will burn, I've seen a demonstration where a steel table was set alight with an ordinary butane blowtorch in a sealed room with just over 50% oxygen content. If oxygen has to be used make sure there are no sources of ignition available at the same time. D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brownsat259 Posted July 10, 2009 Share Posted July 10, 2009 I hope this reply is in time to be useful to you. I have been on oxygen for over a year now, and have had no problems when away in our motorhome. (I didn't know about needing a sticker for the van, but will get one now.) I use an airsep portable concentrator rather than cylinders, although we carry a cylinder on board as back up. My concentrator can be recharged via electrics or the 12 volt in car or camper. At first this meant we could continue to wild camp where possible, but now I also need extra overnight ventilation which requires electrics, so are restricted to campsites with hook-ups. We are currently looking into whether solar panels would allow us to dispense with hook-ups for a few nights at a time. We haven't yet resumed our continental touring, (frightened to ask what my personal insurance would be!) but are hoping to start again either this autumn or next winter. Best of luck Jan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted July 10, 2009 Share Posted July 10, 2009 If you are using more power overnight then maybe a fuel cell rather than solar? which is best would depend how much power you need to store. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
breakaleg Posted July 10, 2009 Share Posted July 10, 2009 We stopped on a cl once and a lady in a caravan was using oxygen, they had warning signs all around the van telling you not to smoke. would have thought that a barbeque, nearby would have been more of a hazard ? Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliveH Posted July 11, 2009 Share Posted July 11, 2009 A friend uses one of these as she has truly blinding migraine and increased O2 makes it go away http://www.portableoxygen.co.uk/?gclid=CKK7v-yOzZsCFc0B4wodJgnKJA She says it works well and she is a keen caravanner and takes it with her. As for the %'age of O2 in the atmosphere it is 21% as Dave says. If you want a bit of fun on a wet weekend you can check this out for yourself by lighting a small night light candle and placing it, floating in a large tray of water. If you then place a straight sided glass over the top of the candle as the oxygen in the glass is consumed the water will rise up the side in the upside-down glass. When the candle goes out all the O2 in the glass will be used up and you will see that about 20% of the glasses volume is now water. But if you do try this at home remember that hot glass and cold water is not good idea so do take care and read all the health and safety manuals before starting. A good motorcycle crash helmet and goggles together with gloves and protective clothing is no doubt required. May be a good idea to build a wall out of sandbags as well. All of these things are to hand with us because we regularly have BBQ's with our friend who uses the O2 machine and so all these precautions are second nature to us. 8-) 8-) (lol) (lol) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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