Urgently need your professional opinions.

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IrishRugger

Senior Member
Hello everyone and Happy Holidays.

I urgently need your help in this situation. I feel the opinions of the members of this forum are of great value in this situation. Please read this message it may be a little lengthy but I will try my best to give you as much info as I can while keeping to the point.

Here is the situation. My father in law this Fall, had to be put on Oxygen to assist him with his breathing. The oxygen is "ever-flowing" My in-laws live live in a two story structure that consists of an apartment on the 1st floor and an apartment on the second floor. Athough there are no renters on the second floor, there are adult family members that occupy that living space. Also the 2nd floor is used for overflow for guests, storage, ect.

Now the situation at hand. My wife's brothers & sisters are purchasing an EdenPURE electric heater as a gift from all of them, for my mother in law and father in law to help defray heating costs and to boost the temp in the house.

Two of the siblings have consulted the manufacturer about it's use in an oxygen rich enviornment. and have recieved conflicting reports from EdenPURE one rep says it's safe the other rep says manufacturer discourages it's use in the oxygen rich enviornment.

My wife and I never were involved with this gift at all. We have a gift we plan to give her parent's on our own.

Now a couple of the siblings say that my in-laws house is cold, both apartments have separate propane 90% efficient furnaces with a forced air system I'm not a HVAC guy but I never thought it was noticably cold in either apt.

The involved siblings' consensus based on "Who Knows What" is that the EdenPURE can be used in the upstairs apartment where there is " no oxygen" remeber I said the oxygen is "ever flowing".

Eventhough my wife and I are not invloved in this purchase of this gift I feel this scenario has elements to create a dangerous situation. I need yor help with your opinions and how I can communicate my concerns with effective language so.

Because my wife and I have foregone involment in this gift I do not know the electrical requirenets for this product. But from what I have heard it plugs into a 120V receptacle.

Thank You

Irish Rugger
 
P

prh1700

Member
Location
edgewater, md
I am not sure what everflowing means. And the heater, do you know if it is a type that is oil filled, or open heat strips? Can you get the operating manual? I would think it would list the cautions and warnings.
 
S

sfav8r

Senior Member
Location
San Francisco Bay Area
I have limited experience with these. I have not seen anything that would cause me to worry about its use near oxygen. Keep in mind, the oxygen machine is not flooding the room with oxygen. I doubt you would see an increase in the oxygen level in the room environment. IF the oxygen machines were that subject to fire, I would think they would not be practical for consumer use.

The eden pure as I understand it is a ceramic heater that is safe for pets, kids etc. It does not have an open flame and is, I believe, solid state with no spark of any kind. I personally would not be afraid to use it in the same room as the oxygen machine...just my 2 cents.
 
BryanMD

BryanMD

Senior Member
Location
Maryland "the land of pleasant living"
You're trying to make an objective assessment and using subjective (even anecdotal) data to do it with. It won't work that way.

A properly operating furnace that is sized reasonably close to the loss calcs should do a fine job of keeping the space comfortable absent other issues (like insulation, drafts, and excessive door opening/closing) creating addittional losses... Where does your house fit in that?

Have an IR camera? Know a good HVAC guy? Will the POCO do a heat loss survey?
Get good objective info (data) and then make see what is really going on. I'd start with a few $2 thermometers set at different areas in the house.

Good luck.
 
Rockyd

Rockyd

Senior Member
Location
Nevada
Occupation
Retired after 40 years as an electrician.
Just because they are on oxygen doesn't necessarily mean a richer air in the house. There are some things you can do for all involved (I have a sister on Oxygen).

At home, my sister has an Oxygen concentrator. The machine is capable of flows up to 5+ liters per minute. Sure she disdains the hose, but it beats the alternative.

May want to consider a concentrator, and have enough bottles for winter storm outages, and, or a self contained generator to carry over too.

Never heard of anything in the ever flowing, having enough enrichment to help someone who actually neds Oxygen. If they are over two LPM it's probably going to be O2. Just a comnsideration. Sister has COPD, so have some limited experience in looking at the field.
 
qcroanoke

qcroanoke

Sometimes I don't know if I'm the boxer or the bag
Location
Roanoke, VA.
Occupation
Sorta retired........
sfav8r said:
I have limited experience with these. I have not seen anything that would cause me to worry about its use near oxygen. Keep in mind, the oxygen machine is not flooding the room with oxygen. I doubt you would see an increase in the oxygen level in the room environment. IF the oxygen machines were that subject to fire, I would think they would not be practical for consumer use.

The eden pure as I understand it is a ceramic heater that is safe for pets, kids etc. It does not have an open flame and is, I believe, solid state with no spark of any kind. I personally would not be afraid to use it in the same room as the oxygen machine...just my 2 cents.
Click to expand...

I would be more concerned with using the oxygen around the propane furnace than I would a ceramic heater.
I also agree that if the machines were subject to fire or explosions they certainly wouldn't be practical for consumer use.
 
LarryFine

LarryFine

Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
Location
Henrico County, VA
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
Remember, guys, oxygen supports combustion, but it's not an explosive, so you don't have to extinguish your pilot lights.
 
480sparky

480sparky

Senior Member
Location
Iowegia
Contact the outfit that supplies the oxygen system and tell them your concerns. They will probably have a better answer.
 
I

ITO

Senior Member
Location
Texas
What if anything does this have to do with Electrical Contracting and Estimating/Management, and why would you be asking a bunch of electricians for advice on this?
 
I

IrishRugger

Senior Member
ITO said:
What if anything does this have to do with Electrical Contracting and Estimating/Management, and why would you be asking a bunch of electricians for advice on this?
Click to expand...

Because:

1) I value the input and opinions of the members of this forum.

2) I have not heard of the product (EdenPURE) untill this morning and I thought perhaps some one on this forum could help familiarize me. Through their own experiences.

3) The product is apparently a consumer of electricity and I thought I would roll the dice and pose my question here.

I would like to thank everyone for their responses so far they have been helpful. If I have gone beyond the parameters of posting a thread in this forum I apologize.

If there are more responses I await them eagerly!
 
ceb58

ceb58

Senior Member
Location
Raeford, NC
From doing a quick search for this product they are infrared heaters sold by infomercials. One of the spokes persons mentioned was Paul Harvey.
The reviews were mixed saying that they heated good but had problems in as little as a year. Also the eff. rating was related to keeping the filter clean. I cannot see a problem with the situation you described since there is no open flame.
I purchased a small elect. heater from big blue for around $50.00 to help lower gas consumption. That little thing will make you sweat in a 600sqft living room.
 
T

topgone

Senior Member
Now a couple of the siblings say that my in-laws house is cold, both apartments have separate propane 90% efficient furnaces with a forced air system I'm not a HVAC guy but I never thought it was noticably cold in either apt.
Click to expand...
I guess this info tells me that air is forced to circulate inside the room and the danger of having a dangerous concentration of O2 in any pocket of the room is nil.
One more thing, O2 is heavier than air (O2 mol. wt =32 vs Air mol. wt. = 28.98), the floor area is where O2 will drop, without a fan to circulate the air inside, the floor area gets too concentrated with O2 gas.
My 2?.
 
L

Legrand

Member
Location
New Mexico
It's just an element in that heater, 1500w heater, for a couple hundred bucks, (not worth it in my opinion) and if your really worried about safety you should read some of the reviews posted all over the web, I would'nt feel very safe with one in my house.
 
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