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Medical Forum / Diseases and Disorders / Asthma / July 2005HEPA filters for overseas use
I live the US and will be in the UK and in Israel over the next few months. Generally speaking I travel with a large HEPA filter taking up most of my suitcase - will such a thing work with a power converter suitable for overseas use or should I look into obtaining one where I'll be? Thanks in advance. -S- http://www.kbnj.com G'day Steve, It would be best if you contacted the expected areas of travel and determine what the voltage and frequency is at those places. 230 volts 50 hz is probably most common but if your machine is 110 volt 60 hz you may have problems. There are usually city authorities on the net that are very helpful. I would be more worried about the aircraft cabin air. Remember that portable emergency oxygen bottles are available on board and that is free if it is an emergency circumstance. If you know you require an oxygen supply you usually have to supply your own or have one supplied and charged to you. If you need a ventolin machine there are suitable outlets available in the cabin for certain machines, this has to be prearranged with the airline before travel. Have a good trip, Merlin. Cheers, Merlin. > G'day Steve, It would be best if you contacted the expected areas of > travel and determine what the voltage and frequency is at those [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > prearranged with the airline before travel. > Have a good trip, Merlin. Merlin, my asthma is mild and almost completely related to my allergies. If I spend 8-12 hours per day in HEPA-filtered air, I feel just fine. I just want to know if a power converter, which will work for many things, will work for my American HEPA filter - people have told me that things with motors in them sometimes don't work through voltage converters. -S- http://www.kbnj.com G'day Steve, what is the voltage and frequency of your machine? Do you know what kind of motors it has, are they synchronous or brush type AC/DC? Have you tried emailing the manufacturer for info? When you describe a converter, are you suggesting a transformer or some other kind of device. If so the weight may become an expense consideration with your allowance. In most places these things can be hired from chemist or medical hire places. By the way whenever I stay in hotels or whatever the first thing I do is "sniff" the room and dump anything with scents outside the door, this includes linen or what ever, it there is some scented article that can't be removed from the room I move to another or another hotel. Normally I stipulate specifically, prior to travel with the accomodation provider. I think you might be best to wing it. This is one of those occasions where Buteyko knowledge is incredibly useful. By the way if your problem is as you suggest, it should be relatively easy to overcome it. Cheers, Merlin. > G'day Steve, what is the voltage and frequency of your machine? They're American - 110 volts, 60 Hz. > Do you know what kind of motors it has, are they synchronous or brush > type AC/DC? No, that's why I was asking here. -S- > Have you tried emailing the manufacturer for info? > When you describe a converter, are you suggesting a transformer or [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > easy to overcome it. > Cheers, Merlin. Yes Steve. I used to travel all over the world with a 110 volt nebulizer compressor. I used a 220 - 240v converter (transformer) The UK and Australia use 240. Europe and almost everyone else uses 220. Be sure your converter does more than 50 watts. What does a HEPA use? Maybe a hundred or two hundred watts. Still not a lot. In each country you may have to find different plugs. I remember Italy was different from the rest of western Europe. The hotel people should know about that. The other thing. In some third world countries, for example India and Uruguay, the voltage was weaker than what it was supposed to be. Wouldn' drive my nebulizer. Good idea to bring your HEPA. Bon voyage---Jack PS That 240 sure brings the tea water to a boil in a hurry. > Yes Steve. > [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > Uruguay, the voltage was weaker than what it was supposed to be. > Wouldn' drive my nebulizer. Thanks - that's what I needed to hear. I'd still like to hear about specific experience with HEPA air filters because I think the fan motor is something fundamentally different, electrically speaking, from what's in most nebulizers, although I'm not sure about that.. I generally use one that's good for an entire small apartement, hotel room, etc., usually something rated for 600 square feet or so. > Good idea to bring your HEPA. Bon voyage---Jack It's worked out very well for me in the past. Since I'm checking a suitcase, anyway, I figure, why not? The only downside I've noticed is that it causes my suitcase to get opened for inspection almost every time at the airports in metro NYC. -S- > PS That 240 sure brings the tea water to a boil in a hurry. G'Day chaps, yes that is the problem Steve, nebulisers I have inspected operated off a DC kind of motor, so power entered the machine as AC and was rectified for operation as DC. This meant that the machine could quite easily be adapted to run off virtually any power source. It is most likely that your HEPA machine has a synchronous type AC motor and being a 60 HZ design is most likely to overheat on 50HZ. The voltage of course can simply be accomodated with a stepdown transformer from 240 or whatever but the frequency cannot. If higher frequency synchronous motor devices are used on lower frequency supplies the problem becomes that the amount of metal or the laminations amount in the device is insufficient to maintain speed or design parameters and commonly will lead to winding overheating and damage. (fusion type) Cheers, Merlin. HEPA has a fan, the height of simplicity: sucks the air through the filters. Everyone everywhere alternating current. Maybe s om e w h e r e.... Everywhere sixty or fifty cycles. Would make a difference with your tape recorder speed. But not a fan. G'day Jack, from my knowledge most tape recorder motors are now DC, so would be less likely affected by supply frequency variations.. In the case of fans or any device using a synchronous motor, as you would be aware the construction is a rotating magnetic field with the armature trying to maintain appropriate motion. In the case of a sixty cycle device not only is the motion incorrect but the amount of metal in the motor is also wrong so that losses are increased. The blades will not achieve sufficient motive speed to maintain proper effect which translates into greater energy demand thus increasing the loading on the actual motor apart from the already lost ability from frequency construction considerations. I don't wish to contradict your opinion but if it were me I would forget the idea. Cheers, Merlin. I hear you Merlin. You could be right about the cycles, especially considering one might be running the fan for many hours. But who does 50cycles? Do you in Australia? I've seen 50 cycles only in Serbia, Croatia and Austria and that was years ago. (Sure enough our tape playback ran slow.) Notice that some appliances will say 50-60 cycles on 'em.--Jack >I hear you Merlin. You could be right about the cycles, especially >considering one might be running the fan for many hours. [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > >Notice that some appliances will say 50-60 cycles on 'em.--Jack users.pandora.be/worldstandards/electricity.htm has some info. Tom Debski |
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