Profile picture for user Meianna
Tonya E. Recipient

Thunder and lighting storms...

Hey good evening have a question....whats the protocol for being on wall power when its thundering and lightning? I know we cant be plugged into a surge protector , we are suppose to be plugged directly into the wall ? Right? I can't  seem to find the answer. If anyone has the answer or suggestions  i would greatly appreciate. Every time its storming outside when its bed time,my nerves gets razzled,frazzled and fried thanks for all the help and answers.

 

 

Tonya

Profile picture for user B.r. Lee
Billy L.

Truthfully Tonya I never use my wall power supply but can tell you that you have nothing to worry about. The box between your wall plug and your connection plug is a surge protector in that it will trip off before allowing an overflow of power through. 

Profile picture for user Steven Hood
Steven H.

Not sure if there is a protocol. 
When storms like that I always  switched to battery’s. 
I just wasn’t going to risk it

Profile picture for user angiekenly
Angie K.

Hi Tonya, my husband is on his 3rd year as an LVAD patient.  I personally get nervous, too, but our LVAD system has a 30 minute internal battery back up.  The electricity went out during the night, and the internal battery worked.  We just switched him over to batteries until the electricity came back on.  Be sure and do the tests each day.  

Profile picture for user Cherrell Thomas
Cherrell T.

When we talked with our LVAD team we asked if we could use surge protectors! They thought that was a great idea. Our power goes out often here. 

Profile picture for user littledoll
Amy K.

It’s scary to say the least. We had an all house surg protector installed before he came home. He goes to bed as usual but have flash lights and batteries by the bedside Incase of power outage. 

Profile picture for user Stan_C
Stan C.

Don't know there is actually a protocol but have heard recommendations about staying on batteries at night during storms but I personally do not.  Should power go out for any length of time the wall unit will go off and no one can sleep through it.  I do sit up and give it a few minutes to make sure power does come back on.  However, I do recommend you get a battery powered camp lantern to keep by your bed just in case so you can see if you should need to go on batteries.

Profile picture for user Wildflower
Lisa J.

I use batteries.   Not fun waking up to the sound from the unit that power if off.   

Profile picture for user jm1963ga@att.net
Jerome M.

I have used both methods. The electric and my batteries if the storm is real bad. I do have a whole house generator on natural gas now. This would eliminate outages. Lightning strikes affecting the home are rare. Your confidence and comfort is most important and you should do what you feel comfortable and confident with doing.

Profile picture for user Meianna
Tonya E.

I would llike to thank everyone for thier input.  I really appreciate it. I know my daughter will definately appreciate  the input. Her and i both get real nervous during storms. So once again thank you.

Profile picture for user Cindy
Cindy R.

Hi Tonya,

Sorry I'm a little late, but I agree with Steve H.  When storms are in the area, it is not worth taking a chance, and I always switch to batteries.  We have no automatic generator, and it gets super dark with no power where we live.  It is so much harder, and stressful to switch to batteries in the dark with alarms blaring.

Best of luck!

 Cindy 

 

Profile picture for user Boulady
Pam J.

I am so surprised to see how many people use the wall outlet since my husband has never ever used wall power in the 3 years he’s had his LVAD.  Is this something that you all were instructed to do, or a personal decision?

Profile picture for user lin54

In reply to by Pam J.

Linda M.

We were told to never sleep at night with the battery 

Profile picture for user jm1963ga@att.net

In reply to by Linda M.

Jerome M.

Some times it is unavoidable. I feel it is needed on certain occasion. Hurricane Season  is one of those times when you may need to be mobile.

Profile picture for user Boulady
Pam J.

I am so surprised to see how many people use the wall outlet since my husband has never ever used wall power in the 3 years he’s had his LVAD.  Is this something that you all were instructed to do, or a personal decision?

Profile picture for user Cindy

In reply to by Pam J.

Cindy R.

Hello Pam J,

I have had my LVAD for 10 years, and the wall outlet was used to read the numbers of the older LVADs, and was the safe way to nap and sleep.  I accepted it as a safe and more comfortable way to sleep.  I did recently have some issues with the wall outlet cables, so I am curious as to why your husband does not consider it.  Please reply.

Sincerely,

Cindy J.

Profile picture for user Boulady

In reply to by Cindy R.

Pam J.

Hello snd I’m sorry for the delayed response. My husband feels the wall outlet and cable are more cumbersome and dangerous (especially when getting up during the night) than just staying on batteries. The possibility of tripping over the long cable outweighs the potential of losing power during an outage. He always has five other batteries ready in the charger should we lose power. His LVAD team has never insisted on one method or another and has left the decision of which option works best for him up to him. We were also advised not to bother with getting our own generator as the controllers and batteries are so reliable that the odds of needing a generator are minute. Should we ever need assistance to power up, we have a fire/rescue department not far away. My husband’s team at UVA is top notch and extremely well respected so we trust their expertise.  Best wishes!   
- Pam

Profile picture for user Cindy

In reply to by Pam J.

Cindy R.

Hello Pam,

Thank you for your response, and I thank Larry N for his clarification.  I am very clumsy and have tripped over the cord, but not very often.  I am glad you are happy with your VAD team in the beautiful state of Virginia.  I have a very awesome team at Inova Fairfax, and a great team makes a HUGE difference.  Best of luck to you and your family. :)

Cindy J.

 

Profile picture for user Meianna

In reply to by Pam J.

Tonya E.

HI Pam, 

Thanks for the information,  i understand what he is saying anout getting tangle up with the cord in the middle of the night, some how i have seem to make that part work and i too have all 8 of my  battiers in rotation with clips on already to go. 

Profile picture for user Deb218
Deborah C.

We live in Florida so thunderstorms and hurricanes are issues. several years ago our power was out for 2 days due to a hurricane. Our address was registered with the power company and they notified us before each storm. We were listed as one of the first to need power restored before others. I had a neighbor charge the batteries when the power did not come on soon enough as we could not get our generator to run. Check your neighbors with generators for an emergency. Our doctors were excellent in making sure the power company and the fire comppany knew thee was an L-Vad patient here.

Profile picture for user Larry in W-S
Larry N.

The "official" name for the AC/wall unit is the Mobile Power Unit. The HM 3 Patient Handbook page 78 states the MPU "Powers the system when you are sleeping or relaxing indoors." Page 79 has a Warning to "Always connect to the MPU when sleeping, or when there is a chance of sleep. The system alarms may not be heard when asleep, resulting in injury or death." From personal experience, I can attest that the low battery alarm from the controller is not particularly loud, and is easily mistaken for the numerous beeps and alerts from other electronic devices. NO ONE will miss the alarm from the MPU if you're connected to it when power goes off! Plus, I like having all eight batteries fully charged a few hours after I switch to the MPU at night. I keep one set  of batteries with clips installed and ready to go on the night stand next to the bed, along with a flashlight.There's no need to panic if power goes off while you're sleeping - other than being roused from a sound sleep by an incredibly loud noise. You are not going to sleep through it, and you will have plenty of time to connect the batteries - carefully, so you don't inadvertently bend a pin. I also notified the power company, and I get a text from them whenever they anticipate power may go off, and the local fire station to be sure that I can go there for a recharge if power is off long enough to use up all my charged batteries. 

Profile picture for user Meianna

In reply to by Larry N.

Tonya E.

Hi Larry, my main concern  was being electrocuted,  like if the house was hit by lightning,  is it going to travel thru the power cord and shock me, or explode? I read all the information  in the book it or i didnt see what part of information. 

Profile picture for user Larry in W-S

In reply to by Tonya E.

Larry N.

Hi Tonya, because several posts mention staying on batteries all night, I figured it was appropriate to refer to the people who designed the LVAD and wrote the book, as well as the direction I got from my LVAD Team. But you’re right, the book doesn’t mention anything specific regarding your original question. We’re probably getting into an area of low probabilities, as in what is the likelihood of a lightning strike following the power line through the MPU versus the batteries going dead and not hearing the low voltage alarm. Evidently the designers consider sleeping on batteries a high enough risk to warn against it in the Patient Manual. On the other hand, we’ve probably all heard of lightning destroying appliances through the power line. And it doesn’t have to be a direct hit. Bottom line is nothing is 100% safe. So it likely comes down to which option causes less stress. For me that’s following the direction to sleep connected to the MPU. But if I lived in an area with frequent severe storms or that was the forecast, I just might make sure I’m on a fresh set of batteries instead. And then a tornado hits my house - ah well, nothing’s 100%! Each of us needs to make the best decision we can to exercise good stewardship of the bonus time we’ve been granted through these LVADs. May you sleep peacefully, whichever option you choose.

Profile picture for user Larry in W-S

In reply to by Tonya E.

Larry N.

Hi Tonya, because several posts mention staying on batteries all night, I figured it was appropriate to refer to the people who designed the LVAD and wrote the book, as well as the direction I got from my LVAD Team. But you’re right, the book doesn’t mention anything specific regarding your original question. We’re probably getting into an area of low probabilities, as in what is the likelihood of a lightning strike following the power line through the MPU versus the batteries going dead and not hearing the low voltage alarm. Evidently the designers consider sleeping on batteries a high enough risk to warn against it in the Patient Manual. On the other hand, we’ve probably all heard of lightning destroying appliances through the power line. And it doesn’t have to be a direct hit. Bottom line is nothing is 100% safe. So it likely comes down to which option causes less stress. For me that’s following the direction to sleep connected to the MPU. But if I lived in an area with frequent severe storms or that was the forecast, I just might make sure I’m on a fresh set of batteries instead. And then a tornado hits my house - ah well, nothing’s 100%! Each of us needs to make the best decision we can to exercise good stewardship of the bonus time we’ve been granted through these LVADs. May you sleep peacefully, whichever option you choose.

Profile picture for user Larry in W-S

In reply to by Tonya E.

Larry N.

Hi Tonya, because several posts mention staying on batteries all night, I figured it was appropriate to refer to the people who designed the LVAD and wrote the book, as well as the direction I got from my LVAD Team. But you’re right, the book doesn’t mention anything specific regarding your original question. We’re probably getting into an area of low probabilities, as in what is the likelihood of a lightning strike following the power line through the MPU versus the batteries going dead and not hearing the low voltage alarm. Evidently the designers consider sleeping on batteries a high enough risk to warn against it in the Patient Manual. On the other hand, we’ve probably all heard of lightning destroying appliances through the power line. And it doesn’t have to be a direct hit. Bottom line is nothing is 100% safe. So it likely comes down to which option causes less stress. For me that’s following the direction to sleep connected to the MPU. But if I lived in an area with frequent severe storms or that was the forecast, I just might make sure I’m on a fresh set of batteries instead. And then a tornado hits my house - ah well, nothing’s 100%! Each of us needs to make the best decision we can to exercise good stewardship of the bonus time we’ve been granted through these LVADs. May you sleep peacefully, whichever option you choose.

Profile picture for user Deb218
Deborah C.

Living in FL we have thunderstorms almost daily not to mention hurricanes. My husband is always plugged directly into the wall when he's in bed regardless of the weather outside. We do have a whole house surge protector from the electric company. They install it directly behind your meter and you can check the light on it to make sure it's working.

Profile picture for user Susang
Barry and Susan (caregiver) S.

Keep batteries close .  You will feel better knowing you have many hours of time to use.  It will ease your mind.  Also there is a list of emergency cases for people who have special needs for electricity for life.  Get on the list for first restoring your electricity . 

Susan

Profile picture for user davric514
Eric D.

Hello all. My father in law recently came home with his LVAD. I know that the mobile power unit has a small battery backup for the event of power failures to give him the time to switch to his batteries. I was wondering if it is okay to plug the MPU into an uninterruptible power source. (UPS) They are basically a surge protector that have a fairly large battery to run whatever is plugged into it for a few minutes to an hour or two. The area we live in has a fairly high occurrence of power failures and I don’t really like the idea of relying on those AA batteries.

 

I know the manual says not to plug the unit into inverters and power strips but I wasn’t sure if something like this would fall into those categories.

Profile picture for user Jillrn05

In reply to by Eric D.

Jillian F.

Morning, 

I just wanted to clarify something for you. The batteries in the MPU are 3 double A batteries and ONLY power the alarms in the MPU they do not provide power to the pump in case of a power outage. The controller has a backup battery in it which provides 15 min of power running the pump at full speed. After the 15 min the pump will drop down to power saver mode and run at the low speed limit until you change power sources or the backup battery depletes fully and the pump will then shut off. This is why it is not recommended to sleep on batteries at night. If the alarms in the controller are not heard, when the batteries are running low, there is the potential for the pump to shut off once the backup battery power depletes. I cannot speak to the UPS question, just wanted to clarify the other statement. 

 

Jill

Profile picture for user Lgb0250
Larry B.

The manual and your team will tell you to never sleep on batteries. It’s more about CYA than it is about medical necessity. If the manual or your team were to tell you to sleep on batteries and you didn’t hear an alarm and ended up running out of juice you could theoretically die! Imagine the lawsuit that would bring? I myself am far more comfortable being on batteries than plugged into a cord that limits my range and creates a major tripping hazard. There is no way I would be plugged in during any type of electrical storm. I’ve had my HM3 for over 5yrs now and my batteries easily make it 15 hours before I need to change them out.