The RV lifestyle is for everyone, even if you have a health condition that requires supplemental oxygen. Here’s what you need to know about RVing with oxygen therapy equipment.
What If You Need Supplemental Oxygen?
Even people who must carry oxygen can go RVing. Image: Pixabay.com @alfcermed
Many people of all ages need supplemental oxygen therapy. Often it’s because of health issues like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), pneumonia and asthma. These conditions force the body to work harder to take in oxygen obtained from ordinary breathing.
When someone is prescribed supplemental oxygen, their quality of life gets better. Sometimes the need for extra oxygen is a temporary thing, sometimes it must be used forever. However long one relies on it, the payoff is getting to enjoy a relatively normal life.
But can you go RVing with oxygen? And what’s the best way to carry the equipment on the road? Is it dangerous to carry oxygen in the RV? I wanted to find out for a friend of mine, and here’s what I discovered.
Tips for RVing with Oxygen Therapy
Yes, you can enjoy a full RVing life when you need oxygen therapy!
I’ve been on 02 for four years now and using bottles in a backpack, portable Phillips Respronic machine, and a 110v concentrator that goes to 5 lpm. The past 3 years we have camped in a 17 ft TT but have moved up to a 35 ft class A with a toad. We have spent winters and up to 7 months traveling with my 24 hour need for supplemental 02. — iRV2 Member Lihue
But the question is, how do you carry oxygen in an RV? For starters, it’s not like the old days. Forget relying solely on bulky oxygen bottles. RVers who need oxygen therapy will tell you that for everyday use, portable oxygen concentrators are the way to go. These units basically turn air into oxygen.
Portable oxygen concentrators have two settings for receiving oxygen: pulse dose and continuous flow. The pulse dose mode is usually used for daytime use, as it delivers air via the cannula when you inhale. Concentrators with pulse dose technology also are more compact in design and offer a longer battery life.
The continuous flow mode delivers a constant air flow via the tubes. For people who need oxygen while they sleep, this mode is the best option. — the OxygenConcentratorStore.com
Portable oxygen concentrators are lighter than a traditional house unit, and can even be plugged into your RV or tow vehicle’s 12-volt outlet.
Oxygen concentrators are so safe, you can even take them on airplanes. Here’s a video that describes how oxygen concentrators work:
RVers provide real world portable oxygen tips:
Do a search in the iRV2 Forums for “oxygen” and you’ll find tons of expertise from people who go RVing with oxygen. Here’s a snapshot of the best advice given to users:
- Look for a unit that provides both pulse and continuous oxygen flow.
- Before buying a unit, check to see if your oxygen concentrator requires a true sine wave inverter for operation. If so, you’ll probably need to upgrade your existing RV inverter.
- Know your RV power needs before committing to a concentrator unit. That’s because your RV batteries might need upgrading, depending on the unit you want to buy. Here’s a great discussion about boondocking with oxygen.
- You should also have a good generator as a backup power supply, especially if you expect to do a lot of dry camping.
- Get a backup oxygen source. If the concentrator fails, you’ll want to make sure you have enough oxygen to tie you over until the concentrator is replaced. This is when bottles can come in handy.
As you can see, RVing with oxygen requires a bit of research and up-front costs. But ask any RVer who uses oxygen and they’ll tell you that it’s worth the effort.
My DW uses oxygen. We carry a light duty concentrator that she plugs in at night and runs the hose to the bedroom. We also carry several “B” cylinders that she uses when out and about. We have traveled this way for 15 years with no problems whatsoever. — iRV2 member boondocking with oxygen
Do you have experience RVing with oxygen? If so, tell us more in the comments section below. We want to know more.
Rene Agredano and her husband, Jim Nelson, became full-time RVers in 2007 and have been touring the country ever since. In her blog, Rene chronicles the ins and outs of the full-timing life and brings readers along to meet the fascinating people and amazing places they visit on the road. Her road trip adventures are chronicled in her blog at LiveWorkDream.com.
Good day: My wife is on o2 at nite as she has emphysema. We bought an OxyLife by 02 Concepts, concentraitor. It has 1-6 levels of pulse flow and 1-3 continuous. It is a wheeled unit weighing, with batteries, about 24lbs. It has two lithium-Ion batteries which will last about 2.5 hours on continuous. It is also FAA approved to 13,000’+ altitude (Planes are pressurized to about 10,000′. Airlines will require an FAA approved unit and flight time plus 1 hour of battery life). The batteries cost about $270.00 each. The unit runs on 110v, or 12v with a cigarette liter plug-in or internal batteries.
We have used in our Rv – a Winnebago Vectra Class A 34′ – (for 5-6 yrs. now) on 110v keeping our 4 charged batteries for back-up. It is also necessary to have the unit battery charger and monitor their condition which is easy as they have status lites on the battery face. The OxyLife unit is too heavy to carry around but it is easy to wheel about – and so far it is only needed at nite anyway. It does make an elevated sound, especially with the quiet of nite, so we put it in the bathtub/ shower and close the the bathroom/bedroom door – running the plastic tube under the sliding door. (We also have a separate swinging door to the bathroom). The sound level isn’t objectionable with this arrangement.
The total cost of this unit was about $2,800.00 plus 3 extra batteries for a 5 hr. flight to Alaska for our 50th anniversary 3 yrs. ago. It also has a folding extended handle for transport vs storage.
We bought this unit because, at the time, the small portables did not have continuous flow. Now the “Inogen”, (and probably others) does at about 3 to 5 lbs with a battery. We carry 3 small portable o2 bottles as a backup if needed and for taking an extended walk..- but this is difficult due to their bulk and weight. I keep the bottles in the aft closet strapped to the back wall.
Be safe, be healthy and Happy trails (and free breathing………).
This is so helpful, thank you for sharing and happy (free breathing) travels to you too!
My honey uses occasional O2 therapy for heart failure. He especially uses it when we are in the mountains. Lake Tahoe being one of our most favorite places. We have a Imogen 3. The small battery will last 2-5 hours depending on the flow liters. This year we purchased the large battery which has twice the time. The Imogen plugs in both to the cigarette lighter and the 110 wall plug when we have electricity. We also do home hemodialysis on the road! Suellen
Jeffrey thank you for sharing your wife’s oxygen story, it’s much appreciated. Keep on traveling!
My mom is on 2L oxygen 24/7 and she has been traveling extensively with me.
She has 2 Inogen portable units and many spare batteries; these are FAA approved and what she used on a recent 3 week trip to Scotland.
For the motor home, I put in a pure sine wave inverter and lithium-iron batteries, and she uses a home-style concentrator running on 120v AC power that we keep strapped to the back leg of the dining table.
This concentrator uses a fair amount of power, so if we are boondocking and don’t want to run the generator, she switches to one of the battery-powered Inogens for overnight.
The equipment is expensive, no doubt, but we were able to purchase one of the Inogens and a dozen batteries for $1000 on Craigslist, and the concentrator for the motorhome was bought used for $450 from a medical equipment company: a substantial savings.
Thank you Allison, your oxygen tips are terrific and your mom is one awesome lady. Happy travels!
This was a great article. I have been on oxygen for 7 years now and traveling with it for 4 full years now. I don’t need it to just sit but I do need it to walk except inside the trailer. I like continuous flow because I can walk better and longer with that. I do need continuous flow if I am lying flat or to sleep. For now here is what I do. For my at home concentrator I rent the kind that refills the small fat bottles. It is paid for by my insurance. I put them in a backpack so I can walk all I want. I can’t fill the big bottles with it but I get anywhere from 5 to 7 of the big bottles from my oxygen company before we leave on a trip for overnights without electric. We mostly use shore power once we get where we are going. We store the big bottles underneath the trailer and have never had a problem. If it’s a long trip I bring my rental consentrator that refills the small bottles and leave it in the van. We have an extended size diesel service van that carries my wheelchair (in case I need it for long distance that I just can’t walk that far like going around a zoo or something) our 4 dogs and my large concentrator. The van has the cage door behind the two front seats to prevent the dogs from bothering us when we drive. I purchased my own regular Resperonics Everflow concentrator from 1st Class Medical for $600.00 quite a few years ago since it is smaller than the huge one that fills the bottles so it’s easier to transport and travel with and I leave it in our travel trailer all the time. Either under our dinette set or in the bathtub so it’s out of the way. Then when we get to shore power I can plug it in. We have tested my Resperonics and we know that it will work for 8 hours plugged into an inverter with 4 batteries which we will recharge with solar once we go on 2 to 3 month trips next year when my boyfriend retires. This works for us now. I have not been successful for my insurance to pay for the small battery pack ones and they are over $2,000.00. I like the capabilites of the portable Resperonics one and that would be my choice if I ever get one but I will keep trying to get one since if the battery is DC I can plug it in directly to the trailer batteries to keep it charged. One thing you need to consider is high altitudes. I made the mistake of taking a small bottle on our day trip of 8 hours to ride the Durango – Silverton RR in Colorodo. I did not count on the fact that I would need oxygen sitting on the train. Because of the altitude I did and needed a lot. I didn’t have enough. I did very poorly and my BF and son wanted to take me straight to the hospital when we got back down to Durango. I refused to go but I needed to stay on the oxygen 24/7 at higher liters than usual for several days until we were out of Colorado. My lungs really hurt and I pretty much slept for two whole days even though we were no longer at a really high altitude. While in the van I used my big bottles. Always have big bottles with you just in case. Wish I had one on the train. Now I check altitudes of every campground in the mountains so I can go prepared. It’s only the high ones that I have to be careful to have enough oxygen. I will need to see if the inverter we have is a true sine inverter because maybe that would work better when we boondock. Good luck to all who find out they need oxygen and don’t be afraid to travel. Where there is a will there is always a way. I will continue to travel and use my oxygen and walk as much as my legs will let me. I do have to rest often but I have a very patient boyfriend. I hope this helps you.
Thank you for sharing all that great information Norma, it’s so helpful. Keep on traveling, you’re an inspiration!
My DW also needs O2 at night and a continuous flow. previously we used a unit that required 3.4 amps, when boondocking my 4 100 Ah batteries would only last 8 hrs. before our trip to Alaska last summer I researched extensively and found the LoveGo continuous flow that uses .9 Amps. She could go about 10 hours on 2 batteries. Made our trip much easier. It worked great, used it every night for 69 days.