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!
Thanks for sharing your Strength and Spirit with using Oxygen when RV ing
I’ve been on oxygen for 2yrs now. I just recently purchased the Inogen one G4. It works great off 12v or 110. I still carry 3 D bottles for backup. I can drive for hours with the battery charging and have plenty battery left for setup. Now we can spend more time seeing this beautiful country without having to be home for bottle refills.
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.
Can you tell me which LoveGo model you have?
This was a nice article and some of the comments were very helpful. My situation is with the bottles of 02 and VA paying for 02 tanks and concentrator and if anyone has had any experience with VA on this issue.
I do have an Inogen G3 which I bought on my own with two extra batteries and I use that off and on, but I also have the bottles which a VA supplier provides when I call for new bottles. So how would that work? Does anyone have experience with that?
We are going full time this spring and this is one of our main concerns as I need 02 24/7, pulse and continuous flow. We have yet to hear back from VA on 02 supplying bottles on the road, so I would like to hear from anyone utilizing the VA system for 02.
Thanks much, Great Article.
I need O2 for relief from cluster headaches. I also use O2 for 2 lpm connected to my CPAP while sleeping to help prevent cluster headaches while sleeping. The 2 lpm is easy to address. I just take the O2 concentrator I use at home since it is only needed at night or naps. The O2 required for cluster headaches presents a huge challenge. It needs to provide 10-15 lpm until relief is experienced. I traveled for 2 months over the winter and was surprised to learn you cannot get oxygen tanks refilled. Vendors will only service their own equipment due to liability issues. I brought along 6 E tanks and one M tank for the trip. All of this was supplied by the VA. The VA told me if I needed more they would work with a local vendor to get additional tanks to me. My problem was I was nomadic, traveling from south Fl through Texas and not staying any one place longer than a week and usually for 2-3 days. Fortunately I did not require additional oxygen beyond what I packed. If so, I would have had to adjust my plans to staying in one place for a longer duration so a local vendor could supply on site. You cannot take the vendors’ tanks with you unless you pay to truck them back.
I sold my home in Ruidoso, NM to my breathing problems. It was at 7500 feet and I needed full time oxygen. I displaced my mask one night and spent three days in the hospital getting my %SpO2 to an acceptable
level. ie; 92 or higher. I am concerned about flying. I don’t worry when in my coach because I have plenty of power. Will I need my Iogen 3 to fly? I am planning a trip to Jamaica in two weeks
Going to Western States in the mountains in elevations of 5,999 +..I have house unit and portable that I use 24/7.. will altitudes affect me??
Would you email me please? I am leaving on two RV trips, Kansas City to Iowa City, round trip, for medical appointments, in 10 days. And, Kansas City to Boise, Idaho, round trip, in 30 days for great nieces wedding. I will have to take my big 10L Millenium Oxygen Concentrator, and my Portable Oxy2, 5L, with two batteries. Would you recommed I upgrade to Battle Born Lithium batteries and possibly flexible solar panels for my rig and my inverter?
Hi, My mother is on oxygen 24/7 and wants to buy a class b rv or conversion van so that we can travel. I am her caregiver and I know very little at this point about rv traveling. I am concerned about any gas hook-up in the rv for cooking and other needs on the rv. We would use the rv to travel to a destination, stopping along the way to rest or site see and then drive on to a camp site.
I would be grateful for any information you and readers could provide. Thank you.
In continuation of my above post: My concern is about the oxygen and gas/propane creating a combustible environment.
i have the same concerns, but different circumstances, mine in an infant on 24/7 O2 either E tank or large at home concentrator, in a 28′ Colman trailer
my foster daughter (infant) is on 24 -7 o2 and have one of the large at home units plus a lot of the E tanks so supply might not be an issue. but my question is just about inexperience with cooking and heating with the presence of oxygen and the open flame of the cooking. any issues or concerns that might be present. besides the obvious of explosion..
My husband has been on supplemental O2 for over 20 yrs. due to a genetic lung condition. Every year we spend at least a month in another part of the world. We go back to when I had to have a trunk load of O2 tanks delivered to our destination, have an expediter take it through customs and then pay people to load and unload the enormous custom metal trunk. I could fill the page with stories. When the Inogen POC first came out we convinced a retailer to let us rent one for a trip, at that time you could not purchase a unit.
Fast forward to today… we continue to travel. Flights are no problem. You must have enough battery power for 1& 1/2 longer than your flight. There is no surcharge as in the past. We build in a 24 hr. stay for him to rest up after the flight. We board early and are the last to leave as we pack up our gear. We reserve seats in the center section of the back of the plane, in a row with 3 seats. We reserve the 2 aisle seats and hope no one takes the center seat. Generally we succeed and the Inogen gets belted in.Should we have a seatmate we ask them to switch with me and I sit in the center with my feet. squished with the Inogen. The flight crew has always worked out a way for us to be comfortable and safe.
Traveling in our MH is a breeze. We have downsized from a class A to a 27ft B+. We carry a folding mobility scooter, our folding electric bikes plus 2 dogs inside the rig when we are traveling. Having lived at 7,000 ft. we are familiar with what hi altitude does to anyone with lung or cardiac problems and thus avoid them. To think lightly of the effects is playing with fire. Even older pets suffer with altitude problems and would end up at the local vet experiencing problems.
We always carry at least 4 fully charged long life batteries…spendy when you first buy them but worth their weight in piece of mind. Basically, what I am saying is…travel is possible and once you develop the routine that works for you it becomes comparable to remembering to pack your toothbrush. We know where everything goes, what stacks on what, who takes care of what. Space is dedicated to every item and if it is not there we notice it immediately.The world is used to it and don’t question what you are carrying and why (I used to have to carry the Congressional Record with the paragraph on personal O2 equip. being legal on flights) People have helped, on flight, places that allow us to plug in and recharge a battery when we end up running short while out and about. The World has become knowledgeable and supportive.
Carry spare charged batteries, cart to carry the unit (carrying extra weight takes more energy and O2), if you do not use a scooter carry a folding seat that folds into a cane for those times you can not take another step, Also get a selection of heavy duty (1-2 in. wide) velcro straps to lash and/or secure things and develop a can do attitude. The less confusion the more fun.