Respironics Auto A-Flex 550 as a backup

[DaveY]

Found an apparently well used PR 1 551P (international version of 550) that would be local to me. Asked the seller for number of hours...they didn't know....they reported that it's in good condition. They are asking CAD$250 (US$200 approx) for the package including the humidifier, hose, power supply and case. What is a reasonable price with the unknown hours? I know this model is circa 2009-11....probably 8-10 years old. This would be either a backup or maybe travel....runs okay without the humidifier? Is this model series noisy? Thanks for any comments.

Is a heated hose even an option for this 50 series?

Ideally, the Resmed S9 Autoset would be best since it would be compatible with my Medistrom 24 volt battery backup system.

Dave

[Sleeprider]

The System One 50 series did not support a heated hose. The 50 series was manufactured between 2009 and 2012 when the 60 series replaced it. The Dreamstation appeared in 2015. The potential exist for this machine to be at the end of life, and I would insist on knowing the run hours. Any excuse that the run hours cannot be determined (you can look up how to access them in the clinical manual) is either an indication the run hours are very high, or the seller is incompetent. Pass.

[gwc2795]

I agree with SR keep looking.

[Sleeprider]

JesseLee just mentioned a new person to person seller called Mercari. It looks like current model used CPAP machines are pretty reasonably priced there, but sell fast.

[Sleep2Snore]

I wouldn't go for a machine that is more than a few years old, hours run builds up very quickly if it is being used every day as it is supposed to be.
6 hours per night for a year = 356x6=2,190 hours per year.  Four years old is 8, 760 hours running time.  That is a lot of running time for such a small motor turning a fan.  May be fine as a back up to run for a couple of weeks, but you can see how the hours mount up.  If it were used for 8 hrs per night it would be a lot more hours run.

[Ron AKA]

Dave, have you tried calling around to the various sleep clinics in Alberta? I know that when my wife returned her machine at the end of the trial period and told the clinic that the price was too high, they told her that they have used machines that they would sell for a good price. We had already bought a new machine on line at that point, so we never got into discussion as to what they actually had and what price they wanted.

[DaveY]

Anyone know how to get the running hours from the Respironics 550?

The lady doesn't know how. I need to instruct her on how to get this info before proceeding any further.

Thanks.

Dave

[JesseLee]

250 bucks is too much. That machine with anytime over 2000 hours is worth 100 bucks tops. Under 2000 hours is worth 150. Without a heated hose on that machine you run a real risk of rainout which if you've not experienced that, it's terrible. There is no option to upgrade either. I would recommend waiting on a PRS 560. You can snatch them up a lot of times for 200 bucks if your patient. I recommend running a want ad and see what turns up. You may be surprised at how people have unused machines and never considered selling. If your lucky, someone may give you a machine.

Just as an example, my PRS 650 BiPAP Pro cost me 50 USD with an extra humidifier tub. Nice machine, good deal, wouldn't have paid a dime more for it.

[Sleepster]

Anyone know how to get the running hours from the Respironics 550?

The lady doesn't know how. I need to instruct her on how to get this info before proceeding any further.

I can't remember off hand how to do it, but if you have the provider manual it's easy enough to look up.

Her price is way too high for a machine that old, regardless of the run hours. I would call her and tell her that you need to look at the machine and that the most you could give her is $100 CA. And that's if the run hours are low and the machine is not noisy. When you turn it on listen for excessive noise that might be a sign of the blower motor failing. These machines also generate error codes that are stored on the SD card. Reading them is not easy, but you can at least look and see if there's an error file. No error file means of course no error codes.

I have two of these Series 50 machines. One was my original and it started to fail after about a year or two as I recall. After the failure I discovered it had been generating error codes for some time before it failed. And even then the failure was not complete. After running for awhile it would beep and shut down. Obviously that's not gonna make for a night of good sleep! The other I bought on craigslist about 5 years ago as a back up machine. I paid about $100 US back then, I think. It still works fine.

[greatunclebill]

My wife and i both had brand new 550's. her's acted up at about 2.5 yrs. mine acted up after about 7 yr. By acted up, they both did the same thing. Out of the blue they just shut off by themselves during the night. we never used auto-off. anyway it starts out as once in a while and before you know it, it's several times a night. Stay away from that model, no matter the cost. if it hasn't already started shutting itself off, it will, sooner than you think and then it will be worth nothing, like it probably already is..