EBME Forums Forums Maintenance Technical Assistance Viasys SiPAP out of box failures!!!!

Anyone experiencing out of box failures on new Viasys SiPAPs (purchased after February 09)?

We've had four successive out of box failures since March, all units supplied from (and subsequently returned to) Germany (All supposedly tested at the Factory!).
The failure in all cases is that the Blender gas fail alarm didn't work (no whistle sound), with the silencer fitted, when one of the supply gasses was removed from source.
Our pipeline pressures for O2 & Air(MA4) aren't exactly matched (the MA4 supply is around 3.75Bar) however it is still within the test range for this type of Blender (Viasys also!) and our two older SiPAP units do not suffer from this issue or for that matter any of our SLE vents that are fitted with similar (Viasys) blenders.
It would be interesting to hear from anyone thats had similar problems, it can't be just be us that keep getting these issues can it?
Oh, and yes we have lodged an official complaint!

What's happened to Vorsprung durch Technik, then? Or has that gone down the tubes as well?

By the sound of it you may as well have bought one made in England! Oh sorry, I forgot ... we don't make anything here any more.

Does the alarm work OK when the other gas is nearer to 4 Bar, I wonder? Or with the silencer removed?

Out of interest, if you set the blender to 60% FiO2, and remove one gas hose, does it alarm?

Hi all

The blender should not alarm if the blender is set to 21 or 100% and you remove the gas hose not being used.

I have also seen a SiPAP that was barely audible with the silencer fitted but worked perfectly without the silencer. The user did not use the silencers on there units, I was just playing!

Mark

Hi Mark,

This was the issue I was going to highlight - be interesting to see what the result of the test indicated above is. That will reveal all.

Hi John

Indeed but I think Lee has probably tested them fine, he has just discovered a faulty alarm.

Lee, have you tried testing them without the silencer fitted?

Geff, they are built in the US and then shipped to Germany where they are sent to the end user. Not that that explains the issue.

Mark

Danke. Sehr gut. My faith (in the natural order of things) has been restored!

Yes we do test them at 60% and yes all the failed units work ok without the silencer fitted but fail to alarm when you fit the silencer, however the two units that we purchased last year alarm wether the silencer is fitted or not, this also applies to the loan unit provided by Viasys.
Surely if the silencer is fitted then it SHOULD still alarm, I can understand why it wouldn't, due to the reduced By-pass flow, however if they (Viasys) have designed a silencer to reduce noise levels this SHOULD never compromise an important safety feature.
As I stated these are all out of box failures, am I asking too much that the unit we ordered is supplied working?

Wow - looks like they have a considerable batch issue with this component.
Of course it is not too much that the units ordered are supplied working - especially as this is a fairly critical alarm!

I suppose now it is how Viasys deal with it. Good luck with this.