On Mon, 01 Nov 2004 08:47:17 -0500, willshak
wrote:

[snip]
|
| Well, I may have to have it done, but to have the cord replaced will
| cost me at least $125.00 -- and probably more -- for a very minor
| problem -- a 10 cent problem. If this problem were on a lamp, for
| example, or on one of my computers, I wouldn't even tape it up. Having
| medical equipment repaired by a durable medical equipment dealer is a
| real ripoff.
|
| The device in question is a Continuous Positive Airway Pressure device
| -- a pump that prevents collapse of the airway while sleeping. It's a
| prescription item in the USA. It's mine, for my personal use, not a
| device in a hospital.
|
| The real problem is that if I have someone else fix it, I can kiss it
| goodbye for a week or more while they send it off to some repair
| place, which means that I can't sleep properly at night. I walk around
| all day like an oxygen-starved zombie until I get it back. And it
| affects my ability to drive, too. Yeah, there are ways around all this
| but they all cost money and are not real convenient.
|
| There is no conceivable liability issue involved. The machine is 6
| years old, so it is not ancient. There is nothing wrong with it
| otherwise. The crack came about when I packed it into a case and
| travelled around for two weeks with it banging against the inside of
| the case until the cord started to split right where it goes into the
| machine. I have used the machine for several years since it happened
| and it works fine. You can barely see the split even if you look
| carefully.
|
| I have several chronic medical conditions which have occasionally
| taken me to the hospital overnight. Having the machine makes the night
| bearable; one less thing to worry about.
|
| Once I spent the night in an emergency room waiting for a regular
| hospital bed so I could have a coronary stent implanted in an artery
| next day. They would not allow me to plug in the breathing device
| because it had not been approved by their electrician (who was home
| sleeping). As a result I had to stay up all night. This is not the way
| you want to prepare for a guy putting a steel mesh tube in your heart
| using a wire and a balloon!
|
| I guess cutting the plug off the cord and slipping a heat shrink tube
| over it is the only way, but putting a new, non-molded plug on the
| cord opens yet another possible electrical issue for the hospital to
| object to. I just thought there might be a clean, neat way that would
| not involve this, but I guess not.
|
| Thanks to all for the suggestions.
|
|
| You might try a CA glue, like Krazy Glue. It will glue rubber and
| plastic. I once used CA to glue an air tube for a Badger compressor and
| it held for years.


This is the right kind of idea, and thanks for trying to offer a
solution. Unfortunately, it's a small crack that needs to be filled
and sealed, not a break that could be glued back together. I think I
may try "liquid electrical tape" first and if that doesn't work then
try cutting off the plug and slipping on a heat seal tube. Can't hurt
I guess. Thanks again.