Quiet vacuum solution for vacuum bed?

[jackzap]

Hi all,

I've been lurking here a lot and recently decided to give vacbeds a try. From what I've seen so far, it seems like most people use regular vacuum cleaners to create the vacuum, but they are often very noisy and can't run for very long. Another approach I've seen is using vacuum pumps, but there isn't a lot of information on what kind of pumps are suitable for vacbeds. An oil-less 100-200 lpm vacuum pump seems to be the most ideal, but they are very hard to find and are often very expensive (about $500+ in the US).

I was wondering if anyone who has had experience with vacuum pumps or maybe other methods can provide some insight on what kind of pumps are the best for vacbeds, and perhaps where to buy one (located in or ships to the US)?

Thanks!

[lotharj]

Don't have experience with anything other than a shop vac vac bed. I've been in one for about 30 minutes with it running and it didn't have a problem other than it being really warm to touch. Wasn't too loud. I suppose you could get a long hose and run it in a different room.

Depending on the quality of your bed sealing, you may need to determine the minimum cfm of the pump you are looking for.

[Leopard99]

Speed controller on the vac. You shouldn't need full power to maintain the vacuum. Some beds are sold with a one-way valve and a claim that you can switch off the vac. Obviously this depends on how well your breathing arrangments seal to your face.

Using a speed controller also reduces heat buildup in the vac. Incidentally, blocking the inlet of a vac with wet and dry capability won't cause it to overheat. All such vacs have a separate fan to cool the motor. Other vacs will likely overheat if run at full power with the inlet blocked, as is the case with a vacbed.

Also use a long extension pipe as recommended by lotharj.