One of the questions I hear most often is how to choose an oxygen concentrator for a hyperbaric chamber. Every week, someone asks a question that gets me thinking—and sometimes it sends me down a rabbit hole of research.
That happened recently when I was talking with Theresa.
Before I get into her question, let’s quickly define a couple of terms for those who are new to hyperbarics.
mHBOT stands for mild Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy and generally refers to soft-shell chambers operating between 1.3 and 1.8 ATA.
Once you move into 2.0 ATA and above, you’re talking about traditional HBOT, which uses hard-shell chambers. While home hard-shell chambers are available today, they typically cost tens of thousands of dollars, putting them out of reach for many families.
Now, back to Theresa’s question.
“Is the 10-liter oxygen concentrator you supply with your chambers specifically designed to work with soft-shell hyperbaric chambers?”
I had to admit—that was a great question.
I made a few phone calls, talked with people in the industry, and did some additional research.
Here’s what I found.
Choosing an Oxygen Concentrator for a Hyperbaric Chamber
No.
As far as I can determine, there isn’t an oxygen concentrator on the market that’s manufactured exclusively for use with mild hyperbaric chambers.
Instead, manufacturers identified commercially available oxygen concentrators that provide the right combination of oxygen purity, flow rate, and enough back pressure to work reliably with soft-shell chambers.
That approach has now been proven over more than two decades.
Why Back Pressure Matters
One of the most important factors is something called back pressure.
Think of it as the concentrator’s ability to keep pushing oxygen into a chamber that’s already under pressure.
As the pressure inside the chamber increases, the concentrator has to push against that pressure. If it can’t, the oxygen flow slows down or may stop altogether.
When that happens, the flow meter will drop to zero liters per minute, and the person inside the chamber won’t receive oxygen through the mask.
Our independent research has shown that most quality 10-liter oxygen concentrators work well up to 1.7 ATA.
Since most mild hyperbaric chambers operate between 1.3 and 1.5 ATA, they’re comfortably within the concentrator’s working range.
My Take
I’m grateful the industry discovered that readily available oxygen concentrators work so well with mild hyperbaric chambers.
When I started my own hyperbaric journey about 11 years ago, buying a chamber was simply too expensive for most people. Even renting one wasn’t realistic because the costs were so high.
Fortunately, that’s changed.
Competition has driven prices down while quality and safety have continued to improve.
Today’s chambers include features like adjustable pressure valves that allow users to make pressure adjustments during an mHBOT session—something that simply wasn’t common years ago.
Rental prices have also dropped dramatically.
At Affordable Hyperbaric Solutions, we’ve worked hard to bring common-sense pricing to an industry that was once out of reach for many families.
Today, middle-class families—people like me—can experience mild hyperbaric oxygen therapy in the comfort of their own home for about $35 a day.
And I think that’s a pretty amazing change.
