[kbinkster]

If it is too cold, the machine just won't run at all. Just how cold one will work seems to vary from machine to machine. Ironically, cold air is dense air and will yield very good purity from concentrators.

Storing a machine in cold weather should be another thing to look at. You don't want to store them in a place that gets extremely cold because they tend to have plastic parts that can get brittle and break or crack and leak if the machine.

As mentioned in an earlier post, concentrators do generate heat within the cabinet, usually increasing the temperature in the cabinet by about 30 degrees F.

Mary described the process of condensation. The air has moisture in it and when the machine cools off, the moisture condenses onto parts and can damage them. So, it really is better to have some kind of heat in the room as your machine cools down.

As for running a space heater near a concentrator, I'm not sure whether or not the heating elements would pose a fire hazard. I would be more concerned about the electric draw of the heater. If you are going to run a space heater, make sure you have enough electricity to supply it and everything else you're running.

As for enclosing a concentrator, you really should make sure that the machine is well ventilated. You want to have plenty of feed air coming into the machine and you do not want to block the exhaust. Blocking the intake or exhaust (the exhaust is seperate from the oxygen outlet) could overheat the machine and damage it. There needs to be some clearance all the way around the machine to have good ventilation. Keeping a machine under a bench is one thing. Putting a box up around it is something else.