After living in Vail for 40 years, Peter Kalkus wasn’t about to move. Yet he suffered from sleep problems, waking up often every night and finding it difficult to fall back asleep. “I know it was lack of oxygen,” Kalkus says.
He didn’t medically need oxygen, but he did want to sleep better. He opted to install and oxygenating system. “I never plan to leave Vail until I have to, therefore I wanted something permanent. It has worked extremely well,” he says.
Altitude Control Technologies (ACT) sets up systems that increase oxygen levels in homes. Ironically, the company started 20 years ago in the Front Range to do the complete opposite: It provided (and still does) low oxygen environments for training pilots and athletes from Olympic training centers in 14 countries. Its team of physiologists engineered, and entrepreneurs have worked with 50 major universities, U.S. Naval Air Systems Command, The Federal Aviation Administration, Nike and more.
ACT began offering altitude control systems about four years ago, after plenty of people asked for the equipment, including a professional athlete who experienced altitude sickness every time he stayed in his mountain home. Since then, ACT has installed more than 3,000 oxygen control systems into high-elevation homes nationwide.
In the last few years, it has placed about 50 systems into homes in the Vail Valley, mostly for the second homeowners ranging in the age from 40 to 80-plus.
“Unfortunately, as we age, our oxygen saturation tends to go down, so in order to live at altitude for a long period of time, you need oxygen,” says Gary Hanson, ACT’s vice president of sales.
The company states that low oxygen levels can cause insomnia, headaches, nausea, and fatigue and tarnish the mountain experience for thousands of people at altitude.” its system can improve sleep, eliminate altitude sickness and increase energy. Its website states: “After sleeping in an oxygenated room, you awake fully oxygenated and refreshed.”
The equipment acts as a molecular sieve, extracting oxygen around it, separating the molecules and pumping oxygen silently into bedrooms while ushering nitrogen out of homes. The mechanical system measures 15” x 15” x 22” high
It usually sits in a mechanical room, crawlspace, attic, garage or storage room and delivers oxygen to one or more bedrooms.
Homeowners can control the system through a smartphone or computer. However, the system automatically detects when people are in the room, and it activates the proper amount of equipment for energy savings. ACT’s altitude control system effectivity “lowers” the altitude by 7,000 feet.
The company states that six to eight hours of sleep in an oxygenated environment restores the body’s oxygen saturation to normal levels and interrupts the cycle of hypoxia (low oxygen), which can cause altitude sickness. AN average bedroom system costs about $30,000 to $38,000, and many homeowners choose to oxygenate other bedrooms, as well, for family members and guests.
The ACT-O2 system measures oxygen, air quality, and barometric pressure and adjusts oxygen levels every six seconds. It’s the only oxygenation system that meets National Fire Protection Association standards for fire-safe oxygen use, OSHA’s (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) standards for indoor air quality and Center for Disease Control’s requirements for safe oxygen. We’re the only company in North America that controls the amount of oxygen,” Hanson says. “it’s very important because if it’s not controlled, too much oxygen is a fire hazard, or, if there’s not enough oxygen, there is no physiological benefit.”
As more homeowners hear about oxygenating systems, Hanson says the interest is quickly growing.
“Its a quality of life thing, ” Hanson says. A lot of clients say it’s the most valuable thing in their home.”
Lynn Moore definitely feels that way. He’s been visiting Vail for nearly 20 years, and the entire time, he has slept poorly and woken up tired at high elevation. When he built his home in the valley, his builder recommended ACT’s attitude control system. “The installation process was really easy, the team was great to work with and the system works great,” Moore says. “We sleep great at night. We wake up well rested, and, frankly, I think it was one of the best things that we ever did.”
This article originally published in The Vail Valley Home Magazine – https://vvhmag.com/ – https://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/html5/reader/production/default.aspx?pubname=&edid=ee8a50de-866c-438a-97fc-08593912e599