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Suspend and restore alarms

Procedure AC3 · alarms-off-and-restore

Overview

How the clinician temporarily disables the pneumatic (gas surveillance) alarms on the AC3 Series for 10 to 60 minutes, what the pump stops doing while they are off, how the pump reminds the clinician, and how to turn them back on. Only pneumatic high-priority alarms can be suspended; System Error alarms, medium, low and alert messages continue.

When to perform

Briefly, while correcting an alarm condition that would otherwise keep stopping the pump: the helium leak test and an in-use helium tank exchange are the two manual-specified uses.

Controls involved

Corner switch (upper-right of the display head; lights up when alarming)1
Silences the audio tone of ALL active alarms and alerts. Messages stay on screen. Nothing is disabled — the next alarm sounds again.
DISMISS (touchscreen, on the alarm message)2
Removes the visual message and silences the tone. Read the message before dismissing; dismissing is not fixing.
ALARMS OFF — Alarms tab → bell with red X → set 10–60 min (touchscreen)3
Suspends the pneumatic high-priority alarms (except SYSTEM ERRORS) for the set time: no pump stop, no alarm strip, drain/refill suspended, trigger-loss limit 8 s → 30 s. Messages are still displayed. Silence bar and corner switch flash cyan; reminder tone every 2 min.
ALARMS ON — Alarms tab → bell without X (touchscreen)2
Restores everything immediately; also happens automatically when the timer reaches 0.
Permanent alarms-off (internal DIP switch, service-set; then a 'Permanent' choice appears)4
Disables pneumatic alarms indefinitely. Extreme caution; constant observation; not a bedside control.

Steps

  1. Confirm that suspending alarms is justified: only for a brief period while correcting an alarm condition, and only while the pump is under constant observation by a trained clinician.5

    With pneumatic alarms off, the pump will not stop itself on a helium loss or obstruction, so a person has to be the safety system.

  2. Press the Alarms tab.6

    The alarms-off timer lives in this tab.

  3. Press the Bell with the red X.2

    This opens the ALARMS OFF timer selection.

  4. Set the time with the up and down keys beside the minutes display: 10 to 60 minutes in 5-minute increments.6

    The timer bounds the unprotected period; alarms resume on their own when it reaches 0 minutes.

  5. Confirm the indicators: the Bell with red X and the minutes remaining show in the Alarm tab, the silence bar and corner switch flash CYAN, and a reminder tone issues every 2 minutes.2

    These are the only cues that the pump is running without pneumatic alarm protection.

  6. Understand what has changed while alarms are off: audio for the high-priority pneumatic alarms (except SYSTEM ERRORS) is disabled, the pump will not stop pumping or print a recorder strip for them, alarm messages are still displayed, drain and refill tasks are suspended, and trigger-loss alarm criteria lengthen from more than 8 seconds to more than 30 seconds.6

    The suspension removes the pump's automatic responses, not its monitoring, so messages must be read rather than waited for.

  7. Correct the condition that required the suspension.5

    The suspension exists only to allow that work.

  8. Restore the alarms at any time: press the Alarms tab and the Bell without the X (Alarms ON); they enable immediately. If the timer is allowed to expire, the alarms turn on automatically.2

    Re-enabling restores pump stop, alarm strip printing, automatic refill and condensate removal.

  9. Confirm the Alarm tab no longer shows the Bell with the red X or a countdown and the reminder tone has stopped.7

    The manual gives no reason; the evident logic is that a still-flashing silence bar means the restore did not take.

Cautions

  • Do not turn off alarms except for a brief period while correcting an alarm condition; re-enable them with the alarms-on control key afterward.5
  • Alarms should only be turned OFF when the pump is under constant observation by a trained clinician.5
  • Keep alarms on during normal operation and whenever the patient is not under constant and direct clinician monitoring.2
  • The alarms must be ON for automatic condensate removal and IAB refills to occur.8
  • Permanent alarms-off is available only when an internal DIP switch is set, and is to be used only with extreme caution and constant observation.4

Related knowledge

References

  1. Arrow International Inc. AC3™ Series IABP System Service Manual. Part No. IAM-9011, Rev 00. Reading, PA: Arrow International Inc (Teleflex); 2015. p 82.
  2. Arrow International Inc. AC3™ Series IABP System Service Manual. Part No. IAM-9011, Rev 00. Reading, PA: Arrow International Inc (Teleflex); 2015. p 84.
  3. Arrow International Inc. AC3™ Series IABP System Service Manual. Part No. IAM-9011, Rev 00. Reading, PA: Arrow International Inc (Teleflex); 2015. pp 84-85, p 180.
  4. Arrow International Inc. AC3™ Series IABP System Service Manual. Part No. IAM-9011, Rev 00. Reading, PA: Arrow International Inc (Teleflex); 2015. pp 84-85.
  5. Arrow International Inc. AC3™ Series IABP System Service Manual. Part No. IAM-9011, Rev 00. Reading, PA: Arrow International Inc (Teleflex); 2015. p 181.
  6. Arrow International Inc. AC3™ Series IABP System Service Manual. Part No. IAM-9011, Rev 00. Reading, PA: Arrow International Inc (Teleflex); 2015. p 180.
  7. Arrow International Inc. AC3™ Series IABP System Service Manual. Part No. IAM-9011, Rev 00. Reading, PA: Arrow International Inc (Teleflex); 2015. p 85.
  8. Arrow International Inc. AC3™ Series IABP System Service Manual. Part No. IAM-9011, Rev 00. Reading, PA: Arrow International Inc (Teleflex); 2015. p 61.
  9. Arrow International Inc. AC3™ Series IABP System Service Manual. Part No. IAM-9011, Rev 00. Reading, PA: Arrow International Inc (Teleflex); 2015. pp 180-181.
  10. Arrow International Inc. AC3™ Series IABP System Service Manual. Part No. IAM-9011, Rev 00. Reading, PA: Arrow International Inc (Teleflex); 2015. pp 197-200.
  11. Arrow International Inc. AC3™ Series IABP System Service Manual. Part No. IAM-9011, Rev 00. Reading, PA: Arrow International Inc (Teleflex); 2015. p 353.