The failure had nothing to do with the PDM being there or not. It can have an occlusion or some electrical malfunction, regardless of whether the PDM is there.
Once a basal program is set - either a temp basal or a standard basal program - the pod will run that basal program. The PDM does not need to be with you for the basal to run.
Without the PDM, you can’t change the basal program, but it will run exactly as programmed. In fact, once you insert a pod, you can put the PDM away for 72 hours and that pod will churn through 3 days as programmed for the basal.
There are 2 ways to turn off the beep.
- With the PDM, by deactivating the pod.
- Removing the pod and using a paperclip or pin and inserting it into the little silencing hole on the pod.
So basically if you want to quiet a pod, all you need is either your PDM or a paperclip.
Here is a thread on silencing it with a paperclip: