Optilife leak rate / Respironics M Series PRO

gmartine · Post by **gmartine** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 9:27 am

Hello,
I am a new cpap user. I would like to know how to calculate the true leak rate. I have a Respironics M Series PRO + Optilife. I have been looking for Optilife's leak rate -or vent flow rate- I have not been able to find it.

Any tips are welcome

Thanks

Snoredog · Post by **Snoredog** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 10:59 am

should be a Flow Chart in the paperwork that came with the mask, nearly all mask interfaces come with them.

Once you find that flow chart, you first find your pressure say its 9cm.

You look on the mfg supplied Flow Chart and find your pressure. You then look over and see the expected flow at that pressure where the two lines intersect.

This flow rate found is the "intentional" leak rate when the mask is completely sealed against your face. This intentional leak/flow is the expected amount of air escaping the exhaust holes that evacuate CO2 that you exhale at the given pressure.

So once you know what your particular mask flow rate is, you can determine from that how much "external" leak you have vs. "intentional" leak.

So if the LCD display says your leak is 48L/m and the flow chart says it should be 32L/m @9cm pressure, then it is 48 -32 or 16L/m of external leak, a bit too much.

How much external leak is acceptable? Depends on the machine and pressure, if your pressure is 18cm a 12L/m external leak may be completely acceptable, but if your pressure is only 8cm, 12L/m external leak may be too much.

12L/m is just a number picked, years ago we researched it out a bit more and it seemed that was the number you wanted to stay below with as it related to external leak, but there are many variables found within that number.

gmartine · Post by **gmartine** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 7:49 am

My mask did not come with any literature. If someone is willing to share that chart, I really appreciate that. Thanks!

gmartine · Post by **gmartine** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 7:51 am

Snoredog wrote:should be a Flow Chart in the paperwork that came with the mask, nearly all mask interfaces come with them.

Once you find that flow chart, you first find your pressure say its 9cm.

gmartine wrote:I do not have that flow chart My mask did not come with it

You look on the mfg supplied Flow Chart and find your pressure. You then look over and see the expected flow at that pressure where the two lines intersect.

This flow rate found is the "intentional" leak rate when the mask is completely sealed against your face. This intentional leak/flow is the expected amount of air escaping the exhaust holes that evacuate CO2 that you exhale at the given pressure.

So once you know what your particular mask flow rate is, you can determine from that how much "external" leak you have vs. "intentional" leak.

So if the LCD display says your leak is 48L/m and the flow chart says it should be 32L/m @9cm pressure, then it is 48 -32 or 16L/m of external leak, a bit too much.

How much external leak is acceptable? Depends on the machine and pressure, if your pressure is 18cm a 12L/m external leak may be completely acceptable, but if your pressure is only 8cm, 12L/m external leak may be too much.

12L/m is just a number picked, years ago we researched it out a bit more and it seemed that was the number you wanted to stay below with as it related to external leak, but there are many variables found within that number.

mhacker · Post by **mhacker** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 8:10 am

Here is a link to the web site PDF with the graph

http://maskseries.respironics.com/PDF/LeakRate.pdf

It has all the respironic masks

bdp522 · Post by **bdp522** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 8:33 am

The Optilife mask isn't on that chart. A quick check against the leak rate chart that came with my Opti shows it to be the same as the Comfortfull2 leak chart.

Brenda

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 1:26 pm

did you get the flow chart with your Opti? I got my mask from Apria. Did you get your mask online? I suspect Apria removed the flow chart

bdp522 · Post by **bdp522** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 3:02 pm

I got my mask from Apria. When I got it it had a little (5"x5") booklet that says instructions for use. If you call respironics you can have them send you one, or they can e-mail it to you. The # is 1-800-345-6443.

Brenda

robbieh · Post by **robbieh** » Sat Jun 16, 2007 9:33 am

Here is an image of the graph that came with my optilife mask:

feeling_better · Post by **feeling_better** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 4:46 pm

bdp522 wrote:I got my mask from Apria. When I got it it had a little (5"x5") booklet that says instructions for use. If you call respironics you can have them send you one, or they can e-mail it to you. The # is 1-800-345-6443.

Brenda
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I am trying out the Optilife mask. My dme does not have any manual, since they are recycling this mask among trial users. I called the above number at respironics and they claimed they don't have any (obviously not very believable They do not want to deal with the end customer, even the one who is about to buy one -- companies are really funny in their goals.

I am looking for just 2 more numbers from the spec page, if they have it. Noise in dBA, and the static pressure (resistance to flow) at some specified flow rate. If anybody finds these, could you kindly post them here? Thank you very much!