My Rainout Arsenal

[LoQ]

I really hate rainout. I think it is as disturbing to my sleep as any of the other problems I've had on CPAP therapy, so I've had to combat it in numerous ways. I thought I would post a list of the things I do to combat rainout. I don't know that they are all necessary, but as I added tactics, I did not necessarily remove other solutions.

The first thing I did was get a hose cover. Helped a little.

The next thing I did was buy a Repti Heat Cable. That helped a lot. I couldn't afford the Aussie heated hose, which looks like a better solution to me.

I have also started putting a roll of tissue around the interior of my mask to absorb any condensation. I secure it with an old lump of silicone that I'm about to discard. I adapted this idea from a suggestion here to use some kind of wick material in this way. I tried cording for upholstery, which worked really nicely and was quicker to do than tissue, but I became wary of chemical issues, so I switched to kleenex.

As my socks wear out, instead of discarding them, I cut a hole in the toe, double them up by drawing the sock foot into the sleeve, and thread them over my hose. I now have almost my entire hose encircled by old socks. This is really great insulation. I no longer feel the need to pull the hose under the covers with me, which I have always had to do in the past to prevent rainout.

I pre-heat the air going into my CPAP machine. I stacked a few stackable baking (cooling) racks up to the level of the air intake port on the machine, laid a heating pad on it, then put one more rack on top of that, then I draped a towel over the top rack to "hold" the heat in. I have all of my equipment on a power strip, so just a flick with my toe turns on the whole system--machine, heat cable, heating pad.

The final piece of the puzzle for me was the mask itself, which is hard to insulate. I discovered that there is an easy and simple solution to this. I just pull some of the covers over my head and tuck them under the pillow. This creates a little igloo over my face, which keeps the air around the mask warm enough to solve that last area of exposure.

I know many of you already do various parts of these things; thank you for supplying me with such great ideas. Maybe someone searching for solutions will find something of value in my post, and you will have helped someone else second-hand.

[RipVW]

Wow, LoQ, that is an arsenal! So, all's high & dry now, I suppose! I went through the rainout issues as well, then, after learning here that a possible cause of my congestion was the heated humid air from my humidifier, I turned off the heat altogether, now use no heat/passive humidification, and, of course, there's no more rainout! But, I know that some CPAP'ers really prefer the heat. So much to learn, I continue to find out ways to further tweak my CPAP'n.

[GumbyCT]

Someone asked the other day if I did anything else with nylons?

Well yes there is something else I do with knee highs to insulate my nasal seal. Using the folding technique mentioned above then poke 2 slits in the toe end; 1 for each pillow to poke thru. I pull the rest up towards the exhaust of my Headrest. The nylon material is light weight and holds the heat from my nose & face.

[Debjax]

I found that double insulating my hose worked for me. I have the Resmed hose cover, and then some very thick kneesocks with the toes cut out taped together. (Going to knit a new, prettier one). It has completely eliminated my rainout. Last night was a great test. When starting a fire yesterday, shut the furnace off to keep the air return from drawing the smoke into the house before the draft on the flue got going.....but forgot to turn it back on, to hubby's dismay when he woke up this morning to his first experience with rain-out as the house got down to 55 degrees...I was dry as could be...

I think the combination of the Resmed cover (vapor barrier?), the heavy knee socks, with the air between the socks and the cover make a pretty good insulation factor.