Ammonia smell coming from machine

The last two nights when my husband has turned on his cpap and put on his mask there has been a sudden, nose burning smell of ammonia getting blown out. He can't smell anything and there's nothing around the house that smells of it. His breath smells normal without the mask. In over ten years I've never smelled anything like it coming from him. It's so bad I got out of bed. The inside of my nose still burns. Any help?

Have you rinsed the humidifier well? What is being cleaned and how?

What happens when you try it?

Ammonia can only come from chemicals. It doesn't come that way.

What happens if you have the humidifier turned off or not in use?

New to me. Clean everything and make sure there is no issue with the motor on the CPAP machine. Burning smell could be a bearing or wire getting hot, and your husband cant smell it due to the filter on the machine.

That is very unusual.

Clean first and try it out. If still there, have your husband run the machine with mask off so he can smell it.

Changed the filter lately? Cleaned the hose?

Rich

Stomach acid backing up....?....??? Jim

CPAPpartner wrote:The last two nights when my husband has turned on his cpap and put on his mask there has been a sudden, nose burning smell of ammonia getting blown out. He can't smell anything and there's nothing around the house that smells of it. His breath smells normal without the mask. In over ten years I've never smelled anything like it coming from him. It's so bad I got out of bed. The inside of my nose still burns. Any help?

You are talking about his breath at night. I would have his blood sugar and kidneys checked.

R1200ST wrote:Burning smell could be a bearing or wire getting hot, and your husband cant smell it due to the filter on the machine.

Thinking the same thing. Same type of odor from neighbor's machine. I believe it was a wire getting too close to something which burned and caused the odor. He took it to his DME and they were able to fix it on the spot. Also, change the filter just in case.

Sorry you are having these problems. It can be scary and just posting the question shows you are the kind of person that will act, not just keep asking questions.

An acrid smell from the machine is most likely hot metal. As posted by others here, taking the machine to your DME should resolve the problem.

An acrid, urine or ammonia smell coming from your husband's breath can be a symptom of serious disease and needs to be checked out immediately. A trip to the doctor is warranted here.

Hope you find the source and a remedy for your problem soon!

A dry humidifier will cause a terrible smell.

Do you have pets?

Go to the doctor! Ammonia might be OK on a fireplug, but not in your breath or cpap.

The frog is right. Search the internet for exhaled breath condensate (EBC) and ammonia. An increase in ammonia is a marker of pneumonia and other lung conditions, including COPD and cystic fibrosis.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19670404
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1 ... 8/abstract

To narrow this down, run the machine without the patient to observe for any ammonia odors. Compare this to the mask exhaust while your husband uses the machine. Is it the machine or the man?