Plastic and Ball Pressure Checker

Hi all. I have a resmed S9 machine with water chamber. I used to use a Resperonics machine but it died and I ended up with the S9. I also have one of those plastic tube with steel ball pressure checkers. With the Resperonics machine if my pressure was set at 8 the checker registered 8 as well. Now, with the S9 machine my pressure is supposed to be 11 and if it is set at 11 in the machine the checker says it is at 8. In order to get 11 in the checker I have to set the machine at 14. I also am using a 10 foot standard hose. As a test I changed the hose to a 6 foot standard and there was no change in the checker readings, so there is no hose problem. I guess my question to all of you is: are these checkers accurate or should I throw it in the trash. I can't afford one of those expensive manometers so If any of you know of a good way to check the pressure I would like to hear from you.

Thanks, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I built my own manameter using a 28" clear glass vase. After filling it to 24" I then stuck the
hose in it and kept lowering it till the air flow stopped and measured how far this was below
my fill mark. The 2 times I have used it the measurement matched what my 2 machines were
set to.

It's easy (and cheap) to check the way Woody did it.
That's the way I did it for a long time before I finally bought a gauge manometer.

viewtopic/t157764/search.php?keywords=h ... +manometer

viewtopic/t157764/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4 ... ter#p37259


Den

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scrollinggrandpa wrote:Now, with the S9 machine my pressure is supposed to be 11 and if it is set at 11 in the machine the checker says it is at 8. In order to get 11 in the checker I have to set the machine at 14.

I have five machines, some of them quite old. My thinking is why do I care what the actual pressure is? I just look at the AHI on the machine display*. If my AHI is low (<2.0), what do I care what the actual pressure is? The setting works!

BTW, is your S9 an Autoset?

Also, here is a curiosity question, who is telling you that you need 8 on one machine and 11 on another? How did they come up with those numbers?


(*Should anything on the display look funny, I will also look at the data in Sleepyhead.)

scrollinggrandpa wrote:Hi all. I have a resmed S9 machine with water chamber. I used to use a Resperonics machine but it died and I ended up with the S9. I also have one of those plastic tube with steel ball pressure checkers.

You've got a flow meter, not a "pressure checker".

so for your question:

scrollinggrandpa wrote:I guess my question to all of you is: are these checkers accurate or should I throw it in the trash.

For your purposes, NO, it's not accurate, since it doesn't measure pressure.

If you are near a DME go in and ask (nicely) if they would check it

Thanks to all for your responses. Let me clearify a couple of things in my post: 1. I used the pressure of 8 as an example only. My old machine was set at 11 (Per sleep study) and the meter I have read 11. On my S9 the machine says 11 and the (now I know it is a flow meter) reads 8. My machine does not give me the AHI on the screen, I have to take out the SD card and put it into my computer and use the software to read it.

I wil find a vase like Woody had and give that a shot as well as check the data on the card. If my AHI is 2 or below and the machine says the pressure is 15 (per my sleep study two weeks ago) I will just leave it alone.

scrollinggrandpa wrote:Thanks to all for your responses. Let me clearify a couple of things in my post: 1. I used the pressure of 8 as an example only. My old machine was set at 11 (Per sleep study) and the meter I have read 11. On my S9 the machine says 11 and the (now I know it is a flow meter) reads 8. My machine does not give me the AHI on the screen, I have to take out the SD card and put it into my computer and use the software to read it.

I wil find a vase like Woody had and give that a shot as well as check the data on the card. If my AHI is 2 or below and the machine says the pressure is 15 (per my sleep study two weeks ago) I will just leave it alone.

Flow on a XPAP means little, it's the pressure that holds the airway open, But the flow has to be able to supply the needed pressure and the flow to keep that pressure up.

The real tester would measure the pressure while pumping air at a set leak rate, bad news most testers are unable to do that. I use to know what sized hole was required to provide the leak, but the brain cells I stored that info in have died... Using the software can show you if your machine can keep up with needed flow. It's not really something that happens hardly ever, as long as the XPAP is working. Jim

scrollinggrandpa wrote: . . . My machine does not give me the AHI on the screen, I have to take out the SD card and put it into my computer and use the software to read it. . . .

If your S9 gives AHI, you can set the display to show it.
I gave my old S9 away, so I don't recall the exact directions, but somebody will.

chunkyfrog wrote:If your S9 gives AHI, you can set the display to show it.
I gave my old S9 away, so I don't recall the exact directions, but somebody will

I don't remember exactly either but the manual explains how to do it.
http://www.apneuvereniging.nl/forum/pdf ... manual.pdf
Have to go into the clinical setup menu (manual also explains how to do that)...
Sleep Quality has to be set to "ON" and then the AHI and other data is available in the Sleep Report.
Somewhere around page 15 of the manual above.
The default from the factory is for Sleep Quality to be "OFF" and that is what prevents the data from being available on the LCD screen.

Thanks again for all your information. I just pulled the SD card out of my machine and inported the data into Sleepyhead. For the past week, except for one night, my AHI has been .58 to 1.75
I downloaded the clinical manual and will check it our later today. Again, thanks to all for your help. May all of you have a Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and sleep well.

scrollinggrandpa wrote: ... AHI on the screen ...

Make sure sleep quality is turned on in clinical settings. To access clinical settings, hold down double check mark button and knob button simultaneously for 3 seconds.

Once sleep quality is turned on in clinical settings AHI will be displayed at the bottom when you press the "I" button. To get breakdown and see averages for time frames, go into clinical info - to get there you need to hold down "I" button and double check mark button simultaneously for three seconds. Once in, turn knob one click ccw to get to sleep report then press knob down to enter sleep report. Turn knob to scroll to the bottom. AHI breakdown is right under leak report. Click on "Period" and turn knob to change the time frame for displayed averages.

The data resets at noon. So if you look at the one-day report after noon, there will be no data. (Unless you took an afternoon nap with CPAP. )

Thanks for the info ChicagoGranny! Your input will be very useful.

Quote : using a 28" clear glass vase.

you don't need anything that tall : 11cm. is less that 5 in.


https://www.google.com/search?q=11+cm+t ... 8&oe=utf-8

Thanks Grayghost4 for the info and photo. This morning I looked on the screen showing the stastics and even though my machine is set for a pressure of 15 I only used 12.5 overnight and my AHI was 0.9. I am quite happy with these results.