a melting humidifier tank??

Hey kids, anyone have this experience? I use the Respironics doohicky with humidifier tank. Three mornings ago, I woke up with an extremely dry mouth and the smell of burning plastic in my nostrils (and lungs). I must say it startled me. I guessed that my water had completely evaporated and, sure enough, that was the case. I had been in "asleep" for 7:33 without waking. That morning, my lungs ached.

I cleaned out the mask and tray later that morning, and they made sure I filled up the tank as close to the limit as my eyeballs could gather. Slept through Saturday night and woke up 7:37 later, burning fumes in nostrils once more, aching lungs, and no water in the tank. Clean clean clean scrub scrub.

On Sunday night, I changed the setting on the machine so that the humidity level would be variable, given that the house humidity is around 42-47 percent. This morning - extremely dry mouth, plastic fumes, aching lungs. Time asleep: 7:54. I shou

Anyone else experience some akin to my burning plastic experience? The only thing I can figure to do is to set my alarm to go off 7:15 after I fall asleep and keep adjusting it to shorter and shorter durations until there's some water left. Either that or just stop using it whenever I wake up in the night.

Sorry for any typos.

Thanks,

MC

Will your sinuses tolerate less heat and humidity so the water lasts a bit longer? I do get a nasty odor when my chamber runs dry, but mine is set too low to cause melting.

The humidifier setting can be lowered and the water will last longer, I personally think the water storage tanks are too small.

Although you said "melting," I assume that you do not mean that the tank is visibly charred or misshapen in any way.

I did notice that sometimes the water does not last all night and when this happens there is a slight burning smell (maybe you don't find it so "slight"). Since I generally do no sleep through the night without getting up at least once, I am in the habit of refilling the tank.

If this is not a viable option, you can try a lower humidity setting and see if that works.

Thanks, all. I tweaked the humidity setting further via the therapy settings, dropping it one click. I also turned down the hose setting a click. I was only asleep about 7:15 hours and there was plenty of water left this morning. Oddly (or perhaps not!), other than some false positive events during my ramp times (I'm a ramper by preference), I actually spent a surprising percentage of the night with 0 events! My Also, Fitbit showed me starting off the night with 2:36 in deep sleep mode. Ah, new territory to explore!

GWC, I agree re the tank size but, on the other hand, when I travel and inevitably haul the entire apparatus with me (haven't decided to get a travel PAP yet), it's more than enough to wrestle with as is.

DH, no deformity. I was being dramatic. This interesting thing is the plastic gives off sort of a burning caramel odor. I had to check to make sure my wife wasn't trying to master candy-making again.

Cheers!

MC

mrcrayola wrote: ↑

Tue May 08, 2018 7:44 am

Thanks, all. I tweaked the humidity setting further via the therapy settings, dropping it one click. I also turned down the hose setting a click. I was only asleep about 7:15 hours and there was plenty of water left this morning. Oddly (or perhaps not!), other than some false positive events during my ramp times (I'm a ramper by preference), I actually spent a surprising percentage of the night with 0 events! My Also, Fitbit showed me starting off the night with 2:36 in deep sleep mode. Ah, new territory to explore!

GWC, I agree re the tank size but, on the other hand, when I travel and inevitably haul the entire apparatus with me (haven't decided to get a travel PAP yet), it's more than enough to wrestle with as is.

DH, no deformity. I was being dramatic. This interesting thing is the plastic gives off sort of a burning caramel odor. I had to check to make sure my wife wasn't trying to master candy-making again.

Cheers!

MC

My original CPAP had a 400 ml tank, this one only has 325. Due to the heated hose, it can go through water fast at the max setting. It would be nice if they made a tank that can "fold" so that it can hold more without occupying more space in the travel bag.

Several members who use a lot of humidity have suggested having a second filled tank nearby to swap out part way through the night. There is also the option of using that add-on device sold by our sponsor. It holds quite a bit more water than the current devices. Looks like it will work with your Respironics machine. I thought about buying that device for my brother, but he just doesn't have space on his bedside table for it. So, I am now filling a second tank and it gets switched out.

I'm really bad about refilling my humidifier and it's dry often. I don't have any problems.