Humidifier spilled in CPAP!!!

aeroscout17 wrote: The other night I somehow knocked or pulled my machine off the nightstand. Of course it sucked in some water before I could get it disconnected. I immediately drained the machine and have left it sitting for 4 or 5 days now. Haven't been able to shake any water out for a couple of days.

What do you think the odds are that it still works? I am thinking about firing it up tonight.

It may still work, but if you got water in the sensor, the auto start feature may not work. If there’s moisture in there still, it may be helpful to put it in front of a fan for several hours a day, for a few days. That would be best accomplished by separating the heated humidifier from the blower section.

I did that a while ago with my Remstar Plus M. Actually I did it many times but I only got water inside it once. I think they are TOO light weight so a light tug as you toss and turn pulls right off the table or off the floor. And then there's nothing to keep the water from pouring into the machine.

When I started mine again, after a few days drying out, it seemed to work fine except for the auto start, the cflex and the usage counter. Those were controlled by pressure sensors just inside the spot where the water went in (I did open mine up). It was still under warranty and the DME sent it back to Respironics and gave me a replacement - no questions asked.

I'd suggest trying to use it again. If it feels at all off then get it repaired under the warranty (they'll just swap it for another one). Even if it feels ok try to get the pressure checked. I now think that mine was off after the mishap but I didn't get it checked.

I let mine sit and dry out because I was afraid of water on the circuit board but after the fact I looked up all the posts I could find and learned that was probably the wrong thing to do. It makes more sense to run it immediately which may get the water out. The water isn't going to get on the circuit board - it goes into the air passageway which is separate from the board and it can be blown out again .

Good luck and please post and let us know what happens.

I'm thinking of velcroing the cpap to the table to keep this from happening to me again.

Maybe respironics has a better warranty. I was told (and checked out) that if water were to get into my CPAP that resmed would not honor my warranty. Any kind of water in the machine would void my warranty.

jenmary,

I didn't actually volunteer any information about what happened to the CPAP. And I have no qualms about that. It's way too easy to get water inside of them. (I'm talking about respironics m series here - I don't know about any others). These things are meant to be worn by people who are asleep and yet it's very easy to get water in them just by tossing around vigorously or sitting up too abruptly without first checking where the hose is! I refuse to be made responsible for not being careful enough of the machine when I'm asleep! The instructions try to imply that the problem is people who are careless packing the machine for travel but that's not it.

mno

Sorry. Didn't mean to post anonymously.

midnightowl.

Thanks for all of the advice. Good news, I plugged it in and it seems to work fine! I have used it for two nights now. I will probably see about getting it checked out/replaced. I'm pretty sure it did get some water in it as the filter was a little wet. Maybe I was lucky this time. Wish they could find some way to prevent this from happening.

Maybe you should get some velcro with the sticky backs. You could velcro to the nightstand so it is less likely to tip over again. lol just a suggestion.