Can you cut off the heat on the humidifier?

Is it possible to cut off the heat on the humidifier, but leave the humidifier on? Could this be a problem for my health?

How would I cut the humidifier off? I have the Respironics Remstar Auto M Series.

Thanks.

Yes you can not have heat on the humidifier... at least you can on the classic's so I can't imagine that you can't on the M series.

What I do with mine (and there are others that do the same thing), is put the water in... but don't turn it on.

On the M Series humidifier.......just turn the dial to "0" (zero) and it should be Off.....and in "pass-over" mode.

https://www.cpap.com/viewImage.php?Bund ... erDial.jpg


Den

Well....maybe this is odd, but I need the humidity, but I don't need it heated. I would like to put it on 1, but just not have heat. Is this possible? I have tried having water in there, but putting it on zero. I get too dried out and I wake up with my nasal passages hurting terribly. Turning it on 1 stops that instantly. I just HATE the heat.

SuzieQ wrote:Well....maybe this is odd, but I need the humidity, but I don't need it heated. I would like to put it on 1, but just not have heat. Is this possible?

If you have water in your humidifier tank and with the heat knob turned to "0", it will still give you "some" humidity because as the air passes over the water, it will pick up some of it. It's the method I've been using since the start of my therapy. Anything higher than a setting of "0" will heat the water.

Den

SuzieQ wrote:I just HATE the heat.

Why?

It makes me hot LoQ. We sleep with the thermostat on 70 degrees and the ceiling fan on high. I HATE heat!

Suzie - -
It's good that you are asking this, because I'm sure that many find the same issue a bit confounding.

As Wulf writes, "zero" on the humidifier means that there is no heat. There will be plenty of humidity, air picks up moisture when it passes over water.

I find, as does Wulf and others, that "zero" works the best for me, meaning the lowest AHI values, and none of that rainout bother.

When I do this, I use much less distilled water, less than the minimum fill.

The reason for humidification is merely to keep membranes from drying out. However, we don't really need to drown ourselves in order to keep the passages from drying. I tend to think that one of the principal reasons behind poor compliance and success of some apneic patients is over heating the humidification.

So, fill the tank to the minimum level w distilled water, set the controls to zero, and see if that doesn't help. If you have data reporting capability, you can compare the nights that you do not heat, to the nights that you do. (For me, the comparison is truly amazing. I get about three times the AHI with heat)

Good luck.



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SuzieQ wrote:It makes me hot LoQ. We sleep with the thermostat on 70 degrees and the ceiling fan on high. I HATE heat!

Can you turn it down even more.....or open the windows?
With the temps out here getting down into the 40's and 30's, it's at the point where leaving the windows open is "iffy". Our bedroom temperature is about 60 or less.

PS....I still keep my distilled water in the refrigerator, too.

Den

SuzieQ wrote:. . . I have tried having water in there, but putting it on zero. I get too dried out and I wake up with my nasal passages hurting terribly. Turning it on 1 stops that instantly. I just HATE the heat.

I’m not sure what you’re trying for here, Suzie. If 1 works for you I think you should leave it there and don’t worry.

Like Den says, anything above 0 will apply heat to the water in the humidifier. This heat mostly makes the water evaporate faster so that you get more moisture. 1 = little heat = not too much moisture; 5 = lots of heat = lots of moisture.

Adding heat does relatively little heating of the moist air you get delivered to your mask. It requires 600 calories (a measure of heat) to convert a gram of water from liquid to vapor without changing its temperature at all. Google “heat of evaporation.” This is where most of the added heat goes, to better enable this change of physical state from liquid water to water vapor.

Wayne

Well, that all suggests that 70 degree air just isn't warm enough to hold enough humidity to keep your nasal passages comfortable when blowing a blast at you.

One of the things I've found is that putting something like KY jelly or Ayr lube on my skin makes it feel colder when the air hits it. Perhaps you could experiment with something like that. Get the standard KY, not the warming kind. Ayr lube inside your nose might solve the whole problem without turning on the humidifier.

Alternatively, you might just try to get used to having your nose hotter. Easier said than done, but I've sure adapted to a LOT of things I thought I would never be able to stand. I've even gotten to the point that I don't have to scratch my nose every time it itches. That was really hard, and sometimes I still have to scratch, but I'm getting better at tolerating the itches without scratching them.

(For some reason, this did not post. Fortunately, I still have the screen and will try to post it again. Sorry if this is a duplicate.)