AirSense 10 Humidifier badly discoloured after first use

I just upgraded to the new AirSense 10 from Resmed, previously having had ResMed S8 Autoset Spirit's and more recently for the last 4 going on 5 years an S9 Autoset and find them to be really good, that's why I recently paid and upgraded and received my new AirSense 10. First night was great, just like the S9, to be honest I really didn't notice much of a difference other than having the Climate Control on Auto (usually I set the climate on 22C) where as on AirSense 10 auto is 27C, I found the air a little warmer than usual, received a great night sleep of 9 hours, the S9 was near perfect anyway. The AirSense 10 is great, even smaller than the S9, but the humidifier not so great it seems.

I had filled my Humidifier water container with regular tap water as per talking to the person at Resmed and not use distilled or deionised water (that's what I've done previously on the H4i, H5i for the last 9 years), didn't use any additives, didn't clean it this morning other than emptying the tub this morning and rinsing with tap water and this was how it looked after 1 night of use.



It looks like the metal coating they're using on the inside of the tub is badly coated / adhered to the metal base of the tub because it bubbles and discolours very easily, although it still feels soft to the touch (no raised areas or pits). I'm hoping this is a one-off manufacturer fault but still waiting for Resmed support to get back to me, after 1 night sleep filling with regular tap water, emptying and rinsing, this doesn't look good. In two years use my H5i tub on my S9 it never looked anything like this. I'm hoping it's not an inherent design flaw on the coating they're attaching to the metal base, it definitely looks a different kind of metal compared with my S9's H5i, more metallic looking rather than chrome looking. Resmed also tell me that the cost of replacing this tub vs the S9's H5i is double the price, so at this rate I can see myself buying one a month if they are all like this

Anyone with an AirSense 10 care to inspect the inside of their humidifer tub and see if you get similar bubble marks or discolouration?

Thanks
Dave

I'd suspect you've been given bad advice about using other than distilled water whenever you can, but I have not upgraded my 2 S9 "twins". They have less discoloration after 6 months. Good luck with the replacement

I've been using tap water for 9+ years without a problem in the H4i and H5i without a problem, so I know its nothing to do with my water supply and more to do with the water tub in question.

Even after 1 night use unless you're putting acid in there, it shouldn't go like that after a single use.

EDIT - Spoke to Resmed, their Product Management Team are investigating urgently as they haven't received much feedback yet regarding the AirSense 10 and Humidifier as its still very new.

You're lucky, my water sucks. Glad ResMed are getting their act together...

Mine was somewhat like that ....I'll include a picture later.....my dis colored area was only about 25% of yours', I have my climate control on manual so I could run hose temp at 83 and humidity at 7. I like my air warm and moist, I am using distilled water. I chalked the discoloration up to poor quality metal used in the standard tub. I found that I was using a lot of water at my settings and would run out if I used machine for a solid 8 hours, I would also run out on S9 too as it is a very dry climate where I live. So I purchased a second tub so I could fill both before bed and just swap them out in the middle of the night when I get up for bathroom break. Anyway when I bought second tub I purchased the dish washer safe model and I have been using both tubs every night for about a month. Absolutely no sign of discoloration in the dish washer safe tub, so I figure the metal in the upgraded tub is higher quality. The dish washer safe tub should last more than a year easily, maybe even much more than that. I had the upgraded tub in my S9 for two years and it still looks fine! So get yourself the dish washer safe tub and use distilled water so it will last a long time, it's worth a few extra bucks. By the way, the discoloration in my standard tub has not gotten any worse since the first couple of nights....I will try to include a picture later, mine was not nearly as bad as yours.

My DME (what sweethearts!) supplied the DW safe tub with my new machine.
No such problem here, but maybe it is related to the regular tub.
FYI---<$33/$23 from our hosts. not including shipping.

Thanks TangledHose, that confirms what I thought is that it's a manufacturing defect across the board . That won't be good, possible recall if you're having the same.

I think it's down to the metal used like you say or more likely the coating they are applying to the metal, it's definitely inferior to that what was used on the S9's H5i tub. I never on the S9 or yet on the AirSense 10 run out of water in the tub, usually have a good 50% water remaining after 8-9 hours, on the S9 I would run it around 22C but on the AirSense 10 I'm trying it on Auto at 27C to start with.

That's really interesting about the dishwasher safe tub, I'll mention this to ResMed. Does the dishwasher safe tub look any different metal wise to the original tub? My S9 tub was fine too, I did buy 3 tubs eventually over the 5 year period only because the plastic in them were going a bit calcy and around the edges there was some too but the base of the tub was always fine on the S9.

Thanks Chunkfrog, definitely seems that the dishwasher safe tub is the better option, I'll talk to the Product Managers about this at RessMed that at least two others aren't seeing problems on the dishwasher safe tubs, hopefully they'll fix this long term...

Ugh, that last post came out as guest, seemed to log me out. Anyway thanks guys, will get onto Resmed on Monday when they're back.

Weird -- my A10 has now been in use for 7 weeks, and the tub looks pristine like the day I brought it home. I also ran it at least twice with the tub empty (when I forgot to top it off before going to sleep) but I'm not sure how long that it was, because in those cases I was up in the middle of the night filling it. I use distilled water, though -- my water is ridiculously hard (or, as we say here, "chewy"!) But that mark doesn't look like it has much to do with the water -- that's heat on the metal.

Thats what is known as thermal spalling. It's a defect in the metal caused by a hotspot that formed when that part of the metal got much, much hotter than the surrounding metal. Somehow it heated unevenly and as a result it caused this thermal spalling. This is a good indication that either the heating element is faulty or it is distributing the heat very unevenly, Either way, Resmed needs to look into this further. Don't be surprised if they ask you to send it back to them and give you a free replacement. They'll probably want to dissect that one to find out what went wrong in the manufacturing process.

The two tubs appear to be identical, except the color of the grip on the lid.

I am including my picture, but it didn't come out as well as yours, could not get the right lighting, but anyway mine looks like "Baby Spalling" compared to yours, which is a little funny because I am running my humidity settings with the climateline air hose a little warmer than you.......on Auto the default is 80 F (26.67 C) and I am running mine in manual set on 83 F (28.33 C) so I should have gotten more or less like yours. My first thought was bad metal or metal coating in the standard tub, but you may have a case of a defective heating element since yours is so bad. Would be interesting to see what a Dish Washer safe tub would do in your machine with same settings......my dish washer tub is showing no signs of the discoloration that is showing up on my standard tub.

This picture the discoloration look better than it does in person - - I just couldn't get lighting right (I may try again later with a better camera but you get the idea):

Mine is just fine after a month of usage. In fact, I wish I could turn it off, with the unit still in. I don't need the humidity. So I doubt it has to do with anthything linked to a wide recall. But if any one has information on how to turn at humidity off, I'm all ears.

You can by End caps to put on in place of the humidifier tank, Just check Resmed web site or your DME.

Anemone wrote:Mine is just fine after a month of usage. In fact, I wish I could turn it off, with the unit still in. I don't need the humidity. So I doubt it has to do with anthything linked to a wide recall. But if any one has information on how to turn at humidity off, I'm all ears.

Anemone ....to turn humidifier off go into clinical setup menu by pushing in the button in the round knob while simultaneously pushing the home button for 3 seconds.....then go into options and set climate control from Auto to manual, you can then turn humidity down to either off or anywhere from setting1 to 8 ....8 being high and one being low.....if you are using heated hose you can also adjust the temp on the hose in degrees, can't remember the coldest setting but it is probably in the 60s or 70s and can go up to 86.