Rebreathing hot humid air

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Looking for cool air

Rebreathing hot humid air

Post by Looking for cool air » Mon Jul 27, 2015 10:43 am

Am a long standing user of CPAP and can't seem to find or see anyone else having the same issue of wanting/needing COOL air during use of the machines. I have my room temperature at 65 degrees but when i breath in i sense/feel i am rebreathing my own air ( rather like continually breathing in a paper bag...............hot humid air).
I have tried putting ice in my container and it works GREAT, but it melts in a short period of time. I don't have rain out with the cool air. Is there any machine or company that has the ability to deliver COOL air so i don't feel like i'm suffocating in a hot humid tropical jungle? Any advice/thoughts would be appreciated.

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LSAT
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Re: Rebreathing hot humid air

Post by LSAT » Mon Jul 27, 2015 10:49 am

Looking for cool air wrote:Am a long standing user of CPAP and can't seem to find or see anyone else having the same issue of wanting/needing COOL air during use of the machines. I have my room temperature at 65 degrees but when i breath in i sense/feel i am rebreathing my own air ( rather like continually breathing in a paper bag...............hot humid air).
I have tried putting ice in my container and it works GREAT, but it melts in a short period of time. I don't have rain out with the cool air. Is there any machine or company that has the ability to deliver COOL air so i don't feel like i'm suffocating in a hot humid tropical jungle? Any advice/thoughts would be appreciated.

If you have the humidifier turned off, the air you are breathing is the 65 degree air from your room. Be sure that your exhaust vents are not blocked or being covered.

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Re: Rebreathing hot humid air

Post by library lady » Mon Jul 27, 2015 11:05 am

I agree with LSAT... In the summer I always turn my humidifier dial down to the white light. you don't mention what machine you are using, so we can't give you specific information for doing this. I have the PRS1 560, and if that's what you have, just turn the dial counterclockwise until the orange light is off. Humidifier will still run, but without heat.

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Re: Rebreathing hot humid air

Post by Julie » Mon Jul 27, 2015 11:52 am

You shouldn't be re-breathing anything... unless you've covered (on purpose or accidentally overnite) the CO2 vent holes - not a good idea!

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Re: Rebreathing hot humid air

Post by PoolQ » Mon Jul 27, 2015 12:37 pm

I am in your camp. humidifier is set below 68 degrees and humidity set to 1, 2 is too high for me. Airsense10 auto. it does cool the water and has a light blue snow flake icon flashing when it does, wavy red when heating.
One thing I noticed is that when I first start using it there is humid air in the chamber and that takes a while to clear out. I think this system has a pre-heat feature that I might try and see if it cools the chamber before I put the mask on.
Good to know I am not alone in this, cool, dry air for me please
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Re: Rebreathing hot humid air

Post by Wulfman... » Mon Jul 27, 2015 12:54 pm

Looking for cool air wrote:Am a long standing user of CPAP and can't seem to find or see anyone else having the same issue of wanting/needing COOL air during use of the machines. I have my room temperature at 65 degrees but when i breath in i sense/feel i am rebreathing my own air ( rather like continually breathing in a paper bag...............hot humid air).
I have tried putting ice in my container and it works GREAT, but it melts in a short period of time. I don't have rain out with the cool air. Is there any machine or company that has the ability to deliver COOL air so i don't feel like i'm suffocating in a hot humid tropical jungle? Any advice/thoughts would be appreciated.
You haven't given us any information regarding your machine, mask, machine settings or where you live.......to go on.

If you offer up some of the information, maybe we could respond with some thoughts.

I've been using "passover" humidity (water in tank but no heat) year-round for over 10 years with no problems.

Since you mention adding ice to your humidifier but it melts in a short time seems to hint that you still have some heated humidifier settings turned on. If so, turn them OFF.


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Re: Rebreathing hot humid air

Post by Jay Aitchsee » Mon Jul 27, 2015 1:34 pm

First, make sure your humidifier is off, then check out this thread: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=86433&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=15

Image

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Re: Rebreathing hot humid air

Post by archangle » Mon Jul 27, 2015 6:44 pm

Julie wrote:You shouldn't be re-breathing anything... unless you've covered (on purpose or accidentally overnite) the CO2 vent holes - not a good idea!
That's wrong. When you exhale, some of your exhaled air goes back up the hose. There are vent holes in the mask that let air leak out enough that you get enough oxygen, but you are still rebreathing some of your exhaled air.

This is more of a problem with lower pressure than higher pressure.

On cold nights, I will see moisture condensing on the inside of my hose with each exhale.
Looking for cool air wrote:Am a long standing user of CPAP and can't seem to find or see anyone else having the same issue of wanting/needing COOL air during use of the machines. I have my room temperature at 65 degrees but when i breath in i sense/feel i am rebreathing my own air ( rather like continually breathing in a paper bag...............hot humid air).
I have tried putting ice in my container and it works GREAT, but it melts in a short period of time. I don't have rain out with the cool air. Is there any machine or company that has the ability to deliver COOL air so i don't feel like i'm suffocating in a hot humid tropical jungle? Any advice/thoughts would be appreciated.
Welcome.

Please sign up for an ID and fill in the equipment on your profile. We need to know which CPAP machine and mask you have. We also need to know what your pressure setting is.

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Julie
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Re: Rebreathing hot humid air

Post by Julie » Mon Jul 27, 2015 6:56 pm

Oh. Really? Never thought of it that way... guess I must be doing it too then... though I really was also trying to make a point about the vents..

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Re: Rebreathing hot humid air

Post by PoolQ » Mon Jul 27, 2015 7:53 pm

Hummm my hose has a flapper valve in it, right at the mask, so I would think that at least with my hose not much if any real amount of CO2 gets in there when I breathe out.
That leaves the mask itself, and it seems like right after I breathe out there is a short pause before I get things turned around and breathe back in. I would think that with the air flow being pushed into the mask by the CPAP, that again most of the CO2 would bet pushed out the vent holes.

I have no idea if all hoses are the same and I don't use a short connecting hose between my mask and the main hose, so I don't know if there is a flapper valve in there also. I would think that it would be pretty important to the manufacturers of this equipment to at least try and minimize the CO2 re-breathe. Then again the hose would be under pressure, as would the mask, when I exhale. That exhaled air can either increase the pressure in the hose or exit the vent holes.

Technically though I would assume "some" amount of CO2 does get mixed in with the fresh air and rebreathed. Willing to bet that in the real world that it is very little, but what do I know
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Re: Rebreathing hot humid air

Post by palerider » Mon Jul 27, 2015 7:57 pm

PoolQ wrote:Hummm my hose has a flapper valve in it, right at the mask, so I would think that at least with my hose not much if any real amount of CO2 gets in there when I breathe out.
that is an anti-asphixiation valve, it's closed when the machine is running. when the machine is OFF, the valve opens to the outside air and lets you breath through it, preventing asphyxiation.

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Re: Rebreathing hot humid air

Post by PoolQ » Mon Jul 27, 2015 8:01 pm

palerider wrote:
PoolQ wrote:Hummm my hose has a flapper valve in it, right at the mask, so I would think that at least with my hose not much if any real amount of CO2 gets in there when I breathe out.
that is an anti-asphixiation valve, it's closed when the machine is running. when the machine is OFF, the valve opens to the outside air and lets you breath through it, preventing asphyxiation.

Well that's good to know, never thought of it-very nice to know.
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Re: Rebreathing hot humid air

Post by palerider » Mon Jul 27, 2015 8:07 pm

PoolQ wrote:
palerider wrote:
PoolQ wrote:Hummm my hose has a flapper valve in it, right at the mask, so I would think that at least with my hose not much if any real amount of CO2 gets in there when I breathe out.
that is an anti-asphixiation valve, it's closed when the machine is running. when the machine is OFF, the valve opens to the outside air and lets you breath through it, preventing asphyxiation.

Well that's good to know, never thought of it-very nice to know.
many people are confused by it, since they normally only see the valve in the 'machine off' position, where it's floating in the middle of the elbow, but when the machine comes on, it snaps up against the big holes by it, cutting off the holes, and thus the connection to the outside.

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Re: Rebreathing hot humid air

Post by PoolQ » Mon Jul 27, 2015 8:57 pm

I had to go look, as I had never really paid attention to it before. Yep exactly as you say. I guess under pressure the system limits rebreathing to the volume of the mask and to that valve. Compared to our lung capacity my guess that any rebreathe is quite small. Maybe the manufacturers know what they are doing so we don't pass out using their equipment
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Re: Rebreathing hot humid air

Post by palerider » Mon Jul 27, 2015 10:12 pm

PoolQ wrote:I had to go look, as I had never really paid attention to it before. Yep exactly as you say. I guess under pressure the system limits rebreathing to the volume of the mask and to that valve. Compared to our lung capacity my guess that any rebreathe is quite small. Maybe the manufacturers know what they are doing so we don't pass out using their equipment
under pressure, the valve closes on the external opening, and doesn't move until the blower shuts off if that flap moved, you'd have a huge air leak out of the big holes it covers. there's nothing to prevent a fast exhale from pushing some air back up the hose, but then it's typically flushed out before you inhale again.

I can feel the temperature change of the exhaust air by putting my fingers by the vent, it gets warmer when I exhale, then promptly gets cool again before I inhale again.

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