Recall of Repironics DC Powered Humidifier

I received a letter from my DME today. It states that there is an M Series Humidifier Recall for the following models:
1051158, 1051157, 1049124, 1049110, 1049109, U1049110, U1049109, R1049110, & R1049109.
These appear to be all DC powered humidifiers, not AC. One indication that there is a problem developing is a blinking LED on the humidifier control knob. If you have one of the above machines, you should contact your DME. It is safe to operate in passover mode.
Bill

You should probably add the word "Recall" to your subject.

Well, that's a larger range of models that the previous recall posting: viewtopic/t43001/FDA-recall-on-some-Rem ... CPAPs.html And, looks like that includes my humidifier now.

Wonder what I should do....been using passive over the summer, but starting to use heat again occasionally.

Wonder if I'll hear from my DME?

The Dreamer.

And what are we supposed to do if we purchased it online?
Thank You!

Interesting....



and



Wonder what the serial number ranges are?

Has me worried...because I so seldom use it...but when I do...I'm likely to be miles away from home, etc.

The Dreamer

Thank you for posting this! I haven't heard from my DME yet, and to be honest I don't sit up at night and watch the pretty blue lights -- I punch the button, roll over and go to sleep. But that won't be the case tonight....

This M Series integrated humidifier sure has been one heck of a headache for Respironics. I hope they've done a heck of a whole lot better w/the integrated humidifier for their new PR SytemOne line!!!! According to the SystemOne literature a leak into the unit can't happen .....

Interesting, my unit is not blinking. I'll be watching to see if it starts.

You know the saying, If it wasn't for bad luck...

Check my humidifier the other day, and found out that it is one of the ones affected. During that time, I'd won an APAP and ordered a humidifier for it. That came in today and guess what, it is affected as well.

Anyone know what our host's policy is on recalls?

Sent them an email, but not sure when I'll hear something from them.

Thanks,
David

This makes no sense. A "recall" means a known manufacturing defect serious enough to warrant replacement. I have never heard of a "conditional" recall as in "wait until it fails before we'll lift a finger to help you." It puts all customers in a position of wondering when the shoe will drop and the inconvenience that will result. We have enough trouble sleeping without having to wonder whether our humidifiers will conk out in the middle of the night.

In my case, I only use the Respironics humidifier for travel (at home I use F&P 150), so if/when it goes out it's double jeopardy for me.

If Philips has issued a recall on critical medical equipment, they should be proactively replacing the units at the customers' convenience, not their own. Yes, they can fall back on the "you can still use just the cpap" defense, but that kind of hair-splitting might not go over too well in a courtroom.

I do not intend to sit passively by on this issue. Does anyone have a Philips point of contact we can leverage?

So, what have people done about this? I have one of the units listed in the recall, and the humidifier works most of the time, but its little blue light has been going off and on sometimes. The last two nights there has been a definite funny smell when I use the machine. Washed all the parts, changed filters -- we'll see how it is tonight. Meanwhile, have you all traded in for another machine? What did you get? How did the DME treat you?

Respironics is sending the letters out to the pts, not the DME. There are alot more units out there that are defective that Respironics didn't expect. If you affected call your DME. Dme will have to get a new humidifier from Respironics to replace yours. All of the humidifiers we had on our shelves were part of this recall, so the DME may not have any on their shelf.

cpapqueen1 wrote:Respironics is sending the letters out to the pts, not the DME. There are alot more units out there that are defective that Respironics didn't expect. If you affected call your DME. Dme will have to get a new humidifier from Respironics to replace yours. All of the humidifiers we had on our shelves were part of this recall, so the DME may not have any on their shelf.

What are they replacing it with?? AC unit- I hope not as I like the option of using it on DC

My unit is not acting funny- but it is within those serial numbers

Thanks for keeping us up to date
letchworth

TheDreamer;

I would call my DME and tell them that my humidifier is part of the recall and that I think that my humidifier is acting up like the notice said it could. I would then ask how long it will take to get a replacement.

I am going to take some educated guesses at what is happening here.

The heater is likely a sheet of kapton plastic with a resistance element 'printed' on it like traces on a PC board. Kapton is a 'superplastic', and is also used for flexible interconnects in many kinds of electronic equipment.

In any case, the flexible kapton sheet is soldered on to a rigid PC board, often with some sort of simple mechanical support. Each time the heater operates, thermal expansion causes the flexible kapton to flex slightly. If the soldered connections were not done properly, or too little solder was used, in time, these connections could crack. I see this quite frequently when fixing electronic equipment. It is also possible that the conductive tracks on the kapton itself have cracked, which is more difficult to repair. If I could not get a replacement quickly, I would probably check and fix this myself (not for everybody!!).

Katcw, your strange smell may indeed be this problem occurring. If a partly cracked solder joint, or trace on the kapton was just bad enough to cause resistance, you could have a machine that appears to work, but it really doesn't. The solder joints or narrowed trace will get hot from the current flow and could result in the smell you are smelling. Eventually, they will fail.

I think what Respironics is doing here is covering the posterior bulges encasing the gluteus maximus muscles. There is a perception that medical equipment needs to work flawlessly all the time; no device can do that. So, even though there is no immediate danger, Philips Respironics is just taking proactive action to ensure that their reputation is not damaged, or that people won't sue them over this problem.

This perception, and the attempts to legislate its reality (the government is still under the delusion that perfect is possible), is one reason why medical equipment costs so much, even at online prices. If everyone needed a CPAP machine, and did not need a prescription, etc., they would (well, most anyway) probably sell for less than $100.