ResMed S9 Humidifier Clicking Noise (h5i)

[Dale92]

Boy am I glad I haven't heard this clicking from my new machine! I cannot get to sleep with any noise! Many years ago, when almost all alarm clocks clicked loudly with each passing second, I could only get to sleep at night by placing my alarm clock outside the bedroom and hoping I would be awakened by the alarm in the AM in time to get up for work.

At first I thought the clicking you were talking about was the humidifier's water chamber, then after reading the thread RandyJ referenced it finally clicked form me I have to admit I am a little slow on the uptake most times so it took a bit to realize it is the "humidifier" itself and not the water chamber. OK I got it now.

Now I am a guy, married and suffering from some of the results of the aging process one of which is my hearing is getting worse. I have a question, is the clicking more of a higher pitch? I know for a fact that I have a difficult time hearing higher pitched sounds to which my wife will attest to But seriously, I am very glad I have not noticed this problem with my new S9. I already sleep with earplugs in both ears so that I can get to sleep by not having to listen to the machine cycling air in and out with each and every breath I take. I have no complaints about the S9's decible level, it is quiet, but so has the other two units I have had since I started CPAP in 05. Thankfully with the earplugs in I can sleep unless I pull them out of my ears during the night then I have to find another set to get back to sleep.

Dale

[Blue ocean one]

Yes my h5i makes the clicking noise from day one! It stops some times, but most of time it clicks.
Will contact Resmed and the supplier see if there is a fix .

[Don57]

Mine also clicks away, two quiet clicks every 10 seconds, unless I disconnect the power. Very strange...

I have the humidifier plugged in with the climate tube.

Please post fix, if available.

[JamesW6175]

Have a ResMed Elite S9 with the H5i humidifier about two weeks and the climate tube . Have not noticed any clicking noise at all, unit is on bedside table. Could something be loose in the tubing or a piece of debit got in. Have a FFM and noticed a clicking noise when the unit is not all the way on, from the valve in the face mask clicks with each breath. Could this be it?

[chunkyfrog]

Never heard it; my H5i is over 2.7 years old, and still no clicking.
If it did, my first solution would be to lower the machine to where the mattress/bedding would block the noise better.
Always try the easy/cheap thing first.

[edm_msu]

Never heard any clicking, with or without a climateline hose.
Does high pressure cause the clicking? Mine is low at a straight 9 cm H2O, sometimes 6 to 10 cm H2O.
What about temperature? Mine is rather low at 77 degrees or 1.0, depending if the climateline hose is used.
For the S9's that click, Is the plastic humidifier chamber washable (openable)?
How can the humidifier make a clicking sound when there are no moving parts when operating?

[BudSky]

I too have the S9 Auto with heated humidifier. Never hear any clicking whatsoever.

[don57]

Just to clarify: the clicking sound only occurs when the unit is off (but plugged in), and with the humidifier attached. It is not during the warm-up or cool-down sequence. The sound is coming from the humidifier and it's very subtle, and you need to listen for it very carefully (don't do this if you end up hearing it and then it will continue to bother you!) It occurs about every 5 seconds with the climate tube attached, and about every 10 seconds with it disconnected. If the power cord is disconnected, the clicking sound stops.

It doesn't bother me because the unit is on when I'm in bed, but my wife goes to bed before me, and she's sensitive to it (she's OK when it's running, but can't stand the clicking when it's not running). So she disconnects the power, which makes me fumble with one more thing when I need to reconnect the cord.

There is probably a sensor that is constantly testing temperature and/or humidity, probably for the warm-up or cool-down sequence. But it would be nice if the power-off button, when pressed for 3-seconds, actually turned off the power completely. For now, I think I'll attach it to a power-strip with an on/off switch.

[maxou723]

I have the same issue with my 2 week old machine. Even when off (but plugged in) it makes that clicking noise all day every 5 seconds. I contacted ResMed and here is there response:

«Do you have your H5i Humidifier attached? I do know that humidifier does have a very low sounding clicking noise. It comes from the capacitors when they are dissipating power. It can do this for up to an hour even after you stopped your therapy. There is a cool down state that last an hour after you finish your therapy each day. Your device will blow at 1 L/m for an hour to prevent moisture build up around the motor. You can separate the humidifier from the CPAP to prevent this from happening. Now if it’s a loud clicking noise I recommend you to bring it to your service provider for evaluation.

Thanks»

Anyways wil contact the place of purchase to see what they suggest.

[Jason77]

I am about to call Resmed for the 3rd warranty return of my Resmed S9 humidifier. I have called the company before and they confirm this is a known issue with the humidifier "ticking". Their technical notes state it is caused by a rapid discharge of a capacitor in the overprotection test of the firmware/software in the humidifier.

Newer or corrected units are supposed to have newer firmware where this does not occur.

[knothead]

Hope you get it fixed, I have 2 resmed s9's(Elite & Auto Set) and neither one clicks. Been very satisfied with them. There has to be something the factory can do for you...if not try craigs list, I saw a resmed s9 humidifier somewhere on there...cheap. Good luck.

[-tim]

The "click" sounds like a small relay in the h5i unit.

[Jason77]

3rd replacement... Technician now says it is not a defect. It is by design. Which is just insane! The are refusing to fix the circuitry that is causing this problem. I am contacting customer service to register a complaint.

[doogie]

3rd replacement... Technician now says it is not a defect. It is by design. Which is just insane! The are refusing to fix the circuitry that is causing this problem. I am contacting customer service to register a complaint.

Greetings everyone, I have just joined CPAPtalk.com (after years of lurking) just to comment in this thread!

I am having exactly the same clicking problem as the others and for now, my only way to address the problem (since it bothers my wife during the day if she needs to sleep as she has unusually acute hearing) is to either detach the power supply (either unplug from wall, or detach connector from back of CPAP) OR unlatch the humidifier from the S9 CPAP itself. Both of these, frankly, are annoying and kludgy solutions to address an issue with a very expensive piece of technology.

I ended up talking to ResMed customer service, and then tech support as well. My experience was identical to Jason77. Not only is this NOT considered a flaw by them, it's a "Feature" to protect us!

After going round and round with the ResMed staff and getting nowhere on this issue, I made it clear to the tech support guy that I didn't expect ResMed to do a thing to address this, since obviously the people with sleep disorders are not the ones designing these units. I guess I made an impression on him because he actually called me back with a way to leave input and receive a formal response from them. IF OTHERS HAVING THIS PROBLEM WOULD DO THE SAME, it might register with them that this is something that needs to be fixed. What you do is:

- visit resmed.com (since I'm in the US, it then forwards me to http://www.resmed.com/us/index.html).
- click on "Contact US" in the upper right corner
- On the left side, under "Offices in North America", you should see "Contact Form" and "Idea Submissions". Click on "Contact Form". (Not sure how this will work outside North America)
- On the next page, there will be a drop-down. You should click on "Submit Idea". (I realize that this seems counter-intuitive, as you're not recommending a feature, but it is specifically what I was instructed to do if you want your message to get to the people that would need to see the message).
- A contact form will then come up and you can enter your complaint about the clicking noise. You're unfortunately limited to 500 characters, which isn't really that much. I had to abbreviate some of my words and tailor it to fit.

Maybe if enough of us bug them about this flaw (and it's a flaw, nothing else), they can do something to remedy the problem. Thanks for all you folks do on this site.

[Nozzelnut]

Mine clicks but only when not in use. After I start it up I can't hear it; the noise is drowned out by the whirr of the blower motor.