oops. packed humidifier without emptying

I just discovered I forgot to empty my humifier before travelling today. Fortunately I knew I would only be staying at last night's hotel for one night, so I didn't fillit high. I used bottled water. It's all out drying now but it's getting late for me.

Machine was slightly damp on outside. I got humidifier out first (oh no I thought when I touched it). Dampness on blower could have been on my hands. Not much water was left in humidifier but I don't know how much was there this morning.

Overall everything feels at worst damp. I am thinking of waiting a few more hours then using it. Any comments?

I need to be alert tomorrow. I have a meeting in the morning followed by a 5 to 6 hour drive.

There's not really a good answer.

The "safe" answer is to not power it on until it's been checked out by a qualified technician.

Try to drain out any water you can by holding it up where water can drain out. Wrapping the machine in a pillowcase, sealing that tightly, and putting that inside a plastic bag with some uncooked rice might help. That process has saved quite a few electronic gadgets.

If you power it up before it's thoroughly dry, you could cause a lot more damage.

Check the filter and dry it out or change it if it's wet.

JointPain wrote:I just discovered I forgot to empty my humifier before travelling today. Fortunately I knew I would only be staying at last night's hotel for one night, so I didn't fillit high. I used bottled water. It's all out drying now but it's getting late for me.

Machine was slightly damp on outside. I got humidifier out first (oh no I thought when I touched it). Dampness on blower could have been on my hands. Not much water was left in humidifier but I don't know how much was there this morning.

Overall everything feels at worst damp. I am thinking of waiting a few more hours then using it. Any comments?

I need to be alert tomorrow. I have a meeting in the morning followed by a 5 to 6 hour drive.

Don't use it tonight. Take a blower of some sort, like a hair dryer, and blow dry the internals of the blower as best you can, for hours. Or put it in the oven or somewhere where you can warm it up to about 100°F, or so, and force it to dry out inside. Leave it there for many, many, hours.

I did the same thing last summer. I tried blowing it out with compressed air and used it that night. It died. It would run for awhile and then stop, finally wouldn't run at all. Fortunately it was still on Medicare rental and the DME swapped it out for a new one. They didn't ask what happened, and I didn't volunteer!

Keep your fingers crossed but get ready to get it replaced. It doesn't take much water in the blower to send it to la-la land. Not emptying the humidifier, is unfortunately, a stupid thing to do. I know.

Thanks a lot Archangle and Idamtnboy. Will sleep without it at least tonight. I'll keep fingers crossed it survives after thorough drying.

I'm curious how you both packed the machine when you did this. Was it in the case or in another suitcase still attached. I'm just curious in the case with the units separated, how much water would get in the blower. I understand it's not worth taking the risk. When I have traveled, I have left the humidifier at home so I guess that's a good practice.

Was it in the ResMed bag? If so the unit might be dry on the inside but I'm guessing you would have noticed the water if you separated the two units. How much water can not not account for? 1/4 a tank or more?

How are you with screwdrivers? If your handy have a long thin screwdriver (1/8th" craftsman works great) and a T10 torx (or 3/32" flat or jewellers flats), you can open the plastic and get the water out of the noise sponges that have hopefully soaked up all the water. The normal tricks of removing water wont work if you have an 1/2 tank of water in the sponges and will corrode the electronics before its dried out.

If you're going to pop open the s9... remove the screw and that bottom corner will come out slightly. There are 4 tabs that need the long screwdriver on the sides. Drop the screwdriver in the middle of the 4 rectangle slots on the bottom and pry moving the handle away from the unit. If you start with the one near the screw while pulling the bottom of the case, it won't take much force at all. Do the other tab on that side and then do the other back corner. The bottom trim plastic will want to hinge on the front but don't do that. Press it in the middle and pull it off parallel to the bottom of the unit.

There are 2 clear tabs on the front. Press them in slightly while pulling the cover but just move it enough to unsnap them. There are two clear tabs on the back next to the expensive option connector (i.e. the one you have never plugged anything into). Press them in starting near the power connector end. Any sort of plastic thing that size (like a lid off a cheap pen) will work. Now there is only one clip left and its back corner near the filter. It has to be moved towards the inside of the unit but mine was broken when I first saw it so I'm guessing they got their injection molding calculations wrong. You need a long screw driver to get to that and that is the point where you know you bought a snap together toy.

Watch static electricity for the next bit. There are two more torx screws holding the board on and a clip holding the power unit on (use long screw driver again). When you take the board off, watch the three pressure tubes. One is between the holes in teh top of the unit, the other near the connector with wires. Not there is a tube connecting the sensor on the board with the tube here and the tube has a tab that goes in the slot. Once the board is off, you can remove the last torx screws and get to the container and where the water is. There are two sponges that might be wet. Ring the water out and let them dry. I would use the device without them if they are wet since they get a lot of air flow and if they are wet, they will start to grow nasty things.

The motor shouldn't have any water in its motor bits but water in the air bits may not be a problem. Stick a hair dryer in one end and blow air through it.

The circuit board should be dry as well. Don't use a hot air dryer near the display or sensors and watch the rubber tube.

You can test it before you put the silver (or pink) bits on by covering the outlet and using the leak test feature. Make sure you put back 4 screws (you should have one left at this point). You should not hear any air flow if you cover it with your hand. Once its working, then you can put the top on first. It goes on square and don't try to pry or rotate it on. The same goes for the bottom and then put in the final screw.
This problem could have been prevented by a $.20 flap in the right place.

You can do with with a Torx t10 (a t8 or 9 will work) or in a pinch a Craftsman 3/32 flat (41058) and 1/8 inch flat (41589).

Wow. Thanks Tim. That is a massively helpful post.

I separated the blower and humidifier and packed them in their respective compartments per the instructions. (It was just the most critical step I missed.) I put in at most 1/4 tank the night before so there's not a lot of water to go around. I'm not even sure the blower got wet. The air filter at the back was dry. I just need to err on the cautious side.

Last night was the first since I restarted therapy (nearly a year) that I've slept without it. I was having apneas before I had even gotten to sleep. I tried the hotel chair but it was impossibly small. I remember a lot of dreams (bad) and had a massive headache and exhaustion this morning. I did manage to get through my meeting and am feeling better now. I'll get home tonight and use my old S6 until the S9 is checked out.

Thanks again everyone.

Lizistired wrote:I'm curious how you both packed the machine when you did this. Was it in the case or in another suitcase still attached. I'm just curious in the case with the units separated, how much water would get in the blower. I understand it's not worth taking the risk. When I have traveled, I have left the humidifier at home so I guess that's a good practice.

In the Resmed bag. It's easy to not see a 1/4 or 1/3 tank of water in the humidifier when you just pick it up after disconnecting it from the blower. The water poured out of the humidifier and migrated to the blower side after picking up and carrying the bag. The Resmed bag is pretty tight externally, but not so much between the compartments.

In my Resmed bag, the connecting ports between the humidifier and the blower are supposed to face away from each other,
and the divider is not removable-forcing you to separate the devices. I suspect this is more to cover THEIR hineys.
Pity the text reminding us to empty the tank is upside down when you open the case.
I have always emptied the tank and stuffed a dry paper towel inside for extra measure--but I don't travel a lot.

If they weren't attached to each other, there any water that might have gone in the blower hole will not get far. I would plug it in, run it on the mask fit setting and see what goes on.

-tim wrote:If they weren't attached to each other, there any water that might have gone in the blower hole will not get far. I would plug it in, run it on the mask fit setting and see what goes on.

So far so good (fingers crossed).

I put them all together, humidifier disabled and no water in it, and powered up. It's been about 1/2 hour so far and everything appears to be working as it should.

I think I was very lucky.

Now I need to devise a reliable way to not do something stupid like that again. Perhaps a pad of post-it notes and write my self a note (Empty Me) and stick it on the humidifier when I fill it.

JointPain wrote:

-tim wrote:If they weren't attached to each other, there any water that might have gone in the blower hole will not get far. I would plug it in, run it on the mask fit setting and see what goes on.

So far so good (fingers crossed).

I put them all together, humidifier disabled and no water in it, and powered up. It's been about 1/2 hour so far and everything appears to be working as it should.

I think I was very lucky.

Now I need to devise a reliable way to not do something stupid like that again. Perhaps a pad of post-it notes and write my self a note (Empty Me) and stick it on the humidifier when I fill it.

Wear Boxing Gloves when packing XPAP. Jim

Just remember you have had your free do over, next one costs.

-tim wrote:If they weren't attached to each other, there any water that might have gone in the blower hole will not get far. I would plug it in, run it on the mask fit setting and see what goes on.

Bad advice, very bad advice, very, very, bad advice!

In my case enough water got into the blower unit, around the blower hole, far enough that when I turned it on it started to act up. In fact I'm not sure that any water went inside the blower hole at all. I used an air hose to blow it out the best I could. After a few hours of running hit and miss it died completely. The last thing you want to do is turn on an electronic device while it is wet. Water between circuit points will conduct enough electricity to kill many components. It only takes one circuit in one chip to go bad to kill the whole thing. Even on something as small as the S9 there are thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of circuits, many with exposed connections on the printed circuit board.

JointPain wrote:

-tim wrote:If they weren't attached to each other, there any water that might have gone in the blower hole will not get far. I would plug it in, run it on the mask fit setting and see what goes on.

So far so good (fingers crossed).

I put them all together, humidifier disabled and no water in it, and powered up. It's been about 1/2 hour so far and everything appears to be working as it should.

I think I was very lucky.

Now I need to devise a reliable way to not do something stupid like that again. Perhaps a pad of post-it notes and write my self a note (Empty Me) and stick it on the humidifier when I fill it.

Sticky note on the H5i that lives where it can't be seen unless you take it apart?

Note for ResMed: How about a a bright yellow sticker saying empty water before packing on the side of the h5I and provide a sticker for the S9 as well.

idamtnboy wrote:

-tim wrote:If they weren't attached to each other, there any water that might have gone in the blower hole will not get far. I would plug it in, run it on the mask fit setting and see what goes on.

Bad advice, very bad advice, very, very, bad advice!

In my case enough water got into the blower unit, around the blower hole, far enough that when I turned it on it started to act up. In fact I'm not sure that any water went inside the blower hole at all. I used an air hose to blow it out the best I could. After a few hours of running hit and miss it died completely. The last thing you want to do is turn on an electronic device while it is wet. Water between circuit points will conduct enough electricity to kill many components. It only takes one circuit in one chip to go bad to kill the whole thing. Even on something as small as the S9 there are thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of circuits, many with exposed connections on the printed circuit board.

Tell us more.

I agree there is a risk. The electronics of the S9 is on the board that is a few mm below the screen and parallel to it. The motor is the only thing below that with any electricity. There is a huge sponge that will absorb most water that comes in at lest one direction. Most of the board will be running at 3.3 volts which doesn't conduct through distilled water. You are right that one short can wipe out the whole thing. I figure if your choice is clean it out best you can or turn it on and destroy it, you have better odds popping it open.