Table surface affects machine loudness

surf_rower's recent post in which s/he mentioned the loudness of the machine prompted me to share this in case it is useful to others: A couple of weeks ago I was visiting my daughter out of state, my first time taking my PAP machine away from home. I set up my machine on a nightstand by the bed, pretty much the way I have it at home. But when I turned on my normally whisper-quiet S9 VPAP, I jumped because it sounded like a rumbling freight train coming at my head! The reason turned out to be the table itself. My nightstand table at home is made of solid wood, with one very small drawer under the top and open to the floor. The nightstand I had my machine on while away was an Ikea particle board nightstand with two full drawers. The drawers were empty. I believe it was the different materials as well as the large hollow drawers that caused my machine to sound so loud compared to its normally quiet operation.

So if your machine seems extra loud, experiment a bit with the surface you have your machine sitting on -- it can make a very significant decibel difference.

Putting something like the older, larger mouse pads under the machine helps greatly with deadening the sound, too. I always have some packed in my travel machine bags besides the ones on my bedside nightstand. They also help keep the machines from being pulled off of the nightstands.


Den

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Yes, I use the older, larger mouse pad under my machine at home.

I should pack one with my backup/travel machine as well.

Thanks for that suggestion, Den.

I have a gardeners kneeling pad, cut it in half and I have one for home and one in the motorhome...... perfect.

Great post especially for inexperienced users like me that haven't traveled with cpap yet. Thanks!

caffeinatedcfo wrote:Great post especially for inexperienced users like me that haven't traveled with cpap yet. Thanks!

You're welcome caff -- as an FYI, I did put padding under my machine on that Ikea nightstand, but it was still pretty darn loud.

During recent travel I was reminded of this - the hotel bedside table was the worst. Good thing I was too exhausted to care. I used to keep my machine on one of the large rubber mousepads for years. Was even selling them for a while with things like "Hosehead" on them. My last one finally got so icky looking I decided to give it up. Don't really need it at home, but may need to rethink that for travel. Thanks for the reminder.

For those with a kettle drum in the bedroom don't set your machine on it at night.
Jim

I have a plastic (mesh) type mat under my machine. It was quiet before but now I don't hear a thing, and the mat keeps it from slipping off my night stand.

Matter of fact, I read about that from someone here on the forum.

ems wrote:I have a plastic (mesh) type mat under my machine. It was quiet before but now I don't hear a thing, and the mat keeps it from slipping off my night stand.

Matter of fact, I read about that from someone here on the forum.

Yep. It's been discussed here before. That matting you're speaking of comes in rolls and is sold as "shelf liner" and there's another larger version that's sold to be put under throw rugs to keep them from moving. It's more like a rubberized mesh.


Den

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Here's an example of what Den is talking about:

http://www.amazon.com/Duck-1100731-Non- ... 002AS9NAI/



That sort of thing is light for travel, reduces slipping and works like a champ.

I have a piece of the rubberized sheeting pictured above under my machine. It won't slip at all if I pull on the hose; a good idea for some of the people who claimed they've pulled (or nearly pulled) their machines off the night stands.