"M" Humidifier Chamber

Anyone had the humidifier chamber on the Respronics M machine go out. I know they had a bunch that were defective and leaked. If you had one go out did it leak at the "O" ring, the square seals where it plugs into the air line or at the seal around the metal plate in the bottom. I am getting some wetness under the humidifier in the morning and I can't tell where it is comming from.

Some one posted they were having a similar problem and the answer was the swivel elbow but mine did not come with the elbow. I have a solid elbow which should not be leaking.

Any sugestions on what to look for would be appreciated.

Take a look at the gasket between the two halves. If it "jogs" at all, that's your leak source.
Also, make sure it's seated properly in the chamber.

If the ring is seated properly, then bring your entire humidifier back to your DME. It has a warranty. They may just replace the humidifer tank, but no hurt in angling for a new one since electronics can only take so much wetness.

According to Respronics the warrenty on the chamber is only 90 days. Mine is almost 6 months old so warrenty does not seem to be a solution. My DME wants $80 for a new one. CPAP.com wants $39.99. Seems a bit high if I have to replace it every 6 months. Thinking about scraping it and replacing it with a Fisher & Paykel HC150. It comes with 2 chambers that look larger than the one one that I have and replacements are only 14.99. Looks like at this rate it would not take long to ay for the new humidifier.

Any advise would be appreciated

The M series humidifier tanks were defective, they would leak at the o-ring between the upper and lower tank. This leak would leak inside the humidifier chamber "under pressure" from the machine, drip down beside the heating element and through slot where it would stay inside the humidifier base.

The defect was identified from the molding number on the tank lid, if not mistaken I think the defective tanks had a "2" injection mold stamp number on them the tank that didn't leak had no injection mold "number" stamp or was "1".

CORRECTION: The "defective" tank has a "2" molded on it near the opening on the tank lid. If you look at the tank with the latch on the right, the number "2" will be shown about in the upper center of the lid.

The replacement tank may have a "I" or 1 molded on it in the same location. None of the tanks being now shipped should be the defective tanks unless your DME has had the machine sitting on the shelf for some time.

This is the number that identifies the defective mold:

This is the injection mold mfg date code:


If your tank has that number 2 on it, it came from the defective injection mold machine at Respironics.

Respironics did NOT send out any "recall" notice, it was up to you the patient to determine what the problem was hopefully before it ruined your nightstand from water damage. If they told me they were NOT going to replace the defective tank, I would file a complaint with the FDA of the failure. While they (FDA) may be slow, when you do that they are required to follow-up with a notice going to the manufacturer of the equipment complaint. cpap.com replaced my tank no questions asked, but I did have pictures

But for the immediate, I would buy a HC150 and replace that POS that came with your machine.

The defective tank starts leaking here:


A puddle forms inside the chamber, if you look to the right you will see colored wires going below the deck, the water apparently runs down that wire conduit inside the humidifier platform. There is a hole in the bottom of the platform about in the middle of the machine, if you tilt that platform water should run out that hole. If you detach your machine (place left hand on humidifier, locate lip about 1/2" up from bottom of machine and lift up firmly on the front of the machine, it will separate from humidifier). You will need to attach the hose connection adapter on the back of the machine once separated from humidifier to attach hose.



if you are going to stick with the M series humidifier, it may be wise to invest in one of these 9x9 KitchenAid brownie pans, it may save your nightstand from the water damage.

It has already rurned the top of my dresser and I have it on cookie sheet with rubber pad like you put under a rug to keep it from slipping. My DME does not want to do anything about it since it is out of warrenty with Respronics. I e-mailed respronics and that is when they told me it only had a 90 day warrenty, I thought it had a full year like the humidifier. My main concern is that it could damage the CPAP machine electronics. Seems like a good idea to get the water away from the electronics even if it does away with the nice compact package. Just checked and it does have a "!" on the injection molding stamp.

_________________

CPAPopedia Keywords Contained In This Post (Click For Definition): cpap machine, humidifier, DME

Snoredog Thank you for the information I am supposed to use a Humidifier but the DME that I got my first machine said that if I didn't need to use the humidifier not to. My new machine is the m series and cpap.com said that my current humidifier will work with it.

Thanks for all the info & pictures, snoredog!

Where on the tank would the injection molding stamp be, if there was one? I'd like to check my tank.

Thanks.

-RonCron

Molding number is in a little round circle on both the top and bottom of the top and bottom of the chamber. looks like it has a bunch of letter & numbers around it. Can't miss it.

How appropriate this topic came up. I had been noticing water on my stand and the floor. On closer examination over the weekend I looked in the humidifier chamber and found standing water there. And it was leaking out through the humidifier.
After these posts I looked up the tank number and it was "2". I contacted cpap.com and they are shipping a replacement tank, as mine is still under warranty .
Thanks to all for the timely info. My unit was purchased from cpap,com and placed in service on 4/29/07

6PtStar & others, thanks.

Hmmrph. Mine has a "1". And CPAP.com just shipped it to me Friday. Disappointing that they would ship one that has a known defect.

After 1 night in service, no leaks of any kind. But I'll keep a close eye on it.

[quote="roncron"]6PtStar & others, thanks.

Hmmrph. Mine has a "1". And CPAP.com just shipped it to me Friday. Disappointing that they would ship one that has a known defect.

After 1 night in service, no leaks of any kind. But I'll keep a close eye on it.

I understand the numbers now. (I think.)

I have the "2" that identifies that the tank is defective per snoredog's photo.

But the date on the injection molding is 05/2007.

If I understand correctly, the numbers along the outer circle are months, the numbers along the inner circle are years, and there are two little arrows - triangles really - that point to the month & year the tank was manufactured. Nice of Resperonics to use this fun-to-figure-out system, as opposed to the more boring & obvious system of just stamping the actual month and year (e.g. "5/2007").

Not sure what the line segment is in the middle of the injection mold stamp - I had thought it was the number "1" that identified whether tank was defective or not, but not sure now.

Thank you, thank you, thank you snoredog! For the past 2 days, I have awakened to a VERY wet towel on which my CPAP machine sits on. Have not had this problem before. I am going to look to see if my humidifier has those defective numbers. If it does, I am going to be VERY, VERY annoyed as I just got my whole package on April 20th. (Does anyone know WHEN the recall first came out)? At any rate, I am going to call my DME in the morning (that being Apria....I know....good luck with that huh?) The heavy leakage has already ruined my night stand.Think I could get them to pay for a new one???? Anyway, thanks again. This site is getting VERY scary....answering my question even before I posted it! Keep up the great work everyone!

Well, I'm at wits end. My chamber is a No. 1 so it should be one of the good ones. I have checked the rubber "O" ring and it looks perfect but I still get a puddle under the machine in the morning. I am careful and don't fill it to the full mark. I wet the "O" ring with water like the book says so as not to tear it when I put it together. When you look at it after it is seated it looks uniform. I have had problems with leaks (Intermittent) since it was new. Not filling it completely full seemed to help for a while but now it leaks all the time. It is only 5 months old so medicare and insurance won't buy me a new one, Respronics says it is out of warrenty (only 90 days) so they don't want to replace it. I think I am going to have to agree with snoredog, I think it is a POS. I assume if I continue to use it like it is it will destroy the humidifier unit but my main concern is the CPAP electronics themselves. With the 1 year warrenty on the humifier I'm sure there is a can't get it wet clause in the warrenty. I guess I could try glueing it together but won't be able to dry or clean it provided the leak is not in the metal plate seal or the pressure seals where it goes into the machine. With as many folks that have posted with leak problems it seems to be a design problem.

Any one using this unit for any length of time and not having this problem? Any one had to replace the chamber just because it wore out, if so what were your simptons