Humidifier not heating?

I've come to the conclusion that my S9 humidifier is not heating up. It wasn't until the temperature dropped that I began to to realize that breathing the cold air via cpap was rather umcomfortable and realized 'this thing is supposed to be heated, isn't it?' Is there something I'm missing? Is there a switch? I touched the water this a.m. just to be sure and it was ice cold. It's not supposed to be that way, is it? From what I can tell, there is only one S9 humidifier, and it's heated. I see my DME tomorrow, but I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something obvious.

On my S8 there is a separate switch (0-5) that controls the humidifier. If it is set to 0 then it doesn't do anything.

Are you pressing and holding the knob for three seconds when you select your humidity setting to prewarm the humidifier? Does the orange light in the humidifier glow or is it still blue?

I don't always hold the button down to 'pre warm' but I have done it (I assumed it would warm anyway) I'll test it out, thanks.

I don't know anything about the S9 model, as I have the old fashion S8. The one thing that I have noticed on the S8 is that you have to make sure humidifier is snapped into the machine. Many time I put it on and it looks right, but it needs a little push to make sure it clicks. I have only started to use my humidifier, but that is what I would recommend looking at on you S9 as it is 2 seperated units.

So, is the humidifier water supposed to be ice cold in the morning?

Whenever I've checked mine it seems to be ice cold too, although the highest I've ever set the humidifier was 3.5. The "cool down" period seems like a joke.

That said, the humidifier seems to work and the changing the settings seems to change how I feel the next day, so I've been assuming it's working. (No rigorous blinded study though.) Just kind of strange that the water's always cold.

I don't have the climateline hose.

The water shouldn't be cold. On my S8 I feel the bottom plate when I don't know if it is working, as it should be warm. You could always turn the tempurater up to the highest that it will go and give it 5 to 10 minutes, buy then check the water, it should be warm or check the bottom of the humidifier.

The DME turned the humidifier up to 6, and it did get warm. She suggested I turning it up from 3.5 to 4.5. I can tell a difference at 4.5, the air is not as cold. She did call ResMed while I was there to verify what was 'normal' She said she's had a couple of other people with similar complaints since the weather has changed.

I've had 2 nights with the SwiftFX for her. I'm not sure I love it yet. However, my AHI has been low. The first night the leak was 19, last night it was only 4, I guess I got something right.

For what it's worth, I thought I was having the same issue with the S9 humidifier. I would touch the heating plate in the morning and it would be cold, and the water luke warm at best. 3 humidifier replacements later, the technician reminded me that luke warm to a finger that's 98.6 degrees may feel cool to the touch, and that the water certainly shouldn't feel hot. So I have assumed that luke cool is okay. I do still have nights where I swear it feels drier and cooler air than others. I do need to fill the water once per week, but that is of course relative to where you live and ambient humidity.

Mark, it sounds like you really have a defective unit. Though I could be wrong, I decided to see what my humidifier on the S8 would read if I put a cheap electronic under the tongue thermometer in my water tank. I tried to get a reading with it off, but it wouldn't register. I think turned up my humidifier all the way up and had it warm up. I then took the temp and I reached 109.6 and then the thermometer just showed a H as it was off it's scale. You might want to try that if you have a thermometer around, though I wouldn't use a old mercury one, as if it breaks, it would not be good for you.

It just sounds like maybe your machine part is bad, but you should have some heat coming from the heating plate, and you should be able to tell a big difference from when it is off and when you set it to high.

I think maybe your DME is being lazy and blowing you off, though I hope this is not the case, but it does sure sound like it. I hope a few other people with more experience will chime in on this topic.

Mike

Mike- thanks for your reply and input, AND test! I have confirmed that the humidifier works at the start. When I push "warm up" the plate is hot to the touch, and the water definitely becomes warm to the touch. But after time passes, and the unit has been functioning, it seems that the humidifier cools down. One would assume that the unit is sensing the ambient humidity (since that is what I've read it registers), and a thermostat of sorts is shutting it off. The water is cool to the touch in the morning immediately when I go to shut the unit off.

The tech has been perfectly responsive to replacing the humidifier now three times! The even replaced the S9 main unit! Still no difference. So either I have received a batch of bad units, or this is simply the way the unit it designed to operate. I still wake up dry- not every night, but many nights. My leak rate is well below the red bar and the doctor has confirmed as actually very low (good).

If anyone with an S9 and attached humidifier cares to chime in as to the feeling of temperature of the water in the tank in the morning, I'd appreciate it. As you can see from some earlier posts of mine on this board, this is an ongoing issue, either with the unit, or the user!! I'm sure my DME will replace the unit again if I ask, but I really must believe after this many replacements, the unit is operating as designed.

Thanks in advance for any input.

Does anyone know if you have to hit the warmup button in order to have the unit turn the heater on, or will it do it on it's own, just not be "pre-warmed" when you go to use it?

I beleave the S9 does take into effect the Ambient Humidity. Here is what I have notcied after using my S9 now for over a year. I live in Minnesota where the summers are humid and the winters are dry. When I got my S9 last year in mid summer I noticed that the humidifer was not going through water very fast. I only had to fill the tank every 2 to 3 weeks. Then winter hit I was filling the tank every other day. Then summer came again and it was back to evfery 2 weeks. Now that the weather is getting colder again I am noticeing that I am going through more water, filling the tank every week.
When I have felt the water in my tank it never feels warmer then luke warm but I know it is working.

In the morning after 10 minutes my unit is cold. If you have your climate control installed properly you should see a choice of temperatures settings. My choice is 80. Is it possible you pushed the hose in and didn't turn it to lock it. It should say that you are using Climate control.

Ugh! Very dry again last night! 2 AM my throat felt totally dry. Unit was set to 80 degrees. (Climate control is active and hose is attached correctly). Dipped my finger in water. Cold to the touch. I raised the setting to 86. Turned the unit back on and waited for 5 minutes. Felt no difference in air, so I checked water. Still cold to touch. Felt warming plate underneath. Also cold. I unplugged unit, turned on, waited 5 min, still cold. Then unplugged, selected warm up. After 5 minutes, the water was warm to the touch. Went back to sleep. This morning the water was cold.

3 replaced humidifiers and 1 replaced S9 unit. I can only assume this is normal for the S9 with humidifier. I'm going to inquire about switching to a different brand since I'd swear there's something with waking up dry. I also have one of the units that make a faint clicking sound, even when off. Even with all the replacements. I'm getting the feeling Resmed is an inferior product.

Is there a better unit I should be asking my doctor for?