Philips System 1 Dropping Pressure, Missing Data, Wrong Data

[traveler12]

I’ve seen a lot of discussion about low pressure on some CPAPs in this and other forums. I discovered a few disturbing problems with a new Philips System One that I have (replaced a Remstar with only compliance monitoring).

I’ve woken up at night choking more than once because I hadn’t been getting enough air through the mask. This happened a few times. Previously, I found that I was removing the mask in the middle of the night and not remembering why. My doctor had no explanation since the CPAP data his office loaded showed nothing wrong.

Last time this happened, I got a photo of the System One front panel showing 4.9 cmH2O. The machine was set for 10.0 cmH2O, with the ramp set at 4.0 cmH2O. I never use the ramp, and it’s physically impossible for anything to have come close to pressing down on the button. When it did this, the motor slowed down, pressure was still low after I woke up, and the machine would not respond to any button presses to change the pressure (up or down). 19 minutes later, I got another photo of the pressure at 5.3 cmH2O. I had to unplug the power and plug it back in to get it back to the correct pressure (10.0 cmH2O).

More disturbing than the CPAP running at the wrong pressure was the fact that the Philips System One machine did NOT record this incident. I loaded the data into SleepyHead and it showed no interruption during this incident, even though I literally pulled the plug on the machine. The time stamps within my photos are accurate to within +- 1 second, for what it’s worth, showing delivered pressure below or near 50% of the prescribed pressure for at least 19 minutes and 17 seconds. The Philips data shows a constant 10.0 cmH2O throughout this period with what appears to be varying EPAP pressure. I wasn’t wearing the mask during part of this period, so that can’t be valid, either.

The Philips System One also didn’t record data for a few hours of sleep earlier (would appear in previous day’s data). The Philips System One data is invalid and incomplete.

The home care company who’s responsible for this machine, Sleep Circle/Lincare, insisted that the data they received via the wireless card on the machine showed the pressure has never been below the prescribed 10.0 cmH2O. My physician wouldn’t listen to me because he said the data he has from the machine (loaded from the SD card) also showed nothing unusual, and showed me the report he got. He’s not familiar with SleepyHead, and I’m not sure what software his office uses for CPAP data analysis.

I just checked the old data collected by SleepyHead and found the day when I experimented with the ramp function last year. It clearly shows the pressure starting out at 4.0 and ramping up to 10.0 on the second or third day, looks like it ramps up within the course of a half-hour. No problem there.

But while writing this post, I flipped through the old data a day at a time and now I see something very bad that I didn’t spot before. Not sure which viewing mode brings this up, but now I see the pressure ramping up on what appears to be about 30 or more random days in the months following when I got the machine last year. Sometimes it was when the machine was first turned on, sometimes is was in the middle of the night. This appears to have been for the first two months of operation last year. That should have been physically impossible, since every time I turn on this machine, since when I first got it last year, it always reads “10.0” on the display. I know for a fact that this machine should never be in ramp mode when turned on since I was present when my physician’s office programmed it and I declined to have that option turned on at startup.

Skipping ahead in the data I found four more events spaced months apart where the pressure dropped to 4.0 in the middle of the night, one followed by the machine being turned off and on again (before the event that I documented with photos). The System One machine appears to have been flipping itself into ramp mode by itself since shortly after I got it last year.

Any other (or every other) Philips System One CPAP user experiencing these problems?

[Pap-Daddy]

I’ve seen a lot of discussion about low pressure on some CPAPs in this and other forums.

You don't mention...
If you have pets or not?
How old the cpap is? As in when/how it came to be yours?
Is it still under warranty?
If this cpap was purchased from a DME?
If so why haven't you contacted them?

[Sleeprider]

Traveler, if this is a System One 50 series, it comes from a well known problem where the main-board becomes detached from the flow sensors. The fix is fairly easy if you can disassemble the blower housing and know what to look for. Here is the original thread on CPAPtalk on this problem: viewtopic/t106093/BEEPBEEP-Service-Requ ... -550P.html

The fix involves adding a self-tapping screw to the empty screw boss hole about 1-inch down from the top-left side of the main board near the air outlet. If this is a 60 series machine, the defect would likely be something else, so let us know exactly what machine you have. Either way, if you are under a DME contract or warranty, you should get an exchange, and hopefully for a more current machine like Dreamstation series or Resmed Airsense 10.



And this is what's on the back side of that screw:

[palerider]

Traveler, if this is a System One 50 series, it comes from a well known problem where the main-board becomes detached from the flow sensors.

his problem description is inconsistent with the solution you proposed.

while it won't hurt to reseat the board, it's not very likely to fix the problem.

[traveler12]

I’ve seen a lot of discussion about low pressure on some CPAPs in this and other forums.

You don't mention...
If you have pets or not?
How old the cpap is? As in when/how it came to be yours?
Is it still under warranty?
If this cpap was purchased from a DME?
If so why haven't you contacted them?

1. Pets are irrelevant to this discussion.

2. CPAP was acquired new from Sleep Circle/Lincare on May 1, 2015. It was prescribed by my physician and provided per my health insurance coverage. Just got off the phone with Philips Respironics, and they confirmed the two-year warranty began a month before I got the machine.

3. Answered in my original post. Sleep Circle/Lincare.

4. Answered in my original post.

[traveler12]

Traveler, if this is a System One 50 series, it comes from a well known problem where the main-board becomes detached from the flow sensors. The fix is fairly easy if you can disassemble the blower housing and know what to look for. Here is the original thread on CPAPtalk on this problem: viewtopic/t106093/BEEPBEEP-Service-Requ ... -550P.html
…

This has nothing at all to do with what I’m describing. Read my post again.

No reason at all to disassemble an expensive medical device that’s still under warranty. Only fix for this problem is to replace the defective machine with a new one.

[ChicagoGranny]

Pap-Daddy wrote:

Traveler, You can do what you want, but generally a good rule is ignore advice from guests like Pap-Daddy.

[Guest]

1. Pets are irrelevant to this discussion.

i could be wrong but i think he was trying to find out if you have pets that are pressing buttons or playing with your cpap while you are sleeping
it is not uncommon but you can listen to granny
as she is soooo helpful just not sleeping well

2. CPAP was acquired new from Sleep Circle/Lincare on May 1, 2015. It was prescribed by my physician and provided per my health insurance coverage. Just got off the phone with Philips Respironics, and they confirmed the two-year warranty began a month before I got the machine.

there is your answer
problem solved

[traveler12]

1. Pets are irrelevant to this discussion.

i could be wrong but i think he was trying to find out if you have pets that are pressing buttons or playing with your cpap while you are sleeping

Yes, you’re wrong. That issue was covered in the original post. The question is still irrelevant.

2. CPAP was acquired new from Sleep Circle/Lincare on May 1, 2015. It was prescribed by my physician and provided per my health insurance coverage. Just got off the phone with Philips Respironics, and they confirmed the two-year warranty began a month before I got the machine.

there is your answer
problem solved

Wrong answer again. Please stop trolling in this discussion.