Airsense 10 & Rainout

[gregnga]

I got a Resmed AIrsense 10 with heated hose about 3 months ago. It, for the most part, resolved the rainout issue I was having with my previous machine (Remstar Auto Cpap w/Cflex, loved that machine, btw and would still be using it if it wasn't for rainout). Anyway, occasionally, I still get rainout with my Airsense 10. I have the humidity level set at AUTO and the hose temperature at 82 degrees. I guess I need to turn the humidity down but since it is set for AUTO, I don't know what AUTO actually is (1,3,4?). Any ideas? I could try a different humidity setting each night but since rainout doesn't occur regularly, if I don't have rainout on a particular night, I wouldn't know if my adjustment worked or not.

[Pugsy]

You can also leave it on auto for humidity but manually change the hose air temperature to a little higher than 82 degrees if you wish.

I think auto for humidity is around 80% ...maybe 85%. Check your manual.

Since the rain out doesn't happen every night it's most likely due to the ambient room air temp being a little bit cooler. I prefer to not mess with the humidity (just in case my nose doesn't like it lower) and I just alter the hose air temp when I get condensation in the hose or mask.

See if this helps
http://www.resmed.com/us/dam/documents/ ... sa_eng.pdf

[gregnga]

[quote="Pugsy"]You can also leave it on auto for humidity but manually change the hose air temperature to a little higher than 82 degrees if you wish.
/quote]

Are you saying that increasing the temperature of the hose will decrease the likelihood of condensation?

[Hopeful50]

Yes, higher hose temp decreases the chance of rainout. Also make sure your machine is lower than your head. Good luck!

[Pugsy]

Are you saying that increasing the temperature of the hose will decrease the likelihood of condensation?

Yes. Definitely.
Condensation in the mask or hose is simply physics in action.
Warm air will hold on to or retain more moisture than cooler air. When the air cools (bedroom air temp will cool the air in the hose and mask) if it cools below the point where it can hold on to the moisture condensation results.
Warm the air up a little bit more and it won't cool to the point of releasing that moisture.
Sometimes it's just maybe 1 or 2 degrees more.

I had it happen last weekend. Hose air temp was 70 and I got a lot of rain out and it makes an awful racket and even woke my husband up. All I had to do to prevent it was increase the hose air temp to 74 degrees.

Of course the humidity level itself can be lowered but my nasal mucosa don't particularly care for drier air so I prefer to just to adjust the hose air temp.
Condensation point is greatly affected by the ambient room temperature. Obviously the cooler the ambient air then the more chance there is for the air in the hose/mask to cool to the point of releasing the moisture.

You can also put a hose cozy on the hose but I found the weight of the cozy would pull on the mask a bit and create leaks....so I just deal with it by varying the hose air temp.

Now in the winter when my house is much colder I will use maximum hose air temp. I need it to prevent condensation plus my bedroom gets quite cool in the winter (like 55 degrees or lower) and breathing that cold air isn't comfortable.
In the summer I use cooler temps but still have to keep it where condensation doesn't happen.

[TuningSnork]

I've had an Airsense 10 w/ airfit nasal pillow since January, and I only started to have rainout issues a few nights ago. Hadn't changed any settings or equipment, and my room is still averaging ~72 degrees throughout the night.

When I touch the tubing, it doesn't feel warm to the touch... even after I upped the temp setting to max (85 or 86 degrees I think). But the machine apparently recognizes the ClimateLine tubing because it shows the related settings.

I also tried reducing humidity setting to 3, but that didn't seem to help. Only setting the Humidifier to OFF (unsurprisingly) eliminated rainout, but this setting wouldn't remain too pleasant as winter approaches .

I suspected that something went awry with the tube heating mechanism, so I switched to a brand new ClimateLine tube, but that didn't help either :\

And unfortunately, I can't take this to a DME because I procured this unit (new) from a seller here. (not blaming the seller -- I knew the limitations in exchange for a low price).

Any ideas?

[Julie]

Basic, but... is your machine set at even or higher than your bed? If so, put it a few inches lower... with the change in weather now, heat or not added, it's possible you have more condensation building up and it won't run back to the machine if that's higher than you are... it'll run to you instead.

[TuningSnork]

Julie, thanks for the quick reply!
The machine is on a nightstand that's slightly higher than my bed... but:
- It's been that way since January
- I use a swivel hanger thing for the tubing, so the tubing travels up (above my head) before it comes back down again.

So my assumption is that gravity isn't the issue here, does that still seem right?

[Julie]

I would experiment if possible - eliminate the long tube and at least for a trial, use one more direct from the machine to you... there are other ways to keep the hose from entangling.

[TuningSnork]

Sorry to be dense here, Julie, but what do you mean by "remove the long tube"?
I'm just using the standard ClimateLine heated tubing (hung over the swivel pole), with my short airfit nasal pillow thing attached.

[Julie]

Guess I meant the swivel overhead thingy... to test if it matters or not.

[TuningSnork]

Got it, will give that a shot, thanks!

[TuningSnork]

Hey y'all,

Just wanted to let you know that the solution was Windows(tm)-style: Unplugging the machine, waiting half a minute, and plugging it back in.

No more rainout.

Wacky, but I'll take it!

And thanks again for your replies!