Problem with Resmed 10 Airsense Autoset

[Tallen234]

Two nights ago I woke up and my CPAP machine was low on pressure and I had a horrible nights sleep. When I woke up, I reseated, cleaned and changed the filter and it appeared to work again. Last night it was working for most of the night. However, I woke up about 5 am and it was low pressure again. When I test the mask seal, I get good steady pressure, so I am not sure what could be causing the failure. Has anyone had this happen to them?

Of course, my machine is 2 months out of warranty! (I bought it on cpap.com, do they have any flexibility if it is slightly out of warranty??? Any advice or insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[USMCVet]

I remember someone else having similar issue is it was because they were running a heater and humidifier in there room.

[AMK]

I have the same machine and it was acting a little oddly and Pugsy recommended unplugging it and replugging it. That worked for me, and it's been fine since. You can also reset it to factory settings and put your numbers back in.

[JimW159]

Two nights ago I woke up and my CPAP machine was low on pressure and I had a horrible nights sleep. When I woke up, I reseated, cleaned and changed the filter and it appeared to work again. Last night it was working for most of the night. However, I woke up about 5 am and it was low pressure again. When I test the mask seal, I get good steady pressure, so I am not sure what could be causing the failure.

Have you put your data through SleepyHead to see how it is actually behaving? If you see a pattern to the drops in pressure and recovery, you may be able to correlate that pattern with other factors that may be producing a significant drop in voltage in the circuit feeding the machine. For example: I have seen instances where the cycles of a water heater (electric, of course) causes a general voltage drop if the imcoming power is overly loaded (if you have the house on 150 Amp when it should have a 200 Amp supply, for instance).
Have you seen this as an ongoing pattern or has it only recently occured. If recently, has the temperature where you live recently dropped? Do you use electric auxilliary heat in an airconditioner or heat pump? Space heaters? All of these things can affect the power demands during cold weather, even electric blankets.

[LSAT]

Two nights ago I woke up and my CPAP machine was low on pressure and I had a horrible nights sleep. When I woke up, I reseated, cleaned and changed the filter and it appeared to work again. Last night it was working for most of the night. However, I woke up about 5 am and it was low pressure again. When I test the mask seal, I get good steady pressure, so I am not sure what could be causing the failure. Has anyone had this happen to them?

Of course, my machine is 2 months out of warranty! (I bought it on cpap.com, do they have any flexibility if it is slightly out of warranty??? Any advice or insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

What is your pressure setting? Are you using Sleepyhead?

[Tallen234]

Thanks for the responses everyone. The plot thickens. After the problems in my initial post, two days ago, I cleaned everything up, replaced the filter, cut the power and everything SEEMED ok, but I haven't been sleeping well. I wake up about 2 am and I notice a, for lack of a better description, a dusty, metallic smell. I still get pressure from the CPAP, but it seems "different." My chest feels a bit tight (what typically happens when I don't use CPAP) This could be because I recently shaved off my "Movember" beard, so I am getting a much better seal, it could be all in my head because I think that the machine isn't working because of the initial problems I had. It just feels "different" which compounds the problems and keeps me up.

I downloaded sleepyhead to look at my "stats" , before I woke up at 2am everything appeared "normalish". Pressure ranged from 8 to 11. My AHI was 2-3 during the time I was asleep.

Any insight? Advice?

Thanks!

[nickdanger1]

The only time I get a musty, metallic smell from my Airsense is when my water tank has run dry.

[JimW159]

The only time I get a musty, metallic smell from my Airsense is when my water tank has run dry.

Agreed

[Tallen234]

Plenty of water. I thought the same thing....

The only time I get a musty, metallic smell from my Airsense is when my water tank has run dry.

[fmgmike]

I also get an odor from my Airsense 10. It has always been there, from when it was new (over a year now).

I get this odor even when not using heated hose or integral heated humidifier (both turned off). I can usually best detect the odor (only through the mask) when I allow a large burst of air to flow through the machine by taking a very deep breath with mask on or allowing a sudden large "leak" by breaking mask seal. The machine "revs" as it tries to compensate for the sudden pressure loss, and I can smell the odor. When the machine returns to normal pressure and motor speed the smell vanishes or goes to a very low level. I can also smell the same odor when I blow my nose after awakening in the morning, as if something were depositing in my sinuses. It is hard to describe the smell but I would say it is NOT musty or mildewy at all. However, descriptions like "overheated metallic smell" or like receiving a noseful of soil from a dust storm might be better.

If it were more annoying I would have already attempted to switch it out with warranty, but it seems it would be a hassle to complain about just an "odor" that I can't define well. Also, I haven't seen many other complaints like mine about the Airsense 10. Any suggestions, or others with the same issue?

Mike T

[kaylee]

I've only been using mine 2-3 weeks. I think it was new..?..The first few nights I smelled like an electrical burning smell (when the machine was off my face). I did not know to shut it off when I got up to use the restroom. I also woke up twice in the beginning with loud noise from the air rushing through with apparently poor seal on face. Other than that it has been great. Maybe your mustache was making for a poor seal causing it to work harder. I only have a nasal mask.

[fmgmike]

I also get an odor from my Airsense 10. It has always been there, from when it was new (over a year now).

I get this odor even when not using heated hose or integral heated humidifier (both turned off). I can usually best detect the odor (only through the mask) when I allow a large burst of air to flow through the machine by taking a very deep breath with mask on or allowing a sudden large "leak" by breaking mask seal. The machine "revs" as it tries to compensate for the sudden pressure loss, and I can smell the odor. When the machine returns to normal pressure and motor speed the smell vanishes or goes to a very low level. I can also smell the same odor when I blow my nose after awakening in the morning, as if something were depositing in my sinuses. It is hard to describe the smell but I would say it is NOT musty or mildewy at all. However, descriptions like "overheated metallic smell" or like receiving a noseful of soil from a dust storm might be better.

If it were more annoying I would have already attempted to switch it out with warranty, but it seems it would be a hassle to complain about just an "odor" that I can't define well. Also, I haven't seen many other complaints like mine about the Airsense 10. Any suggestions, or others with the same issue?

Mike T

I now have a hypothesis as to where the strange odor is coming from. We use a (ultrasonic) room humidifier which puts humidity in the air, but also releases a very fine residue powder of salt from our water supply. I can see this fine white residue settle on the dresser over a couple of days usage of the humidifier. I am guessing that the powder collects to some extent on the CPAP filter, but an amount of it can be pushed through the filter when there is a leak or mask is being removed. This very fine salt powder then deposits in the sinuses creating the sensation of an odd "odor". The main clue is that the odor only appears in winter months when we are running the humidifier. We don't use it during 4 or 5 warmer months (in Philadelphia), and then the odor is absent. I going to assume that it is totally harmless.

[prodigyplace]

I now have a hypothesis as to where the strange odor is coming from. We use a (ultrasonic) room humidifier which puts humidity in the air, but also releases a very fine residue powder of salt from our water supply. I can see this fine white residue settle on the dresser over a couple of days usage of the humidifier. I am guessing that the powder collects to some extent on the CPAP filter, but an amount of it can be pushed through the filter when there is a leak or mask is being removed. This very fine salt powder then deposits in the sinuses creating the sensation of an odd "odor". The main clue is that the odor only appears in winter months when we are running the humidifier. We don't use it during 4 or 5 warmer months (in Philadelphia), and then the odor is absent. I going to assume that it is totally harmless.

You can assume it is perfectly harmless or assume it is going to kill you, unless there is evidence to the contrary.

Choices, choices...