RESMED UltraMirage Full face mask

vdol52 · Post by **vdol52** » Fri Oct 27, 2006 7:35 pm

Hi, I have a RESMED UltraMirage Full face mask. I am on my second mask in four months.The first one was replaced by the seller because it whistles when the machine reaches a high pressure. Now the new mask, only a month old is doing the same thing. It seems to be at the swivel joint. Is this thing a piece of crap. Did I waste $150.00. Anybody else have this experience?
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Wulfman · Post by **Wulfman** » Fri Oct 27, 2006 7:46 pm

Have you taken it apart.....like to clean it?

Den

Vader · Post by **Vader** » Fri Oct 27, 2006 7:50 pm

vdol52 wrote:Hi, I have a RESMED UltraMirage Full face mask. I am on my second mask in four months.The first one was replaced by the seller because it whistles when the machine reaches a high pressure. Now the new mask, only a month old is doing the same thing. It seems to be at the swivel joint. Is this thing a piece of crap. Did I waste $150.00. Anybody else have this experience?
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All I can say is , the Ultra Mirage™ is the highest quality mask I've tried.(and I've tried quite a few)
I've never encountered the problem you're talking about.
Do you wash your face just before putting on your mask at night? and the mask at least once a week?

cwsanfor · Post by **cwsanfor** » Fri Oct 27, 2006 8:04 pm

You're likely to get lots of comments on this post.

I have three ResMed masks, two UMFF's (sized medium and large), and an Activa. They all seem to be very well engineered and manufactured devices.

I'd like to tell you they were bad, because I disdain ResMed's current marketing strategy, and I prefer to trade with any other company, but if they made a device that improved my treatment above current levels, I'd probably buy it.

So, I get better numbers from my Respironics CF2, but I can't tell you it's better engineered or manufactured than is the UMFF. In fact, the UMFF seems better in the hand, but it is not my favorite mask, not even considering political considerations.

IBTeri · Post by **IBTeri** » Fri Oct 27, 2006 8:31 pm

I find you have to make sure its attached firmly. Try that and see. worked for me.

krousseau · Post by **krousseau** » Fri Oct 27, 2006 9:21 pm

When I was looking at masks last March the RT said something about the "valve" in the exhaust vent sometimes not seating properly after cleaning. But didn't get the UMFF so can't get more specific than that-I'm sure someone with that mask will be able to give more help.

Vader · Post by **Vader** » Fri Oct 27, 2006 9:54 pm

krousseau wrote:When I was looking at masks last March the RT said something about the "valve" in the exhaust vent sometimes not seating properly after cleaning.

I think the exhaust valve on the Ultra Mirage™ is superior to most. I can breathe through the mask very well even when the power is off. I've had the electricity go off in the night and not even know it.
With other masks I knew right away, because I felt that suffocating feeling!

I use the UMFF every night and wash it every day without any valve problems.
I like it so much that I've pretty much stopped using the Activa™ altogether.

krousseau · Post by **krousseau** » Fri Oct 27, 2006 10:07 pm

Sorry-It wasn't that it would not exhaust-it was that it would make a whistling sound. She showed me how to make sure it was seated properly after cleaning.

krousseau · Post by **krousseau** » Sat Oct 28, 2006 10:51 am

I'm not sure about the Resmed UMFF since I got an FP Flexifit 406 Nasal mask and a chinstrap instead but here is the tale of that one-maybe it isn't pressure alone. The whistling started a few nights after I got the FP 406. For days/nights I tried to find the source of the whistle-even trading machines. Modified the baffle in the humidifier in the middle of the night. I talked to two RT's at the place where I got my machine-they did NO problem solving. Then I went to see the RT at a DME I found in my travels to visit Grandkid's. Saw it and pulled into their parking lot. Anyway the RT nailed it first question, "is the sound musical or harmonic?" I answered yes-and she said 99% sure it is water/condensation/rainout somewhere in the mask. That is when I looked at some other masks and she commented about the UMFF having a whistle problem-showed me what the valve looked like when it wasn't seated properly and how to reseat it. Truth be told it was hard to see the difference even knowing it wasn't seated right. She also commented that the exhaust could collect tiny droplets of water from condensation and even a very small droplet could cause a harmonic whistle. I went home and did the test-flicking the mask near the exhaust when I heard the whistle-it worked the whistle stopped. Turned on the light and couldn't find any water. It took a couple nights to determine it really was very very tiny droplets of condensation in the pin sized exhaust diffuser holes of the mask and would start after the ramp got up to just about full pressure.
Get a magnifying glass and check out that valve-see if it seats properly and look for droplets of water- flick the area with your finger when it whistles to see if the whistle changes or stops for a little while (won't stop long). If it is water & you haven't tried a hose cover-do so-look at rainout threads and if all else fails get an Aussie heated hose. If that isn't it keep after your DME to get the noise tracked down.

tooly125 · Post by **tooly125** » Sat Oct 28, 2006 11:17 am

The UMFF was my third mask well built but not for me.
I had a whistle also.
It turned out that the two outer exhaust ports were blowing on the part that holds the Forehead wing on.
Either readjust the wing or put a piece of tape on it to quiet it down.

WindFlyer · Post by **WindFlyer** » Wed Nov 01, 2006 1:40 pm

I've had my UMFF whistle on me before- it is the exhaust vent, like others have commented. Just for clarification- this is the exhaust vent near top of the mask- not the anti-asphyxia valve inside the elbow connection assembly. My solution was to remove it, clean it, put it in backwards by mistake (find whistling sound increased dramatically) then put it back in the right way and it seemed to be gone. It may be a matter of having the thing seated properly in the plastic housing of the mask- the way that silicon is designed if it's warped in any way it will probably interfere with the airflow enough to cause a little whistle. It might be worth trying to take the exhaust vent piece out and roll it around in your fingers a tiny bit to try and "break it in" and then put it back in place. Experimentation has usually produced results in my experience.

TXKajun · Post by **TXKajun** » Wed Nov 01, 2006 2:14 pm

I've used an UMFF mask for about 20 months now and had one time when it whistled. I had taken it apart and cleaned it and when I put the plastic clip back on near the swivel, I didn't do a very good job. It took 4 nights to isolate where the whistling was coming from though....it was very high pitched and highly annoying, but difficult to locate. I took the plastic clip off, reseated the hose and put the clip back on firmly and properly, that is to say, until it actually clicked into place. Then a few twists to make sure the swivel was working right and no more whistling.

Hope this helps.

Kajun

This therapy WORKS!!!

Snoredog · Post by **Snoredog** » Wed Nov 01, 2006 4:46 pm

I have several of the UMFF masks, some are 2 or more years old, they ALL whistle as I breathe when I first put them on or until Cflex gets in sync, I think it is related to lower pressure, once pressure increases a bit it appears to stop. My starting pressure is 6.5cm, once it gets up to 7 or 8cm it doesn't seem to be a problem. I think my Remstar scores those whistles as a snore (reason pressure increases).

I thought it was that round silicone gasket you see in the swivel being bad, but I have a brand new mask and that one also does it. There are air hole slots around the swivel where it attaches to the mask, it could be those slots, those are for when the machine shuts off while you are wearing the mask you can breathe through those slots without suffocating.

If there was a better FF mask available I'd buy it, so far all I've done is waste money with that attempt, most recently with:

By comparison to UMFF:
-Hybrid was uncomfortable, leaked and was noisy.
-Comfort2 was much cheaper, not as comfortable, more noisy but handled leaks very well.

As far as I'm concerned, the UMFF remains the best one out there, too bad the company that makes it sucks.

bbeck4x4 · Post by **bbeck4x4** » Wed Nov 01, 2006 10:10 pm

I have had my UMFF mask create the type of noise that you mentioned, upon closer inspection I noticed that one of the three clips that let the joint swivel, was 1/2 way unhooked, only 1/2 way, hardly noticeable, just enough to make a noise, I had to gently pry the clip open to get it to reseat, I belive it happened from a fall from the window sill where it was drying.

Edit:

turns out that there are only two clips there not three, sorry if I confused anyone.

Brian

CSA0890 · Post by **CSA0890** » Thu Nov 02, 2006 9:42 am

My Ultra Mirage FF whistles alot and I think I've got it isolated to the far left hole on the exhaust vent at the top of the mask. On mine if you put your finger over it it stops whistling completly. I was thinking about taking out the vent and then putting some superglue in that hole to shut it up.

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RESMED UltraMirage Full face mask

RESMED UltraMirage Full face mask

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