Flooded VAUTO

[CaptPat]

I'm looking for advice on dealing with a VAUTO that has ingested water from a leaky water chamber. Details below:

I have an Airsense 10 VAUTO and the water chamber developed a leak the other night leaking its entire contents into the VAUTO and onto the nightstand. At first, I thought I tipped over my water bottle in the night, a day later I figured out that it was the water chamber. Luckily I had a new water chamber container on hand so I thought the problem was solved. This morning I had a red warning on the display indicating that the humidification system had an error and was turned off. Tipping the machine led to several tablespoons of water dripping out of the seams where the machine is screwed together on its bottom. I bought the machine new on 5/19.

I'm moderately handy so not averse to trying some disassembly to try to dry it out. Luckily I kept my old machine so I have a spare to use.

Thanks

Pat

[loggerhead12]

Will it run at all? I'd run it for a few hours and see if it dries out enough to work. If it doesn't run I'd rig up a hair dryer to run through it for a few hours.

It might come back.

[CaptPat]

I was able to disassemble the humidifier area, there was a fair amount of water remaining that I removed. The electrical connector on the heating element is a bit discolored, hopefully the fuse is okay (no discoloration there). The machine is now drying out. Hopefully that will do the trick. The design seems pretty well thought out in that it is difficult for water in the chamber to make it into the electronics of the machine

[Village Idiot]

Tipping the machine led to several tablespoons of water dripping out of the seams where the machine is screwed together on its bottom.

Anytime water gets into anything electrical applying power to it before it is completely dried out is the wrong thing to do. I don't care if it takes three days to dry out, make sure it is absolutely and completely dry before applying power. If the power is on and it tips over and gets water inside remove the power immediately.

[CaptPat]

So I believe the first water chamber developed a small leak on the bottom that allowed water to leak onto the humidifier heating pad. This probably has been going on for some time and at first, the leak was too small to draw a detailed inspection, I thought I was just sloppy on installation and removal spilling some water out. I think over time the hole got big enough that the entire contents of the water chamber leaked over ~8 hrs. When I tested it, it was leaking just sitting on the vanity top.

This was a RESMED dishwasher-safe water chamber that's been through the dishwasher several times in its lifetime. AFAIK it hasn't been dropped or abused. I'll hand wash the new going forward. The fuse for the heating pad checked out fine and I'll be reassembling the unit today, hopefully, the "humidifier isn't working" message will be gone.

[CaptPat]

Drying it out seemed to do the trick, the last two nights passed uneventfully. On the lookout for a backup machine.

[palerider]

Drying it out seemed to do the trick, the last two nights passed uneventfully. On the lookout for a backup machine.

Yup, I encourage people to have a spare of everything, including the machine itself.