Respironics: can CFLEX be turned off completely?

TBoson · Post by **TBoson** » Fri May 18, 2007 7:58 pm

My friend just received a new Respironics RemStar Plus M series with CFLEX to replace his dying Puritan Bennett with 19K hours on it. The P-B was a simple CPAP machine. He doesn't know why they gave him the CFLEX. It wasn't ordered by a doctor.

Anyway, the motor noise of the CFLEX feature ramping up and down is an annoyance for him. He has the CFLEX setting on "1", the lowest, but that doesn't stave off the noise.

So the question... is there any way to turn off the CFLEX feature completely from the clinician menu?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Snoredog · Post by **Snoredog** » Fri May 18, 2007 8:07 pm

yes it can be turned off through programming. To disable it, depends on which model he has, both are done via Setup mode either by switching the mode from CFLE to CPAP and/or by setting the CFlex=Off if it is the M series machine.

blarg · Post by **blarg** » Fri May 18, 2007 8:09 pm

Although, I'll warn the both of you that the motor sound will still vary quite a bit in pitch even without C-Flex. The machine's job is to provide constant PRESSURE to the airway. To do that, flow needs to change quite a bit from inhale to exhale. If it were me, I'd leave C-Flex on and worry about putting the machine under the bed or in a closet to minimize noise.

cpapernewbie · Post by **cpapernewbie** » Fri May 18, 2007 8:23 pm

TBoson

I can turn off CFlex by going to the clinician menu

My RT hide the AHI, Leak menu and the C-Flex on off menu,
Probably yr friend's RT did the same... they are all trained by the same company anyway...

To go to clinician menu just switch of the CPAP,
push the <- and -> button at the same time while turning it on again
wait until 2 beeps

then by hitting the + and - button you can find all those menus!

blarg · Post by **blarg** » Fri May 18, 2007 8:46 pm

cpapernewbie wrote:To go to clinician menu just switch of the CPAP,
push the <- and -> button at the same time while turning it on again
wait until 2 beeps

then by hitting the + and - button you can find all those menus!

Actually UNPLUG it, don't just switch it off, hold <- and -> while plugging it back in, wait until two beeps, etc.

TBoson · Post by **TBoson** » Fri May 18, 2007 8:53 pm

blarg wrote:Although, I'll warn the both of you that the motor sound will still vary quite a bit in pitch even without C-Flex. The machine's job is to provide constant PRESSURE to the airway. To do that, flow needs to change quite a bit from inhale to exhale. If it were me, I'd leave C-Flex on and worry about putting the machine under the bed or in a closet to minimize noise.

Hi blarg. It's not just the machine noise he's complaining about, but also the noise conducted up the hose. If the machine is providing constant pressure, there should be no change in motor sound. At least no change by the machine--- but perhaps from backflow or backpressure of exhaled air is what you are talking about?

TBoson · Post by **TBoson** » Fri May 18, 2007 8:56 pm

Thanks for the instructions on how to get into the menus, folks. Much appreciated. Might there also be a setting to turn off/down the LED backlights on the buttons that light up the room like a full moon? He sleeps with a washcloth over the buttons now.

blarg · Post by **blarg** » Fri May 18, 2007 9:03 pm

TBoson wrote:Hi blarg. It's not just the machine noise he's complaining about, but also the noise conducted up the hose.

The mask makes noise too. If that's part of what's bugging him that can be fixed.

TBoson wrote:If the machine is providing constant pressure, there should be no change in motor sound. At least no change by the machine--- but perhaps from backflow or backpressure of exhaled air is what you are talking about?

That's true if you're talking about a pipe, but we're talking about an airway that happens to be hooked up to lungs.

On an inhale, the machine has to put out more FLOW to maintain that constant pressure, because the lungs are sucking air out of the pipe. On an exhale, the machine has to put out less FLOW to maintain that constant pressure. That particular machine accomplishes this by varying motor speed. My BiPAP Auto does it with a sliding door shutter so that the motor pitch doesn't vary.

Either way, turn C-Flex off and listen. It'll vary, and quite a bit. It's not an air compressor that puts out constant flow with no regard to what's on the other side, it's an air compressor that specifically monitors what's going on at the output to maintain constant PRESSURE even though the lungs are sucking and pushing by varying FLOW.

Oh, and on the M Series, no, there is no way to turn those bright blue lights off. Sorry.