Remstar M Series problem/questions

patseguin · Post by **patseguin** » Wed May 30, 2007 6:47 am

My new M Series unit with CFLEX and heated humidifier had been working fine. The night before last, I woke up in the middle of the night as I always do several times. I was hearing a whistling sound from my mask or tubing or something. I couldn't figure it out so I took the whole thing off and turned off the machine. Last night, I put my mask on and power up the machine and it starts making this weird pumping sound and could sort of feel the tube moving. I put the mask on the bed and was inspecting the tubing when I noticed that water was was spraying through all of the holes in the Swift onto my bed. I took out the water resevoir a few times to make sure it was in right and not overfilled. Every time I was getting the same result with the strange sound and water spraying out the mask. I had another tube laying around from the machine my DME provided and connected it. The machine sounded normal again and stopped spraying water, although it was still dropping down my face probably because the interface was still wet. So, I am guessing the problem was simply a small leak somewhere in the tubing? I am not sure why it would be spraying water like that though. This morning I woke up early because I started hearing a whistle again and my face felt wet around the mask plus water was dripping onto my pillow. Is the whole unit messed up and should I send it back? I had the humdifier set at 2 out of 5 and at no time was the blue light blinking.

Also, I scrolled through the data on the machine since it's been a week. It showed an Apnea Index of 2.6. What does that mean? Also, it seemed to show a relatively high leak rate of around 56. I had t hought I was getting a good seal from the Swift II device. Lastly, it showed a 90% pressure of 6.9. Does that mean that is all that is really necessary to treat me based on what the machine interprets? My sleep doctor had originally recommended a pressure of 8.

blarg · Post by **blarg** » Wed May 30, 2007 7:05 am

Sounds like you might be experiencing rainout. This means that the water that's vaporized in the humidifier turns back into liquid on its way out to your mask. This is caused by several things, most commonly that the hose isn't insulated.

Search for rainout and you'll get lots of hits.

Also, there's this video by our sponsor:
https://www.cpap.com/downloadVideo.php?VGID=16

They neglect to mention, however, that a heated hose is available from Australia if you have tried all of those things and still have problems.

patseguin · Post by **patseguin** » Wed May 30, 2007 11:41 am

I didn't even know that you could or should insulate your tube. I will check into that. We are approaching our humid season here in Buffalo, plus I like it cool in my room while I sleep. I suppose those couple of factors may have contributed. I'll likely sleep tonight with the humidifier off and see what happens.

Sounds it sound like my other tube had a leak somewhere?

Oh, and I'm not sure about the 56 leak rate. It may have been 26, I'll have to check when I get home. I'm kind of wondering if I need to get a nasal mask to replace the nasal pillows. Maybe the reason why the therapy doesn't seem to be working is because of the leak rate. However, my average pressure is on 6.9 and I have it set at 6 minimum.

oceanpearl · Post by **oceanpearl** » Wed May 30, 2007 5:09 pm

Had the same problem around a year ago. Every night I was waking up with water coming thru the mask. I would disconnect the hose from the mask and let it hang to the floor and the air pressure would push the moisture out. The final solution was to buy some fleece and have my wife sew me a fleece tube to slide over the hose and I haven't had a problem since.
The hose covers can also be found on ebay for around 15 bucks.

patseguin · Post by **patseguin** » Thu May 31, 2007 7:37 am

Just an update - I put on my mask last night and immediately had the strange sound and feeling from it. I took the hose off the machine and went to the tub and held it straight up. Maybe a tablespoon of water quickly jetted out. I plugged the hose back in and all was normal. I also took out the water reservoir, which I guess you're not supposed to do because the machine sounded really funny. So, I put the empty reservoir in and turned off the humidifier and had no issues all night. I'm thinking I might only need the humidifer in dry season like winter.

Goofproof · Post by **Goofproof** » Thu May 31, 2007 9:17 am

You have found the ultimate cure for Rainout, don't put water in the HH and don't turn it on. Priceless! Jim