Humidaire 3i on Resmed S8 Elite - how does it work?

[plaws]

Night 16 tonight. Getting better at this. Finally started to record my nightly numbers so that I can chart progress.

The tech (not an RT) at the DME told me to fill the humidifier only to the line where the two plastic halves meet and not the "max" line else I'd be wasting water. OK. Tried that and and woke up with the water level below the metal plate. Clearly bad info.

So, two questions. How does the humidifier work? I'm assuming it's one of those ultrasonic deals meaning that the water has to cover the plate (3i users know what I'm talking about). And what does the heating? Is the heater on all the time or do I need to enable that?

OK, so that was three questions.

Whoops ... here's #4: What do folks do for water? For this first bit, I've used store-bought distilled. Can't use tap water as the well water is WAY too hard.

[amos]

The ResMed Humdaire 3i humidifier is know as a "passover humdifier" as opposed to the "steam humidifier or vaporizer" used to humidify a whole room. The air from the cpap passes over the water and picks up small droplets of water and delivers them to your airways.

The silver metal piece in the bottom of the resevoir is heated by the electric heating plate under it. This in turn heats the water. The heater is on when the cpap is running.

When I fill the resevoir above the recommended fill line I get a nose full of water, sometimes called "rain out."

I set my humidifier at 3 or 4 and have never run out of water when the resevoir is filled to the fill line.

I use distilled water only. Other types of water, such as tap water, can leave residue in the resevoir. You can buy distilled water at Wal-Mart for 69 cents a gallon. I pay $1.09 at Publix simply because it is more convenient to get as I am buying groceries. I use less than a gallon a month.

Hope this helps. Best wishes on your therapy.

Amos

[Slinky]

ALWAYS use DISTILLED water, except in case of emergency. If at any time it is NECESSARY to use other than distilled at your first opportunity wash the humidifier tank w/baby shampoo and then rinse THOROUGHLY with a vinegar/water mixture. Then go back to using DISTILLED water.

Well, if you are changing the water in your humidifier tank every day then, yes, on most days you would be wasting the water by filling to the full line. You may find in really cold weather when the furnace is running constantly that you use up all the water in the humidifier before the night is over even tho you filled it to the max.

I don't fill my humidifier tank w/fresh water every day. I fill it to maximum and then just add to it as needed. I don't wash the tank every day either (obviously). I wash it weekly or less, as needed. Certainly, once a month isn't a bad idea if you aren't cleaning it daily or weekly.

There is nothing in the manual about running the humidifier tank dry. I haven't that happen but I have run it to the water level below the plate level.

The heating plate receives its heating power from the CPAP itself. It actually "plugs" into the CPAP for the power. Nope the heater isn't on all the time, its only on long enough to heat the water to the degree of humidity you've asked for with the selection knob. There is a warming feature .... read your Humidaire 3i manual. It can explain better than I can.

[plaws]

ALWAYS use DISTILLED water, except in case of emergency.

Can you distill your own? I just don't want to have to lug the jug home from the store. OK, I don't want to ask my wife to lug the jug home from the store. Tap water is out, as I said, due to hardness.

Well, if you are changing the water in your humidifier tank every day then ...

Ah. Same dude told me it need to be washed out with mild soap every day. This will cut down on how much water I use!!!

And the heater is controlled by the knob with humidity being on as long as there is water in the tank.

Great! This should fix me up - thanks to both of you!

[Slinky]

Well, yeah. You will find in the manual it suggests you wash the tank each day. Its more a CTA thing than a necessity. (CTA = cover their arse). You will find most of us in the forums do NOT wash out their tank each day. Few of us wash our hoses every day either. I do hang my hose to dry every morning, other than that, nah, I don't wash it every day. As a matter of fact, I tip the "hood" up on the Humidaire 3i every day. I don't know that does ANYTHING, but I just started doing it when I first got my CPAP with the thought doing so let the air in the tank dry out. It probably makes absolutely no difference at all.

[SisterShotgun]

I have a friend who has one of these counter top distillers http://www.steamdistiller.com/ She said it takes about 4 hours to make a gallon.

[dsm]

[quote="amos"]The ResMed Humdaire 3i humidifier is know as a "passover humdifier" as opposed to the "steam humidifier or vaporizer" used to humidify a whole room. The air from the cpap passes over the water and picks up small droplets of water and delivers them to your airways.

The silver metal piece in the bottom of the resevoir is heated by the electric heating plate under it. This in turn heats the water. The heater is on when the cpap is running.

When I fill the resevoir above the recommended fill line I get a nose full of water, sometimes called "rain out."

I set my humidifier at 3 or 4 and have never run out of water when the resevoir is filled to the fill line.

I use distilled water only. Other types of water, such as tap water, can leave residue in the resevoir. You can buy distilled water at Wal-Mart for 69 cents a gallon. I pay $1.09 at Publix simply because it is more convenient to get as I am buying groceries. I use less than a gallon a month.

Hope this helps. Best wishes on your therapy.

Amos

[GeneS]

How did you determine what setting to use on the humidifier. It seems according to this forum that people who use lower settings or no heat at all have less problems with rainout, moisture and bacteria in the hose etc. It might be worth while to start using the humidifier as a passover and do not use heat unless you have problems that way. Then try increasing the heat setting one step at a time until you find the minimum setting that works for you. You could also try lowering the setting one step at a time until you have a problem. I have used a passover humidifier for 25 or so years and have never had a rainout or other problem caused by excess water in the circuit. I know that everyone cannot get by with a passover humidifier but if you can it has benefits.
GeneS

[jennmary]

I use my Hi3 at the highest setting. I havent had rainout once. I have read that if you have a higher pressure you are less likely to get rain out. I dont know how true that is....just that I have a pressure of 14 and run my humidifier on its highest setting and I have never gotten rain out. My house gets fairly cold. I have the ac set pretty low and 2 fans running (I am always hot). It is cold enought that my daughter still needs 2 blankets. No rain out yet....and nothing growing in my hose, though I do wash it every other day.

[Slinky]

Place your CPAP and humidifer on a level lower than the top of your mattress and just set your humidifier at whichever setting is most comfortable for you and you probably won't have any rainout problems. Your Humidaire 3i manual suggests starting a 3. If it is real hot where you are you might want to start at 1 and work your way up if necessary. Come cold winter weather you'll want it higher most likely. I'm running mine at 1 right now w/the hot summer weather but there were several really cold days this year when the Humidaire 3i couldn't keep up and I had to switch to the old reliable Fisher & Paykel HC 150 stand alone heated humidifier. Its hard to beat that faithful ole HC 150. I've read several Respironics users had problems w/their integrated humidifier keeping up when it was really cold and the house dry so it wasn't just a Humidaire 3i thing. The integrated humidifers just don't have the capacity that the HC 150 does.

[billbolton]

What do folks do for water?

We have a household dehumdifier to cope with a systemic damp problem in one part of our house, so I use the water it collects in my H3i.

Cheers,

Bill

[dsm]

What do folks do for water?

We have a household dehumdifier to cope with a systemic damp problem in one part of our house, so I use the water it collects in my H3i.

Cheers,

Bill

Bill,

We also have 3 dehumidifiers at home (Bathroom, Bedroom & Study). Prevents mould that was sometimes occurring in prolonged damp periods (such as Sydney's recent rains).

But, in regard to one of the machines, the water in the internal container tends to be 'jellyish' toward the bottom of the container & when I ever look at it, I wonder what strange creature might one day slither over the side of the container & do what it may be wont to do

We do put bleach in there to try to keep it tame.

DSM

[billbolton]

But, in regard to one of the machines, the water in the internal container tends to be 'jellyish' toward the bottom of the container & when I ever look at it...

Um, er... how often do you empty it completely?

Cheers,

Bill

[Guest]

I place my 3i on the 3rd to the highest notch never had rainout I had it all the way up once and my nose felt sweaty so I turned it back down 2 notches and its perfect if I go anyless then half I get a headache and dry sinuses (I have sinus problems anyhow.) You can fill it to the max line just experiment a little until youfigure out how much your using and lessen it till you find a sweet spot. I fill mine 1/2 to max and never run out though. I also do wash mine everyday as I was taught I am prone to sinus infections and at first I wasnt a good girl about cleaning and I was getting sinus infections I started being better about it and havent had one since. I wash my humidifer every night and my hoses and everything once a week. I forgot Im suppose to hang them up in the morning I never do that oops.

[dsm]

But, in regard to one of the machines, the water in the internal container tends to be 'jellyish' toward the bottom of the container & when I ever look at it...

Um, er... how often do you empty it completely?

Cheers,

Bill

Daily !.

DSM