preheating the humidifier

Bubsycooks · Post by **Bubsycooks** » Sun Aug 03, 2008 7:18 pm

tonight is going to be my third night on APAP!! (and acutally I like it, save the hannibal lector factor). My question is regarding the humidifier (REMstar M series C-flex). How can I preheat the humidifier without having the APAP running??

6PtStar · Post by **6PtStar** » Sun Aug 03, 2008 8:06 pm

Respironics did not make any provision for preheating the humidifier. Since it is controled by the blower you can't turn it on unless you have the cpap going. This is another + for the F&P 150. It works on the Respironics machines and can be turned on without the blower being on.

The only way to do this is to heat the water in a microwave or on the stove and put it in the chamber hot. Temp of the water heated by the humidifier is 165 degrees max.

Jerry

CUatX · Post by **CUatX** » Mon Aug 04, 2008 1:30 pm

Dunno about your Remstar, but I keep forgetting (CRS Syndrome) to preheat the humidifier on my Resmed and it brings it up to temp pretty quickly. I never have experienced any dryness.

Snoredog · Post by **Snoredog** » Mon Aug 04, 2008 1:42 pm

The old tanks and the Resmed have a prewarming feature, think they operate up to 20 minutes but I haven't seen that feature on the M series, it has a built-in pre-leak feature.

jnk · Post by **jnk** » Mon Aug 04, 2008 2:00 pm

Snoredog,

I wish my machine had that automatic pre-leak feature. I find I have to take care of that myself manually each night before I go to bed.

jnk

roster · Post by **roster** » Mon Aug 04, 2008 2:17 pm

Bubsycooks wrote:.... How can I preheat the humidifier without having the APAP running??

.

Just a curiosity question, what are you trying to solve by preheating?

Bubsycooks · Post by **Bubsycooks** » Tue Aug 05, 2008 5:30 am

rooster,
I'm not sure what I'm trying to solve. Newbie I guess. I just figured that is if there is a humidifier the air should be humid when used. Actually, I get nosebleeds occasionally (unrelated to APAP or anything really) so I wanted to avoid this...

roster · Post by **roster** » Tue Aug 05, 2008 6:56 am

Bubs,

Judging by touching the humidifier tank by hand, my tank seems to be heated to the set thermostat level in about 20 minutes. To be breathing air that is below optimal humidity level for this short time doesn't seem to be enough of a problem to be concerned about.

As a newbie you should concentrate on bigger issues like mask leaks and finding optimal pressure settings. Once you get these items under control you may have some time and energy to work on the minor things. Or you may feel so much better about life you won't worry about the minor things.

Good luck.

GumbyCT · Post by **GumbyCT** » Tue Aug 05, 2008 7:12 am

fwiw - I heat my M Humidifier in the microwave before bed.

In winter, if you don't, it can run ALL nite long & still blow cold air. I also put my HC 150 in series with it for winter sleeping, it seems to help

During summer I was pre-heating until recently, passover seems to be working now.

Respironincs had all the electronics to take care of this problem BEFORE they removed it for the M series. What were they thinking? oh saving a buck?

Bubsycooks · Post by **Bubsycooks** » Tue Aug 05, 2008 2:37 pm

You're right about concentrating on the pressure settings. In fact this morning I went to see my RT because my APAP showed I was getting an AHI of 6.5 (only know this because I went on line and found a way to "unlock" my machine to tell me this since the RT blocked out this info from my APAP (WHY?????????!!!!!!!!!!!!)). Anyway, my average pressure was about 10 cm h2o and they set me between 4 and 12. So I figured to lower my AHI I should have my APAP set higher than 12. She did not agree and told me we should keep it as it is. How are my events going to be reduced if I don't change any settings??

roster · Post by **roster** » Tue Aug 05, 2008 2:50 pm

Bubsycooks wrote: .......since the RT blocked out this info from my APAP (WHY?????????!!!!!!!!!!!!)). ............

That's pretty much standard procedure. But WHY?????!!!!!!!! Maybe, "keep em in the dark philosophy?

Bubsycooks wrote: ......... In fact this morning I went to see my RT because my APAP showed I was getting an AHI of 6.5 ....... Anyway, my average pressure was about 10 cm h2o and they set me between 4 and 12. So I figured to lower my AHI I should have my APAP set higher than 12. She did not agree and told me we should keep it as it is. How are my events going to be reduced if I don't change any settings??

4 is too low to start but before changing it what does your leak curve look like?

roster · Post by **roster** » Tue Aug 05, 2008 2:51 pm

It also helps if you fill out your cpaptalk profile with the details.

6PtStar · Post by **6PtStar** » Tue Aug 05, 2008 2:52 pm

Bubsycooks wrote:So I figured to lower my AHI I should have my APAP set higher than 12. She did not agree and told me we should keep it as it is. How are my events going to be reduced if I don't change any settings??

Actually, it may be high enough but the starting pressure may be to low. It's taking to long to get up to pressure to control the apneas. I would move the starting pressure up to 7 or even 8 and see what it does.

Jerry

Bubsycooks · Post by **Bubsycooks** » Tue Aug 05, 2008 2:59 pm

You're right about concentrating on the pressure settings. In fact this morning I went to see my RT because my APAP showed I was getting an AHI of 6.5 (only know this because I went on line and found a way to "unlock" my machine to tell me this since the RT blocked out this info from my APAP (WHY?????????!!!!!!!!!!!!)). Anyway, my average pressure was about 10 cm h2o and they set me between 4 and 12. So I figured to lower my AHI I should have my APAP set higher than 12. She did not agree and told me we should keep it as it is. How are my events going to be reduced if I don't change any settings??

Bubsycooks · Post by **Bubsycooks** » Tue Aug 05, 2008 3:12 pm

just updated my profile.
when i first registered, i had no equipment or even a dr's appt yet. just a sleep study to show i had OSA. Anyhoo.... Thank G-d I'm on this machine. I've felt so old and tired for so many years (decades even??). Now I know why at 46 I've been diagnosed with type II diabetes!! So messed up this OSA!
anyway, thanks to everyone on this site, I fought for my APAP (they wanted to give me a CPAP).
BTW... why would it be standard procedure to not allow me to see my own AHI? I know what my sugars are and my A1C. Same thing. Besides it's MY health info.

preheating the humidifier

preheating the humidifier

Re: preheating the humidifier