Resmed H5i humidifier questions

[Marcman]

1. What temperature do you set your humidifier to? I think I read that the factory default is 80 deg F. My DME set it to 70 deg F. Pretty big difference. What temp are others using?

2. Do you fill the tub with distilled water every night? Do you fill it to the max line? I did this at first, but then I noticed that I was wasting a lot of distilled water, because the tub was never even close to empty in the morning. Relative humidity in my bedroom seems to hover around 48%. How often do you fill your tub and how high?

Thanks all in advance!

[robysue]

I don't have the ClimateControl heated hose, but I do have the Hi5 with an S9.

I have not yet found the sweet spot for the humidity setting (1--6 on the machine). I have also noticed that very little water seems to disappear each night. Last night I had the setting up to 4 and still very little water is gone.

I quit filling it all the way to max for the same reason you did: It seemed like a waste of distilled water to be putting 1 1/2 or 2 cups of water (which is what it holds, if I recall correctly) in every night and pouring 1 1/2 cups or more out of the machine each morning.

I'm now filling the water up to the bottom line on the yellow scale in the tank and only changing the water every other day. I sill haven't had it run dry; indeed it still seems like I'm pouring out juat about all the water I'm putting in. Don't know what our relative humidity has been the last couple of nights, but before that it had to be really, really high because it was pouring down rain outside and our heat was not yet on.

[msla]

I fill mine between the bottom and middle line, use reverse osmosis water from the bulk water machine at the grocery store no chlorine and no minerals to deal with), empty, and take the reservior apart each morning to let it dry out (I did not like the sealed one that came with the humidifier). My setting is either 3.5 or 4 and in the morning after 7-8 hours the watere is half way down below the bottom line on the dip-stick. This winter we will get to 10-15% RH and usage may go up.

FYI I am paying about $0.48 per gallon bulk water vs $1.50± for bottled distilled water. With my reusable water jug, I do not have to collect and recycle the #2 gallon plastic water bottles, just one less headache.

Rolf

[Slartybartfast]

I don't have the climate control hose, either, so I don't know the temperature of the reservoir. I run at #4 on my S9 Autoset and top up the tank about once or twice/week.

Re: water, if you're cleaning out your tank every morning, there's really no reason to use demineralized water. Distilled or reverse osmosis, or deionized water is chemically the same; the difference in verbage indicates the method by which the minerals were removed. The reason distilled water is recommended is to avoid mineral scale buildup within the reservoir as water evaporates. Same thing happens to coffee pots and water heaters. Over time the scale buildup can impede heat conductivity through the bottom plate of the humidifier. Scale buildup can also provide a place for potentially harmful bacteria and molds to grow. Since the outbreak of Legionaires' Disease in 1976 it has been considered prudent to regard any reservoir containing warm water as a suitable environment for the growth of Legionella pneumophila.** So the use of demineralized water is recommended as a precautionary measure.

However, if you're cleaning out your reservoir every day, or even every week, there won't be enough evaporation to build up any appreciable mineral scale.

**In case you're interested: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A882371

[TX18366]

I have my H5i set for 77 degrees in a room thats probably 73 degrees at night. My DME told me to set it near the tempature of the room but when I did that I noticed dry, cracking lips and drymouth. I reset it to 77 and it seems to keep things moist (but not unpleasant).

You'll have to play with it a little but I'd suggest trying 73 - 75 degrees first. The higher the tempature, the more moist the air.

I also use distilled water (store-bought) and fill it to the MAX nightly (this is mostly because I live in place with less than 10% relative humidity). I do not have an reverse osmosis system at home. But I've been told this works well too.

Also, I don't empty my reservroir every morning. I just top it off. Again, this may be because of where I live but I've not noticed anything happening to the water left in the reservoir.

Cheers and good luck,
Cory

[msla]

I suggested to the group that studies biofilms at Montana State University that they might want to look at CPAP machines as a good source for a study. It will be interesting to see if they look into it. Here is a slide show http://www.biofilm.montana.edu/content/ ... d-biofilms I hope it does not gross out too many of you.

[Duckie]

I use mine at 83 degrees. I like the warm air. I fill mine to the middle line. This fall it is using more water. I actually empty it in the morning into my nasal rinse bottle so I don't waste the water. The temp should be what is comfortable for you. It is you that count and no one else.

[Flower51]

My S9 auto came w/the attachable humidifier. The plastic box for the water is sealed and won't open which means you can't really dry it out. Is this a problem eventually w/slimy stuff growing inside or ???? Do you guys take your plastic box out of the metal part of the humidifier when its not in use and empty it so it can evaporate a little?
Is it ok to run the S9 without the plastic box in the humidifier if the case is still attached, as long as you program it for "humidifier off?" I don't see where on mine there is an actual temperature gage outside of numbers from 0.5 up (think it may be up to 6 but not sure yet as its just my second night and I'm not totally familiar w/it yet) I'm surprised by how much water remained...very different than my old remstar auto humidifier. T

[TX18366]

My S9 auto came w/the attachable humidifier. The plastic box for the water is sealed and won't open which means you can't really dry it out. Is this a problem eventually w/slimy stuff growing inside or ???? Do you guys take your plastic box out of the metal part of the humidifier when its not in use and empty it so it can evaporate a little?
Is it ok to run the S9 without the plastic box in the humidifier if the case is still attached, as long as you program it for "humidifier off?" I don't see where on mine there is an actual temperature gage outside of numbers from 0.5 up (think it may be up to 6 but not sure yet as its just my second night and I'm not totally familiar w/it yet) I'm surprised by how much water remained...very different than my old remstar auto humidifier. T

I don't have a problem with the humidifer attracting slimy stuff. I don't know the mechanics of it but I assume since I'm using distilled water, live in a dry climate, and the machine uses filtered air, that these factors prevent formation of "slimy stuff".

The way the S9 works to show the tempature of the air is if you have a Climate Control hose (basically it's electrically heated), this automatically defaults once you plug the ClimateHose in.

Cheers,
Cory

[Flower51]

Thanks Cory. We live in Ohio which this summer had a couple of weeks that were humid and tropical! Weather in our area is always an interesting mix. I did have some pink haze on the bottom of my remstar auto humidifier when I cleaned it before even using distilled water. Now we have an RO filter on our kitchen tap (we have well water) so I use that as its sposed to remove all minerals, etc...from the water. Terry

[msla]

I use the $37.00 dishwasher safe cleanable tank from this forum's host. I now have peace of mind that I can clean the tank and I have the sealed tank as a spare.