Winter Coming, Gel-Mask Flooding Out

[skeezix]

Used the Comfort-Gel nasal mask for one year now. Whenever the room temperature drops below around 68F the gel-mask accumulates so much condensation that I wake up and have to disassemble the mask to blot up the moisture. This happens about every 2-3 hours. Not so good for sleep.

Using ResMed Elite II w/humidifier. Humidifier is set to 3. Any lower results in dry throat from not enough moisture.

Same problem using a FisherPakel CPAP.

Caught between the rock and the hard place. Anyone else experienced this problem and is there any solution?

[cflame1]

is it actually the mask that has the condensation or is it the hose? the solution's different depending on where the cause is.

Are you mouth breathing... have you considered the potential that you might be?

[Sid]

What are the solutions to both? I have been having fits recently with two different masks.

[cflame1]

try these:
wiki/index.php/Rainout

[Sid]

I have a hose cover and hang the hose above my head. Several days ago I put the machine lower than my head. Alot better, but still getting "rainouts." Turned the humidity level down and even off - still had problems and woke up with a dry mouth. Room temperature is 74 - 75 degrees. Is a heated hose the next best solution?

[Jersey Girl]

Dear Friends,

I had the same problem with both a comfort gel nasal mask and Swift FX with nasal pillows. Bottom line: once the late fall comes and we keep our bedroom at a cool 60 degrees, I get rain out and so I purchased a heated hose. Spring and summer I use a fleece hose cover from http://www.padacheek.com. Late fall and winter I switch over to my Aussie heated hose. It stops all the rainout but then I need to use more distilled water.

Best regards,

Jersey Girl

[robysue]

We keep the bedroom rather cool in the winter and the heat is now on (at least some nights) here in Buffalo. So far, rainout's not be a serious problem for me.

My machine is on a small table that is below the level of the matress.

I do not hang the hose above the headboard: It's in a snuggly and it's under the covers with me. I'm assuming that I haven't yet had any rainout problems because the air in the hose is being kept warm by my body heat. So maybe running the hose under the covers might work with rainout problems?

[cindy58]

If you don't want to purchase a heated hose, you could try a hose cosy. You could make one yourself too. I had a clean matress pad and cut it 6 inches wide to fit. Hubby suggested duct tape to hold the material around the hose. It looks strange but now the temp. has to go below 50 F. before he gets rainout.
Cindy

[Sid]

I have a fleece cover, but it's not long enough to cover everything. I'll try putting it under the covers and see what happens. Also, last night I cut the the connecting oiece between the nose pieces and put a scrunchie(?) around the straight part on each one. This helped the leaks and kept them tight most of the night. But still had some rainout around 2:00 pm. This is better than it's been though. I appreciate the suggestions.

[Guest]

is it actually the mask that has the condensation or is it the hose? the solution's different depending on where the cause is.

Are you mouth breathing... have you considered the potential that you might be?

is it actually the mask that has the condensation or is it the hose? the solution's different depending on where the cause is.
Are you mouth breathing... have you considered the potential that you might be?

Sometimes I wake up because of mouth-breathing but that's rare. Hopefully because the mouth-breathing is rare.

Condensation occurs in the mask. Only in the gel-pad mask though, not the regular mask. When I first noticed it I could shake water out of the hose but since I put a "snuggie-wrap" around it, any condensation that does occur is so miniscule that I don't notice it.

When the mask condensation gets really bad, the mask begins to whistle where the hose connector enters it. Drives me crazy.

And if I have to wake up and swab out the mask after about 4 hours sleep, I can't get back to sleep for at least 3 hours.