System One Sensor Too Dry

[jayunker]

Now that the weather's turning cooler, my 3-month-old Repironics System One starts to dry up my nose and throat.

I maxed out the built-in humidifier setting to 5, the water container's plate is warm to the touch, but I still wake up at night with nose and throat sore from the dryness.

I'm told that this particular model has some sort of humidity sensor to squelch the rain-out problem in older model, but this seems to go too far in the dry direction for me.

How can I remedy this dryness problem with this otherwise ok blower?

[Janknitz]

If you search here for respironics system one humidifier "classic" settings, you can override the default humidity system on your machine and make your humidifier act more like regular heated humidifiers. That might help.

I don't have an issue with amount of humidity put out, but as the nights get colder I do have an issue with how cold the air is from my machine and I'm thinking of trying this classic mode myself to see if it will warm up the water more.

[Hawthorne]

I, too, may switch to the classic mode for the humidifier when winter really sets in. So far I am fine with my System One humidfier set at 1.

I am familiar with the "classic" mode because I had an M Series and an old "tank" Respironics model before that so I may notice a difference.

[Amigo]

Interesting, but I'm curious as to how much water is being used nightly, and whether it starts out every night completely full.

I'm using the "automated" humidifier setting on number '4,' and start out with a full tank every night. We keep the bedroom at 68 degrees, and a relative humidity of 40 -50%.

On most nights, after 7.5 -8.0 hours of use, the water level is at the 25% level.

I've been completely satisfied with the amount of humidity being delivered, but then my tolerance may very well be a factor as people differ in their humidification requirements.

[Hawthorne]

Everyone need for humidity does vary a lot.

I have mine set at 1, as I said. I filled the tank to just over 75% full last night (I seem to spill if I fill it full!!). I just checked and the water seems not to have dropped at all or very little. I usually only top off about 2 times a week and realy don't need to do it that often. I don't think it has ever been much below 50% full.

[Janknitz]

My humidifier is set at 2. I fill the tank every Sunday, and have 25 to 30% leftover the following Sunday with no topping off.

When my humidifier is set any higher, I get a lot of sinus congestion and headaches.

[sleepyb]

This is great. 2nd thing I learned today. Our house gets down to the low 50's at night and I was wondering why the humidifier seemed to stop working. I'll have to change to the classic mode tonight. Guess then I'll have to deal with rainout but I have the hose wrapped. I saw some posts awhile back for the aussi heated hose? I think I'll look at getting one of those.

[Big S]

Newbie here, but I had more success when I started controlling humidity and temperature in room and not leaving it all to the machine. I have been experimenting with conditions but find it comfortable with little or no dryness in my mouth with room temperature between 64 and 68 deg F and humidity between 55 and 65%. Once in awhile, I let the temperature go to 70 deg F but it feels too warm to me for sleep comfort. I previously had a Phillips Respironics System 1 and took some humidity readings at end of hose which normally has mask attached, and the readings varied by as many as 15 percentage points over several minutes. I couldn't control this and usually the humidity drifted in a downward direction. This means the first reading observed was 62% at a particular setting and I watched it decline to 47% relative humidity in a matter of minutes. This is when I went to the passover setting of zero and added a room evaporative humidifier placed about 5-6 feet from the PR machine. I was able to keep the room humidity fairly constant (door closed and heating/cooling vents adjusted to control temperature). I measure both humidity and temperature in two places in room to satisfy my curiosity. I am a data freak so forgive me. Two weeks ago, I was able to obtain a Resmed S9 and with same room conditions and a mask setting of 75 deg F, I slept 10.2 hours. Dryness was there but reduced to the point that I was not congested. My wife was amazed, I was amazed, and finally after more than 2 and one half months, I started to believe I could sleep with this device strapped to my face.