Is my humidifier busted?

[kaiasgram]

Sooo, I'm a little confused. I had been noticing the past couple of weeks that I've needed to use less and less water to refill the tank each day. I've usually had temp set at 80 and humidity at 3.0 or 3.5. Then, the night before last when I woke up in the a.m. my mouth and throat were painfully parched. I reached over and felt the side of the humidifier and it was not warm. I felt the underside of the water tank a few minutes after turning the machine off, and it was cold. I assumed that my humidifier had died, I called cpap.com and am arranging to send it back under warranty and have them fix or replace it. Yesterday I rebooted the machine and cranked up the temp to 82 and the humidity to 4.0 hoping to at least get a little relief. It did heat up right away, I went to sleep, and I even had droplets in my nasal pillow mask this morning. Yet, the water line had barely dropped this morning and again the tank was not warm. I was not nearly as parched this morning, but I think that the night before I had my mouth open too much. Whereas last night I had a better seal and my max pressure stayed lower with AHI=0. I think the malfunction is that the climate control works for a little bit, then shuts down. The water line these past two mornings looks like what I'd expect to see if I was just using passover humidification with no heat.

So I know there is variability in how much water is used depending on hours used and room air humidity, etc., but doesn't it sound like something is amiss with so little water being used overnight even with relatively high temp and humidity settings? Does anyone else have experience with something like this?

[greatunclebill]

does the machine adjust to room humidity and temperature much like a thermostat so it won't have to come on if you're where you want it to be?

[kaiasgram]

does the machine adjust to room humidity and temperature much like a thermostat so it won't have to come on if you're where you want it to be?

Well now Uncle Bill, I would have to check the manual to know that, wouldn't I ?! That just shows how very tired I still am, I didn't even think to look it up and what a massive effort that feels like right now! I'll check the manual before I pack up the flippin' machine and ship it back! One month+ on CPAP, when will all those neurons start firing again ? I think I've read that the machine does 'factor in' the room humidity and temp but I can't remember for sure. Still, here in the Sacramento valley I've got my A/C running all night so I imagine the air is somewhat dry, and the temperature is in the low 70's. A month ago the water tank was at least half-emptied by morning, and it was pretty warm back then too. I'll look this up in the manual and see what it says. Thanks.

[LSAT]

You have elected to hide your location, but, the entire country is in a very hot/humid time. The humidity seeps into your home...your humidifier does not need to put out much humidity.

[kaiasgram]

You have elected to hide your location, but, the entire country is in a very hot/humid time. The humidity seeps into your home...your humidifier does not need to put out much humidity.

Thanks LSAT -- I have a little thermometer/humidistat in my bedroom and I notice the humidity is a surprising 52% (even with A/C and an air purifier going). I'm out the door now but will do a little more research when I get home. I'm in Sacramento, CA.

[greatunclebill]

to get a better idea, you can go to wunderground.com. type in your location. then click the little link for weather stations. pick the one closest to you. you find the waether for every day quite awhile backwards. look at the humidity on the days it worked and didn't work to see if there is a big difference. i'm trying to save you the trouble of replacing if its not neccessary.

i don't know what reboot means to you so i'll say this. completely disconnet all power cords and remove the humidifier from the cpap if it can be removed. wait a while and put it all back together. sometimes even though things are hooked up and the contacts are touching, they lose their connection. sometimes by reconnecting it scrapes and cleans the contact a little and makes a better connection.

[RandyJ]

Once my H5i was not working properly so I took apart everything and disconnected as greatunclebill says. It worked when I reconnected everything.

[greatunclebill]

Once my H5i was not working properly so I took apart everything and disconnected as greatunclebill says. It worked when I reconnected everything.

it's something that also happens with the sd cards in the machine. sometimes they just lose connection for unexplained reasons. maybe it makes more sense if you have experience with old cars or old car batteries and terminals. sometimes a battery will act dead. you disconnect it and clean or sometimes even wiggle the connection and it works again. if you drive new cars you probably don't know what i'm saying. generally it has to do with a corroded terminal. i think the cpap connections get the same way, just on a much smaller scale with much lower amps.

[GumbyCT]

Still, here in the Sacramento valley I've got my A/C running all night so I imagine the air is somewhat dry, and the temperature is in the low 70's.

[greatunclebill]

Still, here in the Sacramento valley I've got my A/C running all night so I imagine the air is somewhat dry, and the temperature is in the low 70's.

GumbyCt, you're writing with invisible ink. LOL......

[GumbyCT]

Still, here in the Sacramento valley I've got my A/C running all night so I imagine the air is somewhat dry, and the temperature is in the low 70's.

GumbyCt, you're writing with invisible ink. LOL......

No she is - apparently you didn't see it, twice.

I'm not sure how much data

you can go to wunderground.com. type in your location.

has on her AC unit. So I thought I'd put it where you can see it.

Did it work?

[GumbyCT]

Another thread gave me an idea - check your chamber for a slime buildup as it would affect the heat transfer. Don't rely on your eyes but use a finger to touch, feel, & smell.

HTH

[kaiasgram]

to get a better idea, you can go to wunderground.com. type in your location. then click the little link for weather stations. pick the one closest to you. you find the waether for every day quite awhile backwards. look at the humidity on the days it worked and didn't work to see if there is a big difference. i'm trying to save you the trouble of replacing if its not neccessary.

i don't know what reboot means to you so i'll say this. completely disconnet all power cords and remove the humidifier from the cpap if it can be removed. wait a while and put it all back together. sometimes even though things are hooked up and the contacts are touching, they lose their connection. sometimes by reconnecting it scrapes and cleans the contact a little and makes a better connection.

Good idea about reviewing the weather records, thanks. By rebooting I meant that I unplugged the machine for a few hours then plugged it back in. I didn't disconnect the H5i from the other unit but I can sure do that too. Thanks. About the suggestion to run the machine on high for 15 minutes and check to see if the water tank is warm -- it likely would be, because I did get some heat and humidification at the beginning of the night last night. The question I have is whether it's shutting down at some point during the night. I intended last night to stay awake on the machine for a while and check to see after 20 minutes or so if it was working, but I fell asleep!

Thanks to all for your suggestions, I'd sure like not to have to return the machine so I'll experiment per your ideas.

[myconoclast]

I've been using my S9 Autoset/H5i for the past month, and have the humidity level set to 3, and filling the humidifier tank half-way will last me a week or more. I also started to worry that the humidifier wasn't working right, especially since the humidifier was always freezing cold whenever I touched it. Last night I cranked the humidity up to 6- it heated up quickly and used a lot more water. It was clear that at a setting of 3, the H5i never turned itself on because the ambient humidity in the air was already more than adequate. I'm guessing the same thing is true for you.

[kaiasgram]

I've been using my S9 Autoset/H5i for the past month, and have the humidity level set to 3, and filling the humidifier tank half-way will last me a week or more. I also started to worry that the humidifier wasn't working right, especially since the humidifier was always freezing cold whenever I touched it. Last night I cranked the humidity up to 6- it heated up quickly and used a lot more water. It was clear that at a setting of 3, the H5i never turned itself on because the ambient humidity in the air was already more than adequate. I'm guessing the same thing is true for you.

Wow, I'm beginning to think I may have jumped to conclusions -- I'm so glad I posted my question. Thank you, I will keep an eye on it for a while instead of sending it off to cpap.com right away.