humidifier problems

[NW girl]

Greetings, I am a new user with just a year. I keep having problems with a extreme dry throat even with the setting on 5. I am using a rezmaster. It seems that no matter what I do the consistency of the humidifier is questionable. Last night I went six hours on 4 and it hadn't run out of water. Then i filled it back up and three hours later I wake up with the humidifier completely dry.

I have a great mask and things are well there. This dry throat wakes me up in a panic a couple times a night though and I would love to solve this problem.

I'm interested in camping too but I will work on solving this first.
Thanks to anyone who can help.

[library lady]

I have a really dry mouth, too. I found a double-walled mug with a handle, cover, and its own straw, and fill that with water every night. If I wake up during the night needing water, I pull the elbow off my FF mask to take a few sips of water... my mouth is nearly in line with the elbow, so it works pretty well... a little awkward. My backup mask doesn't line up well, but I found that regular drinking straws, the ones that you can bend, will reach my mouth through that hole. It's also a big help if I forget to take meds as I can do it without removing the mask.

[NW girl]

Thank you Library Lady. I was told by the medical equipment company that the humidifier has a sensor that measures the humidity in the air and shuts off and on accordingly. I don't think the humidity in the air at my house changes that much to cause the on and off activity of my humidifier. I am told it is not broken. Does anyone know if this is correct? Sometimes these medical supply guys aren't that helpful with the details.
NW girl

[Janknitz]

NW Girl. I'm guessing that the mornings you wake with a dry mouth you were mouth breathing. It would be helpful if you'd post your equipment so we could help you figure this out. The data may show a large amount of leaking. Even in a full face mask, mouth breathing will dry it out.

[library lady]

My humidifier tank runs out of water every night here in cold Minnesota... once in a while there's a tiny bit left but not enough to cover the bottom of it... I'm a mouth breather, hence the FF mask, but also have some meds that contribute to the dry mouth.

[sleeplessinaz]

I never run out of water and mine is set on 4.5. I live in the desert. I top it off every other night.

[NWgirl]

Thank you Sleepless. I would like to know if you have any further information about the comparison of my machine with your machine. I am open to purchasing something better if it is out there. Every three to 6 hours I wake up with extreme discomfort (nicer word for pain) The tank can either look like the water hasn't gone down or it can be totally empty. I don't mouth breath so it doesn't contribute to the dry issue. I live in the Pacific NW so it is humid here now and most of the time (rain forest). Maybe I should just sleep outside!

I asked the tech about it and he said it was a bran new machine so should be function at it's peak. His solution is to reduce the setting.
I went from a 5 to a 3 but it doesn't solve the problem.
Also I tried turning off the sensor for detecting humidity so it would be on all the time. That doesn't solve it either.

Remstar Auto A-flex System One made by Phillips
it has C-flex
NWgirl

[Pugsy]

Remstar Auto A-flex System One made by Phillips
it has C-flex

Look on the bottom of the blower unit for a 3 digit number...it will likely be either 550 or 560.
If it is a 560..look at your long hose that attaches to the humidifier..see where it attaches and tell us if that end of the hose is white or black.

If you have a black end...that's a heated hose and you have multiple options for humidity delivery.
If it doesn't have a black end you still have options but not as many.
There is a way to turn off that sensor that uses ambient room humidity in the clinical setup menu...Change to Classic Mode and the sensor is turned off.

Amount of water used during the night does depend on ambient room humidity when the sensor is turned on and sometimes even though it is raining outside our houses aren't all that humid due to whatever our heating system is doing...dries the air out.

Finally even with humidifier and heated hose and humidity delivery of 90% (only available with heated hose) if a person has a lot of air moving in and out of the mouth either from mouth leaking or breathing sometimes the humidity dispensed isn't enough to rehydrate the mouth. It simply can't keep up with the drying of the mouth for some people even with a full face mask.

So you have some options to try to add more moisture but whether it will totally resolve the dry mouth issues isn't guaranteed. It takes very little mouth leak/breathing to dry out the mouth...been there myself.

If you don't have a heated hose...and have a 60 series machine...then the first thing I would try is to add the heated hose so that you can better control the amount of humidity delivered..and at least try the 90% to see if it helps enough.
The heated hose needs a special lid on the humidifier to allow for electric source as well as a special power supply that is larger. It needs 80 watt instead of 60 watt. Sometimes the 60 series machines come with the added electric source but not the heated hose and sometimes we have to add the new lid, power supply and the heated hose.

If you already have the heated hose...then you need to go into the clinical setup menu to change the humidity delivery...choices are 1 through 3 and 1 being 70%, 2 being 80 % and 3 being 90%.
The knob on the blower unit itself only changes the temperature of the air when the heated hose is used...doesn't alter humidity at all when the heated hose is plugged in.

[sleeplessinaz]

Hi NW Girl,
I am sorry that I don't really know anything about your machine. Just giving a testimony that I love my Resmed!

[Hawthorne]

Don't rush out and buy a Resmed 9. That is unlikely to solve your humidity issues. Take Pugsy's advice and see whether you have a 550 or a 560 machine. If you have a 560, check to see if you have the heated hose and go into the setup to make the changes Pugsy suggested. If you have a 560 without a heated hose you can get one.

A heated hose will not work on a 550 series machine. You may be able to deal with your issues with the 550 or, if you want the 560 , with the heated hose since you are open to getting a new machine, get one. You could get a Resmed but therapywise, there is little or no difference.

[Pugsy]

It's my understanding the OP has a 60 series machine so they are going to try to get a heated hose as first option to see if more humidity can be delivered that might help.
At this point I don't think that the Climateline with the S9 giving 80% is going to be any better than the 60 series heated hose and a setting of 3 for humidity which should give 90%.
I know we can set the Climateline to manual humidity but I haven't seen any documentation as to what max manually gives...like is it more or less than 80%.

I also have advised OP to check for leaks and pressures used to see if they are affecting water consumption.
As well as dry mouth might simply be mouth breathing and sometimes no amount of humidity can fix that annoyance depending on the person and how easily the mouth dries out.

[NWgirl]

I have the exact machine that Pugsy has with a heated hose. The heated hose helps a whole lot with comfort. All the specs are right but I do have it on maximum humidity 3. I live in the Pacific NW- humid and raining most the time. When I crack the window open for fresh air while I sleep the humidifier basically stops working. So instead I sleep warm so it will continue to work. Before I got the heated hose I set the machine on constant humidification instead of variable. That brought up too much condensation etc. WIth the heated hose I am not sure if you can put it on a constant setting and the book I got doesn't go far enough into it to say. I though maybe I could put it at a lower constant setting and that way be able to reduce the water use and still stay comfortable.
Any thoughts?

[Pugsy]

Please add your equipment to your profile. That way we don't have to keep asking..
What mask are you using as I have forgotten?
wiki/index.php/Registering_Equipment_in_User_Profile

Let's have a look at your software reports to see if we spot anything there.
Do you have the software? Links in my signature line for SleepyHead. Leaks are of special interest...any large leaks no matter where they come from..be it mask leaks or mouth leaks.

With the heated hose attached there are 2 settings available...one for humidity to be delivered and one for temperature.
You have to go into the clinical setup menu to change the humidity selection. There are 3 choices..1 through 3 with 1 being 70%, 2 being 80% and 3 being 90%. This is the only place to alter humidity setting.

The temperature of the air can also be set in the clinical menu as well as adjusted on the fly by turning the knob for humidity without being in the clinical setup menu. Choices are 1 through 5 and start with 1 being 4 degrees above ambient temperature with 5 being 14 degrees above whatever the ambient temperature is.

In your area where you live and with the window open and it raining...even set at 3 with the rain you shouldn't be using all that much water. Now with the window closed it might be a different story depending on your house furnace drying out the air.

Using the heated hose there is a way to turn off the heated hose functions...the new humidification system mode as well as Classic mode (heat only but that uses more water and greatly increases chance for rain out) but I don't see that it would help your water consumption issues to change from heated hose.

If it is raining outside and you have the windows open...you shouldn't use much water and if you are using all the water during the night then something somewhere is not working correctly.
I have slept with windows open and it rain all night and I always use max humidity delivery and it barely uses any water if it is raining outside and windows are open.
Now if windows are closed (even if it rains all night) I will use a good bit of water but not like you are using.

[Wulfman...]

I have the exact machine that Pugsy has with a heated hose. The heated hose helps a whole lot with comfort. All the specs are right but I do have it on maximum humidity 3. I live in the Pacific NW- humid and raining most the time. When I crack the window open for fresh air while I sleep the humidifier basically stops working. So instead I sleep warm so it will continue to work. Before I got the heated hose I set the machine on constant humidification instead of variable. That brought up too much condensation etc. WIth the heated hose I am not sure if you can put it on a constant setting and the book I got doesn't go far enough into it to say. I though maybe I could put it at a lower constant setting and that way be able to reduce the water use and still stay comfortable.
Any thoughts?

Not according to your own posts.

You say: "I am using a PR System One Remstar 60 series auto machine with heated tubing."

Pugsy's profile: PR System One REMStar 60 Series BiPAP Auto with Bi-Flex


Not the same. Pugsy has a BiPAP.


Den

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