Hose condensation.

[twelch0513]

Does anyone have any tips or tricks to deal with condensation building up in the hose when using the humidifier?

[LSAT]

Get a hose cover or a heated hose.

[Wulfman...]

Does anyone have any tips or tricks to deal with condensation building up in the hose when using the humidifier?

You can go up to the Search function (above) and search on "rainout".
It's physics......
The warm humid air (water vapor) coming from the heated humidifier tank hits the cooler air in the hose and condenses back into liquid. If you don't have a heated hose on your machine, you will need to lower your HH setting, wrap the hose with some fleece or other covering to keep the hose a little warmer, OR warm up the room air.


Den

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[Julie]

Also make sure the machine's on a lower level than you so the water runs back to it instead of your mouth!

[SleepingBearDoNtWake]

I have to save that a heated hose is wonderful, and I even got the resmed CPap slim line hose cover. I'm not sure if you can use another cpap cover like the cloth fuzzy ones when it is heated, but you have those options too.
Also I found out, that putting my cpap, on the ground or lower to the ground helped with rain out.
Also play with your humidifier, maybe you are one of those people who don't need it. Or you can lower it.
Let me know how you make out.

Blessings,

Mike

[Robear]

I don't have a heated tube, but if I ever have rainout problems, I think I'll try my "do it yourself" idea . . .

Polyethylene foam pipe insulators . . . they're available at any hardware store & very inexpensive. They're designed to prevent cold water pipes from sweating, so they should work with CPAP tubing. They're not as flexible as the tubing, but cutting them into shorter sections might overcome that problem.

Just an idea . . . certainly worth a try if you have problems with your doctor & DME, like I do.

[SewTired]

I don't have a heated tube, but if I ever have rainout problems, I think I'll try my "do it yourself" idea . . .

Polyethylene foam pipe insulators . . . they're available at any hardware store & very inexpensive. They're designed to prevent cold water pipes from sweating, so they should work with CPAP tubing. They're not as flexible as the tubing, but cutting them into shorter sections might overcome that problem.

Just an idea . . . certainly worth a try if you have problems with your doctor & DME, like I do.

You can try it, but my bro had no success with it. The weight also cracked the ends of the tube faster requiring replacement (normally, he goes 2 years without having to replace a hose). You can make one yourself, but it's actually cheaper to buy it readymade unless you know someone who sews who has leftover fleece. A crocheted or knitted hose sock would also work. You can also pull your hose under the blankets.

[DeniseR7]

Does anyone have any tips or tricks to deal with condensation building up in the hose when using the humidifier?

you can hand sew a piece of fleece to make a tube and thread the hose thru it. Or get a thrift store sweater and cut off the sleeves and thread your hose thru. voila!

[mralaska]

Depending on how much you want to spend there are aftermarket kits to add heated hose to a machine not already equipped and some people have developed DIY approaches using various heater elements such as reptile cage heaters plus the suggestions already offered here for hose covers. In my case I went ultra cheap and even lower tech.

When winter set in and my bedroom temp dropped under 50 I started experiencing a horrible case of rain-out that would not let me sleep. I had no money and no sewing skills but I did have a half drawer full of worn out medium weight merino wool socks. Cutting the toes off (when required) and slipping the socks along the length of the tubing seemed to take care of any rain-out in the hose and I kept them from bunching by joining them with rubber bands or stapling them together. I had one more interrupted night, though, because it turned out my major malfunction was coming from condensation inside the mask itself which the hose solutions do not address.

To address the mask condensation I cut one of the wool socks in half then made two tiny slits on one side to pop the nose inserts of my swift fx pillows through, then another slit on the opposite side to poke the hose through. It took about 30 seconds of shivering midnight snipping in a freezing room so I could get back to sleep. I continue to be amazed how remarkably it addressed the problem and have had nary a hint of rain-out since. Not to mention it helps keep my face warm!

Lighter weight socks might work just as well, and cotton socks would probably work but be less comfortable. I would NOT advise using synthetic "dry" socks anywhere in the face area because they use microscopic particles to assist the wicking action [edit: make that anti-bacterial properties] that might not be compatible with lungs. A bit of finagling should be able to fit any system as long as you don't have mental blocks about retrofitting footwear to face-ware!