Increased Water Use

[Tracie918]

I live in Louisiana and it's been really HOT for the last few weeks. Our air conditioner can't keep up with the heat, so even though it's set on 72, it gets up to 76 in the house every afternoon/evening. Since this has been happening, I am having to refill my water reservoir daily rather than every few days. The increased water usage is only happening at night, which is obviously the coolest part of the day. I just got this new machine in January, so this is the first summer I've had it. My old machine was two pieces and had a larger reservoir, so I didn't notice if this happened. I've Googled this and can't find any information, other than the fact that the machine should use LESS water in the summer because the humidity is higher. Anyone else have this issue?

[Pugsy]

Water consumption with the newer machines that measure ambient humidity is going to vary more with the ambient humidity than with the ambient air temp.
Typically air conditioners remove humidity from the air as part of making things cooler.
I suspect the increased water use is just because the air in the house has less moisture due to the air conditioner working hard.

Since you say that you got a new machine this year I would assume that you have one of the machines that has an ambient humidity sensor in the machine and thus greater chance for it to try to crank out more moisture because the air in the house is drier.
Might help to know exactly which machine you are using.

[Tracie918]

This is it. It's got lots of bells and whistles that my old one didn't have (got the old one in 2007).

[Pugsy]

The ResMed AirSense 10 machine is the latest model in the ResMed machines and it does indeed use the ambient room humidity as a starting point for adding moisture to meet whatever humidity selection you have made. If the air is drier to start with then it will use more water even if the humidity choice hasn't changed.

[Caymangirl]

Noticed this as well. The doctor had me increase the humidifier from 4.5 to 5 because I was waking up with a headache, no headache but increased water use. I don't enjoy the 5 setting I am thinking of going back to 4.5. We keep our a/c on 76 degrees because my husband hates sleeping in a/c. However Cayman is a naturally humid place.

[Tracie918]

I just checked, and my humidity level is set on 6. I don't have problems with it other than the fact that I'm using more water, which isn't really a problem. I was just curious since this is a new machine.

[Pugsy]

Don't panic later if you have the windows open and it rains all night and you don't use hardly any water.
Your machine starts with the ambient humidity sensor and adds moisture as needed to maintain whatever setting you are using and in some cases it may not use much water at all.

I have a machine with that sensor and it has been raining lately and even with the windows not being open the water consumption is decreased when it rains.
Normally I have to add water every day or it will run dry since I have mine set for maximum humidity delivery.