Airsense 10 Auto w/Climate Air Tubing

[gebo]

What in the world has happened? All of a sudden, I've got Niagra Falls in my Climate Line tubing and Swift FX mask every night. Settings the same, room the same, same room temp, 200 hours on machine, distilled water, etc.

What the heck? How do I diagnose this issue? I thought apnea was bad but waking up to this noise may be worse. It had been fine for 3 weeks on the exact same settings.

It has happened overnight and been the same the last 4 nights. I’m wondering if the tube is heating up. The water is leaving the reservoir. It’s just staying in the tube or my nasal pillows.

On climate auto setting, it was at 81 and 4. After a couple of nights with dry mouth I changed it to 81 and 5 and it has been that way for 3 weeks. Something has changed.

[gebo]

I'm thinking I want to start over. Do I just go to auto set and try it? If that's too dry do I just increase temp and leave humidity on auto?

I just ordered the ResMed tube sock thing and those little insulators for my P10 and FX. I'm assuming they should help.

[LSAT]

With all the rain and humidity you have been having along the East Coast, you probably need to simply lower your humidity settings. Are you running out of water in your humidifier?

[Pugsy]

Do I just go to auto set and try it? If that's too dry do I just increase temp and leave humidity on auto?

If it's too dry you need to increase humidity not temp...all the temp does is keep the air warmer so that whatever the moisture levels in the air might be doesn't get released by the air cooling. Remember warmer air will hold more moisture and it's when the air temp starts cooling below the point of being able to retain the moisture that condensation occurs.

Your hose air temp will go to 86 degrees...try warmer hose air temp..
Sometimes there is a fine line between what prevents condensation and lets condensation happen. Maybe just a degree or too.

As to what may have changed to cause this problem....usually it's ambient bedroom air temp...maybe just a little bit cooler which in turn causes the air in the hose and mask to cool just enough (despite the heated function) to release the moisture.

The hose cozy will help...also increasing the hose air temp is an option...and also increasing the bedroom air temp is an option though if you are like me you would save that as a last resort. I prefer colder bedroom air temps even in the winter and that's why I have to use max 86 degrees in the winter or I get rain out cold showers through the mask vent holes.

[gebo]

Ok. Let me see if I understand. I have found that humidity on 5 keeps everything moist. At 81 tube temp I get rainout. So, after putting the ResMed sock on my heated tube and putting those little things on my P10 and FX, if I still get rainout in mask and tube, I should increase my temp by 1 degree and keep moving up until I get no rainout. Leaving humidity setting at 5.

Is this the correct strategy?

[Pugsy]

Yep. Just keep increasing the hose air temp until the condensation stops....and hopefully it will stop.
If it doesn't stop at 86 degrees then your options are a denser hose cozy or increase the ambient bedroom temperature.

86 degrees works for me in the winter and the bedroom air temps will drop to mid 50s...and I use a rather high humidity setting of 6.
Right now I have it set at 82 degrees which is more for insurance than anything else...I am sleeping with the bedroom windows open and the outside temps are cooling quite a bit at night. So I have it a bit warmer just in case the temps drop and cause the bedroom air temps to drop enough to cool the air in the hose too much.
Won't be long before I will need to increase the hose air temp more.

My nose likes lots of moisture and it doesn't like for me to fiddle with the humidity levels.
I use a heated hose year round and I keep the humidity level the same and just vary the hose air temp depending on need.
Some nights I will use up all the water in the chamber and some nights I use very little (those are nights where it is likely raining or close to raining) but the humidity delivered to my nose stays the same.

[gebo]

As I have been thinking back...

I use one mask for a few days and then use another mask. And I have been using the P10 the last few days...

it seems to be a lot worse when I use the P10. I just went and looked at the mask tubing on the P10 and compared to the FX and the P10 looks el cheapo as compared to the FX.. I wonder if the more thin and flimsy looking hose on the P10 is the culprit. Letting the air get cooler quicker those last few inches.

[Pugsy]

The added length from the end of the heated hose via the short hose that are pretty much standard for nasal pillow masks could be enough to all the air in the short hose to cool enough to release the moisture.
Options.
again more heat in the heated hose in hopes that the short hose air won't cool so fast.
insulating the short hose with some sort of hose cozy...doesn't have to be fancy..I cut the toes out of an old sock and used it secured with tape or rubber bands.
For condensation in the nasal pillow (likely from the moisture in your own exhaled breath) there are even little barrel cozies.

See this thread posts number 2 and 3 for various discussion of various options.
viewtopic/t94035/Pugsys-Pointers-3Deali ... -road.html

Padacheek has some really nice cozies for hoses and for nasal pillows.
http://www.padacheek.com/

I started therapy when there weren't any integrated heated hoses so I have been through all sorts of various methods of reducing condensation. The barrel cozy was my best friend for a long time. Not only did it prevent the condensation in the mask itself...it feels like silk against the skin of the nostrils.

You aren't experiencing anything that hasn't been faced by thousands of people in the past...you have multiple options to try and use and even combine.

[gebo]

I got a couple Padacheeks ordered.

[Pugsy]

Just a side note and a bit of explanation for newbies to this heated hose humidity situation and maybe experiencing condensation.

A lot of the time the common advice is to just turn the humidity setting down so the machine doesn't crank out as much moisture in the hose and this will work sometimes but again a lot is going to depend on the ambient bedroom air temp.
There are people who aren't even using a humidifier and they experience condensation in the mask or short hose and that's because the air we exhale contains moisture and it is that moisture than can condense in the mask or short hose.
So reducing the humidity setting doesn't always fix the problem and sometimes your nose won't like less moisture in the air.

When we have the integrated heated hoses we have more control over the hose air temp directly and the humidity delivered.
The humidity can remain constant (at whatever it takes to keep the nasal mucosa happy) and you can vary the hose air temp as needed for both comfort and rain out prevention.
And the hose air temp doesn't have to be "hot"...I use 68 degrees in the summer and as winter nears and temps drop I gradually increase the hose temp. That 68 feels good in July but it doesn't feel so great in December.

Also...for newbies and the heated hoses and humidity settings. The machine has an ambient humidity sensor in it and it takes that information and decides what humidity to deliver based on your humidity selection and the ambient humidity.
If it is raining outside and your ambient humidity is rather high you may not use much water at all because the machine doesn't need to add much extra moisture to get to whatever level you have chosen.
When the ambient humidity is on the drier side...you will use more water.
So don't be alarmed if your water consumption varies...it's normal. Water consumption will vary due to ambient humidity, pressures used and even how much large leak you might have.

It rained yesterday and last night and the air is cooler so I left the window open last night. I barely used any water at all even at my relatively high humidity setting. The machine simply didn't need to add much extra moisture.
So don't worry if one night you use almost all the water and the next night you barely use any water at all. Take stock of your ambient humidity to see if it was high when not much water was used.

We often think of the heated hose as just being for rain out prevention but it is more than just that...it's something that allows a more consistent humidity delivery instead of having to rely solely on the heater plate heating up and cooling off and heating up and cooling off.
Plus it prevents what I call "ice cube nose" syndrome. When the air going up the nose is so cold it can be quite uncomfortable and even painful and causes wake ups and anything that causes wake ups or discomfort is unwanted.

[gebo]

I'm beginning to understand. thanks, Pugsy!

[gebo]

Because I need that level of humidity to stay moist.

[Pugsy]

why not lower the humidity amount

Because it doesn't always prevent the condensation from happening for any number of reasons
and because some people need/want the moisture and simply don't want to use air with less moisture.

Want to or need to....is a sufficient reason.

Why risk making the nasal mucosa unhappy when there is a real easy fix to try...increase the hose air temp.

[chunkyfrog]

I desperately need moisture, so I leave my HH and Climateline set on Auto year-round.
Once in a while, I get a snootful of dew, but it is still all good.

[Pugsy]

I leave my HH and Climateline set on Auto year-round.

I could get by with the humidity on auto but not the hose air temp in the winter.
My bedroom gets down right cold when we have really low temps at night. I set the thermostat to 55 and the bedroom gets even colder.
Sometimes even at max 86 I will get a bit of condensation maybe in the pillows. If it happens much I go dig out the barrel cozy.
It's not so much the snorting of a little water that is so annoying. What I find annoying is that cold mist of air out of the vents holes so that I end up with a cold shower in my face.