Acceptable leak rate?

[Cecioboe]

The leak rate of my current mask is 20% and above. It's also uncomfortable and I'm trying to get something different today. What is an acceptable rate?

[GrumpyHere]

On ResMeds the threshold for acceptable leaking is 24 L/M, anything above that contributes to reducing the machines ability to detect apneas (or the type of apnea), and therefore reduces its ability to address them properly. The grey bars are the times when the leak rate is above 24 Litres / Minute.

[zonker]

The leak rate of my current mask is 20% and above. It's also uncomfortable and I'm trying to get something different today. What is an acceptable rate?

welcome to the zoo!

you're leak rate is fine. as long as it doesn't wake you up! that's unacceptable no matter what the cause.

so good luck on finding "the mask". it is prolly the hardest thing about cpap.

[joelrk35]

I had an acceptable leak rate but I would wake up during the night when the pressure would get up close to the maximum pressure setting (close to 20cm/h2o). I have a ResMed AirSense Auto for Her (I'm a male) so I set it on the For Her setting and I do not get awakened during the night. I do notice a slight increase in AHI and the 95% max. pressure is lower on the For Her setting but not sure if I have enough data to substantiate that as I have only been on the For Her setting for 2 weeks.

[Cecioboe]

Thanks, all! It was waking me up because it was blowing in my eyes, out the sides, etc. I saw the (nice) respiratory tech today and came home with a Resmed N-30. He cranked up the PAP to 15, my highest level and had no leaks! I'm a side sleeper so I brought in a rolled up towel to lay my head on to test. It seemed great, so my fingers are crossed for a more restful night. Sleeping 3 hours at a time does not at all work for me.
Fingers crossed we all have more rest tonight.

[clownbell]

At first, I had leaks in N30 because of not arranging the headgear properly. With the split headgear strap, I had one on the middle of the top of my head, and the other pretty low down on the back of the head -- it was just in back of the ears. In retrospect, I see that the straps were held apart and did not hold the mask very snugly against the nose. With some experimentation I found that if I put the upper strap at the crown of my head and the lower stray high on the back of my head, the mask is held more snugly. Low leaks now with N30. A happy camper.