What is the impact of leaks?

[Brian123]

New software got me checking my high snoring and high leak rates.

I'm thinking the snoring rates shown dont impact my sleep so are no problem.

On the high leaks, my mask on respironics user guide shows a listing: Pressure Drop cm H2O(hPa) at 50LPM of 0.1 and at 100LPM of .25

Am I reading that right, if my mask and leaks total 50 LPM that would only reduce my pressure from 14 to 13.9?
If so, the leaks that dont annoy me arent an issue.

This software newbie isnt very sure this is true since the posts I read here refer to fixing leaks.

Should I fix leaks?

[klockemy]

I read 50 lpm = .5cm of therapy lost.

[t-bone]

Another thing to keep in mind about leaks is that dealing with a leak in the middle of the night could be an arousal. Guess what you get with an apnea event? An arousal.

Reduce leaks where you can. The value of finding leak rates in your software is that you can experiment to reduce the leaks you have and see results.

If you don't clean your mask daily, and your face before turning in, you are asking for leaks. Don't ask me how I know this.

[Goofproof]

Without a decent leak rate the software data is not to be trusted, it measures flow and noise. If leaks are too high, both measurements are flawed. Jim

[ww]

When you get your software, you will understand leaks a lot better. In many cases you can see a correlation between leaks and apneas/hypopneas. Although the machine attempts to increase the pressure and airflow to compensate for the leaks. Probably the worst are low surface area masks like the nasal pillow masks where a small leak can completely bypass your therapy and lower the usable pressure significantly. This is worse now that most machines do not have the pressure feedback tubes used in earlier machines. You may want to look at this thread and maybe it will help you once you are able to record and analyze your own data. viewtopic.php?f=1&t=29565&p=254533#p254533

The worst type of leak is shown in the link above and that is the mouth leak, which basically destroys your therapy although the size of the leak doesn't look large and the machine cannot compensate.