Solving Condensation Problems

[papaman]

There are a lot of existing threads discussing or mentioning this issue, so I thought should start a new one.

Like so many, I have been plagued by water condensation in my mask and tube. Cold rain in the face, gurgling in the tubes, whistling from the vent -- you know the symptoms. A heater wrapped around the tube helped some, but did not eliminate the problem. I resorted to turning the heat up at night, even though I love to snuggle under the covers in a cold room.

The solution I found was to simply run the hose under the covers and run the excess length along my body - from shoulder to waist and back up to my mask. My body heat keeps the tube warm, so moisture never forms. I put insulation (thick socks with the toes cut out) around the tube at the ends which are not under the covers.

This requires that the hose goes off my mask toward my chin rather than the top of my head, but this works fine for my Respironics ComfortGel. When I roll over, the hose goes from my waist across the top my torso to my mask, but I quickly adjusted to that (only one bad dream that I was sleeping with a snake ). It it is a lot less intrusive than the mask itself.

I now turn the heat down to 50F at night, fill the humidifier with hot water and dial it on max. The only time I get condensation is when I toss and turn enough that the hose slips out from under the covers - pretty rare. Total cost was two pairs of old socks, and this is 100% portable.

I hope this works for you as well.

[JohnBFisher]

Great approach. I love creative and simple solutions. I route my hose under my neck and around to my face. That seems to do the trick for me. My shoulders and neck help keep the hose warm so I've not had problems with rainout.

With my current unit (which has hose clips), I finally put a hose cover on it. Else, those clips are literally a pain in the neck.

Of course you can purchase hose covers, but often simple solutions such as yours works well. Thanks for sharing.