Rainout just inside nasal pillows

[cowlypso]

I'm using the Opus 360 nasal pillows, which have a fairly sharp angle in the silicone between the part that sits against your nose and the rest of the mask. I've been having some problems with rainout mostly just inside the nasal pillow itself, with water collecting inside that angle. I also get a little bit of water in the elbow area between the mask and the air vent. No rainout in the hose itself.

I had this problem the 3 nights I was at camp, where it was a little chilly at night (although not too bad, we were in a heated cabin and did turn the heat on). After the first night of waking up constantly with water running down my cheek, I turned the humidifier off and just had it in passover mode, which helped a little but didn't fix the problem.

Last night is the first time I've had the problem at home. It wasn't chilly in the room at all, but I did turn the humidifier up a notch because I've got a nasty cold with a very raw throat. I only had the humidifier at 3, and I woke up around 5am with a nose full of water (okay, maybe it was only a drop, but it feels like a lot!). I ended up just taking off the mask and going back to sleep for another 2 hours until my alarm went off (this is the first time I've ever done this, but being sick I'm not terribly tolerant of additional discomforts).

Any suggestions? Would a barrel cozy help at all? It's weird, because the water is mostly collecting at that angle, which is right up against my nose. Nowhere else except right up at the mask.

[Pugsy]

I know that the Swift FX barrel cozy helps with rain out for me. Our exhaled breath contains some moisture and if conditions are just right it will condense in the pillow area. Reducing humidifier setting will help reduce moisture in the incoming air. Also if you are using a hose management system where the hose comes in from over head and moisture accumulated has no where to go except in the nose because water can't run up hill then you might considering routing hose so that gravity allow water to go down into the tube,

[physicsbob]

On my Opus I use a cozy on the mask hose, from right above the vent holes to just over the swivel connector, along with the standard hose cozy for the main hose. for the winter months I also have a reptile heater on my hose and I haven't had any rainout problems since. Because of my allergies I like a little more humidity than most and I can't stand cold air blowing up my nose. so these two fixes eliminated the cold air and the rainout I was experiencing

[Cath]

I had to take my mask off early this morning when water got inside the nose pillows and starting making a loud gurgling sound that woke me up.

[Gerald]

Cowlypso...

The answer to your problem is a "string wick" made from cotton butcher's string.

I had the same problem (exhaled breath condensation) in my Headrest Aura mask....and insertion of a piece of thick cotton string was the perfect fix.

Your mask is different than mine....but I can send pictures of what i did if you'd like to PM me.

The wick catches that (1) @#$%*&#@$% drop before it can go up your nose. It dries during the day when the mask is unused.

G

[Nodak62]

They do make a hose wrap for a 6 ft tubing. this would insulate the hose from the outside temp. There is also machines on the market (Fisher & Paykel 600 series, ResMed S9) that utilize a heated tubing, that may work.