Airsense 10 having issues with humidifier, leaks - now it's shutting off. Is it dying?

[Rotten Red Rod]

So, I've had my Airsense 10 for just over 3 years now. And it's worked pretty much fine up until the last few months, where it's started burning through water at a much faster rate than normal. When I first got the machine, it would use a small portion of the water in the chamber - now I fill it to the line every night, and after multiple mornings where it had run out completely, I started filling it back up to full whenever i woke up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Despite this, I have dry mouth almost every night, that gets worse earlier in the morning - it's as if the humidifier isn't really working even though it's burning through so much water.

Now I'm coming across another problem - it's shutting off during the night, and I think it's due to leaks. But as far as I can tell, my mask isn't leaking and my seal is fine - it doesn't feel any different on my face from normal. But twice now it's shut off in the middle of the night, like I had taken the mask off. I just turned the autostart for now, and I'll see how that goes. I also looked at the data in OSCAR, and it seems like I'm getting increasingly high levels of leakage as time goes on. Here's the image from last night, you can see the huge leak that happens right before the shutoff around 2:10:

https://i.imgur.com/0e6yvWF.png

And here's charts of my leak rate - you can see the average leak rate has gone up since Sept 2019 (which is when I started using an SD card to record date for OSCAR):

https://i.imgur.com/kmAfB7t.png

https://i.imgur.com/eys6PLk.png

I tried calling Resmed and the store that sold it to me (my insurance doesn't cover my CPAP, so I'm on my own for therapy) and none of them know what's causing it. Is my machine just dying and needs replacement? Is there a part I could replace that would fix this? (I regularly replace all the non-CPAP parts - mask, hose, etc., even tried replacing the water chamber). Is there some dumb user error thing I might be doing? Please help!

[Pugsy]

Welcome to the forum.

Water consumption is greatly affected by large leaks. We use more water when the leaks are large.
So it wouldn't be impossible for leaks to be the cause of the increased water usage.

Sensors do fail on these machines as well.

If SmartStart is turned on it's not impossible for the leak to be so bad that the machine doesn't sense that you are attached so it turns itself off.
You say you turned SmartStart to off...let's see if that resolves the issue of the machine turning itself off during the night.

What mask are you using?

[Rotten Red Rod]

Thanks for the reply - I'm using an Airfit F20 (with a liner from padacheek). I can't detect any leaks in the mask seal or the hose, and I've double and triple checked those because I'm usually very, very sensitive to leaks. If there's any air blowing in my eye i have to adjust and re-adjust until it's right. I also tend to tighten the straps so much that I have to replace the headgear very often.

I last replaced the mask cushion just under a year ago, when the old one literally started falling apart after 2 years... I'm just about due to order a new one, so I probably should, but I doubt that's the issue, as I never had this problem with my old cushion. And I've replaced every other part of the mask and cycle them out often (elbow, headgear, frame, etc).

Is there any possibility of some kind of... "Internal leak"? Like something in the machine is malfunctioning? If it was, it begs the question of where all the humidity is going - I've looked for signs of wetness around the machine, and there's nothing out of the ordinary.

[deerhound]

Have you tried replacing the humidifier tank?

[Rotten Red Rod]

Yep, that was the first thing I tried, a few months ago. It didn't change anything.

[Pugsy]

You have to at least try to fix the mask leak first....get a new cushion...get new headgear.

If there was a fixed leak in the circuit somewhere then the leak line would be more constant....it's not constant so the first thing to check is the mask itself.

Your baseline leak starting at the beginning of the night...when you are awake and we assume there shouldn't be any leaks...it's high...too high for a time when there shouldn't be leaks.
This could be a sensor problem meaning the sensor is ailing...it's not impossible.

There was guy not long ago with a similar high baseline leak and his machine was saying he was leaking horribly...it was his machine that was ailing. He was on the road when it happened and when he got home and was able to try a different machine with the same gear things went to normal.
But he first did all he could to try to fix the leak by mask part replacement.

Since it's been quite a while since you got a new cushion....you have to at least try that first.

The only internal leak thing that I can think of is if the water chamber isn't inserted properly but when that happens the noise is quite apparent and we can hear that easily.

When the machine thinks there is a large leak it increase the air flowing over the water. It doesn't necessarily increase the pressure but it tries to maintain the pressure with more air flow and its the more air flow that is going over the water in the chamber that eats up the water. If your sensors are bad the machine might still be blowing more air over the water because it doesn't know anything else to do.

Change to a totally new mask...new hose...check inside the humidifier side of your machine for the little gasket seals inside...do they look like they are placed normally? Feel around for cracks in those seals.

If after all that you can't get that leak reduced....consider trying a different machine if at all possible to see if you get the same results with a different machine. If you get the same results...something is wrong with your equipment...mask, hose. If you get normal results then your machine is ailing and most likely some sort of sensor issue is my first guess.

[Rotten Red Rod]

You're right, I should try replacing the mask. It's coming up on when I was planning on getting a new one anyway. I've ordered an entirely new one with several spare cushions. I'll see how that goes, and probably get a new hose too, although I'll try out some of my old hoses first (they have some hole in them due to cats, but they worked fine after being taped up - I replaced them with one that is undamaged a while ago, but I kept the old ones around just in case).

Sadly I'm not sure what way I have to try a new machine without just buying one. I was hoping to get another 2 years out of this machine before doing that, but if I have to, I have to.

[Pugsy]

Ask neighbors or family or friends if they are a cpap user if you could briefly test with their machine.
Run it with mask and machine on for about 30 minutes while awake so that you can evaluate the leak line...baseline.
While awake and you know there is no leak...that baseline should be at or near 0.0 mark.

If you lived near me...I have a spare machine you could at least do that test with.
It's just for these kinds of situations that I keep a spare machine in the closet. I never know when the one I am using will get sick and/or up and die on me.

[zonker]

Sadly I'm not sure what way I have to try a new machine without just buying one. I was hoping to get another 2 years out of this machine before doing that, but if I have to, I have to.

you could buy used and at least save some jingle in your jeans.

forum member lsat often has cpap machines for sale. he is highly regarded in our community. other forum members have bought from him and have reported it being a good experience.

good luck!

[Rotten Red Rod]

Good to know - thanks! I'll explore that as an option after trying a new mask. If anyone else has any insight, let me know.

[Rotten Red Rod]

Ok, so, I pulled out my old broken cushion to see if there was any difference, and there is - the old mask has a tighter grip on the frame when you try to separate them. I don't know if that's the issue, and unfortunately I won't find out until my new mask comes later this week (as I can't use that cushion, the adhesive started to separate on the soft part), but at least I finally have a possibility. In the meantime, I switched out all my other parts, including pulling out an old hose (and plugging a few more small holes in it) for tonight. We'll see how it goes!

[Rotten Red Rod]

Got my replacement mask yesterday! It seems like less air is now leaking out of the elbow, so I was hoping this would solve the issue, and used it for the first time last night.

... No dice on the humidifier tank. It ran all the way to nearly empty from full again, and my mouth was dry again. That makes it seem like it's something wrong with the CPAP itself, now that I've replaced literally everything else.

Not quite sure about the leak level as my SD card is being weird and didn't save data correctly for the last 2 nights to view on OSCAR (it only recorded like ~3 minutes of use each night for some reason). I'll give it a few more days to get an accurate reading to see what the leak levels are (they look better on MyAir, but still not great) but it's looking more and more likely I need to just order a new CPAP.

[charlesrshell]

I used the Climate Control feature on my new AS10 for the first time last nite, it is set on Auto. I woke up after about two hours of sleep and was pleasantly surprised I had no dry mouth. When I got up I had a little dry mouth and the water tub was empty. I don't see any leaks. Is this normal or does the water tub have to be filled every morning? I slept 10:09 hours last nite. I was hoping the tub wouldn't need to be refilled for several days. This is the first time I have eve used the huminity feature on any of my CPAP machines thru the years so this might be normal.

[Dog Slobber]

I used the Climate Control feature on my new AS10 for the first time last nite, it is set on Auto. I woke up after about two hours of sleep and was pleasantly surprised I had no dry mouth. When I got up I had a little dry mouth and the water tub was empty. I don't see any leaks. Is this normal or does the water tub have to be filled every morning? I slept 10:09 hours last nite. I was hoping the tub wouldn't need to be refilled for several days. This is the first time I have eve used the huminity feature on any of my CPAP machines thru the years so this might be normal.

I fill my tub daily and dump the rest the next day. I use tap water.

In the winter, typically go through 75% and in the summer about 25%.

[charlesrshell]

I used the Climate Control feature on my new AS10 for the first time last nite, it is set on Auto. I woke up after about two hours of sleep and was pleasantly surprised I had no dry mouth. When I got up I had a little dry mouth and the water tub was empty. I don't see any leaks. Is this normal or does the water tub have to be filled every morning? I slept 10:09 hours last nite. I was hoping the tub wouldn't need to be refilled for several days. This is the first time I have eve used the huminity feature on any of my CPAP machines thru the years so this might be normal.

I fill my tub daily and dump the rest the next day. I use tap water.

In the winter, typically go through 75% and in the summer about 25%.

OK, thanks Dog Slobber. Sounds like normal operating condition. I was hoping the tub got better use mileage.