M-series humidifier stops working

blarg · Post by **blarg** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 1:50 pm

My personal favorite manual mishap was something akin to:

"If sending email doesn't work, please send an email to...."

My DME has a "CPAP walk in clinic". If I were experiencing this problem, I'd run down and ask them to scratch their heads over it.

mwmcpap · Post by **mwmcpap** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 2:44 pm

So, it has been about a month and guess what? Yep, my humidifier stopped working again.

Catching up on a couple of the previous posts...
Yes they replaced the unit. No they didn't replace the power supply this time - they did last time when the swapped out the entire unit (since everything works fine for 4 weeks, then stops, and replacing the humidifier gets it all going again, I wouldn't think it was the power supply - please let me know if you've got some other insight into that suggestion).

My DME also has a walk in clinic (since we're both in Portland, it is probably the same one), their preference seems to be to swap out the unit. Unlike the leaking problem with the m-series, there doesn't seem to be a bunch of people with the humidifier problem so the manufacturer isn't jumping all over it trying to figure out what is wrong (or what I'm doing wrong if I'm the only one with a problem).

Waiting for a call back from DME. They don't have any in stock and are checking on when more will be in. And perhaps by now a few more problems have been reported. I'll let y'all know what I hear.

WifeIsHappyNow · Post by **WifeIsHappyNow** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 8:48 pm

mwmcpap wrote:I wouldn't think it was the power supply - please let me know if you've got some other insight into that suggestion).

No real insight...just a place that gremlins like to hide...

Without looking into it deeper, I figure that the power supply is where the humidifier gets its signal that the CPAP is on and therefore the humidifier should be on. My theory is/was that if/when the humidifier loses this "signal", it doesn't know what to do, so the flashing notifies the user of an error. I figure this could happen because of a loose connection. It doesn't explain why you have such a repeatable problem, but since you seem to have gotten everything replaced at least once at this point...

I am certainly no expert on this...just a thought...

I hope you can find out what is causing this problem...it does not seem that this happens too much...

Mike

mwmcpap · Post by **mwmcpap** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 2:23 pm

Wifeishappynow...thanks for the expansion on your thoughts. Some good ideas in there that I hadn't considered. Ah, the wisdom that we gain from forums like this!

This month, the DME opted to replace the entire unit again (cpap, humidifier, power supply, etc). Still reporting that they aren't seeing a lot of these problems (only one other in this area that they know of).

I should be good to go for another month. We'll see.

Goofproof · Post by **Goofproof** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 2:42 pm

Ie I were you I would want it replaced by a new Remstar Pro 2 with HH,or a Remstar APAP with HH,(TANK Classic models) you might have to get a real nightstand, but you would have one that would work, and then you could get the software and see how good its working. Jim

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CPAPopedia Keywords Contained In This Post (Click For Definition): APAP

blarg · Post by **blarg** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 4:28 pm

Sorry to bump an old thread.

Just wanted to let everyone know that as of last night (2 days before my trip) I'm now having this problem. Yay. I'm on the phone with my DME right now.

brackstone · Post by **brackstone** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 4:37 pm

RestlessRoper wrote:I don't usually post on these forums because of the lack of response unless you are one of the "gang".

I'm coming on here to post an update regarding my condition and I've been checking out the other threads as well. I also wanted to comment in on how helpful everyone has been, especially restedgal. I was a brand new poster and everyone replied to me.

I'm not trying to take away from what you are saying though restless. Just wanted to place my own point of view.

Snoredog · Post by **Snoredog** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 5:49 pm

if you went through the M series leaky tank syndrome then your humidifier platform is probably now SHOT because the water that ran inside the housing ran down in where the heating element is and probably ruined the heating element. Those things only work submerged in water for so long.

Contact whomever you purchased it from for a new Humidifier platform. it is under warranty for 2 years.

Linda3032 · Post by **Linda3032** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 6:01 pm

Oh, I am so glad I have two Tanks in working order. I can't believe these M series humidifiers are having such problems.

Sorry Blarg. Hope you get it resolved soon.

blarg · Post by **blarg** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 6:12 pm

Snoredog wrote:if you went through the M series leaky tank syndrome...

I didn't, and I watched the RT open the factory sealed box for it when I got it, so it appears to be unrelated to water damage.

They just replaced the humidifier. I asked them if I could keep my old chamber since I know it doesn't leak, so they gave me both chambers. The humidifier they just gave me was in a ghetto plastic bag and wasn't factory sealed, so it's probably used. It's working now, so at least the issue I had seems to be related to the humidifiers themselves, not communication with the machine.

I did ask them if they had any Tank Autos laying around and they told me that they got rid of them ASAP when the letter circulated saying that they were being phased out and that they wish they had held on to more of them.

WifeIsHappyNow · Post by **WifeIsHappyNow** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 8:18 pm

I have had just a few instances of this occurring in the last few weeks. The seem to go away just as quickly though just by turning the machine off and back on. The last time it happened was Saturday night. I woke up and noticed it was blinking. I actually just turned the humidifier down to zero and then back up and it stayed on for the rest of the night...no other "adjustments" were necessary.

blarg · Post by **blarg** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 3:03 am

Personally I need my humidifier or I wake up with blood in my mask apparently. I had bloody noses all throughout growing up when I lived in Arizona and it looks like my sinuses don't like to be without moisture.

I actually woke up because of this early this morning, cleaned out the mask and went back to sleep (seeing the solid light thinking I had it licked), woke up again, reseated the machine, and tried again, no dice. Just refused to work reliably, so too bad. I need me my HH.

mario · Post by **mario** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 4:45 am

.........not working. I have been waking up with a really drymouth lately and when I look at my water reservoir it was half empty. I had the dial in to 4 all night long. Is that normal?

blarg · Post by **blarg** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 5:30 am

That sounds more like mouth leaking. (Air is escaping your mouth while you sleep, which causes your dry throat.)

The symptoms I had were:
Light stays on solid for a minute or two.
Light begins blinking.
If you remove the humidifier chamber at that point, the plate is not hot at all even though it's on 5 or some such.

Lightsaver · Post by **Lightsaver** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 7:28 pm

My RemStar humidifier stopped working, so I checked this forum and noticed that one of the posters had mentioned a power outage. I unplugged the machine from the power strip, waited 30 seconds, plugged it in again, and the light stopped blinking and the humidifier started heating.
Hope this helps someone else!

M-series humidifier stops working

Can someone tell me the symptoms if the humidifier is ......

Humidifier blinking instead of heating