Phillips System One Humidifier Not Working

[Hawk88]

I have had a Phillips System One CPAP machine for several years now. I have always had the level at 5 for the humidifier. I noticed last month that the unit would not work on 5. I also noticed that the 5 that lights up on the unit was dimmer than any other setting. I lowered it to 4 and it worked for a few weeks, not it no longer works (the "4" light did not go dimmer, it still looks normal). Anyone seen this? Is it the humidifier that is bad or the unit?

[JDS74]

I have not had this problem.

Speculation about what might be wrong.
It sounds as if the heater control circuitry is failing/has failed.
At a setting of 5, the humidifier should be drawing more power to provide more evaporation to meet the need.
The heating element draws the most power hence the dimmer light. Not that it doesn't work at all, the power needs are less so the light stays brighter.

It would help if you would post your equipment since there are at least two different heated humidifiers for the System One. There is a link on how to do that in my signature block.

[Hawk88]

I am not home right now, but I am pretty sure it is the 50 series. It has the white faceplate and side panel.

[JDS74]

With the 50 series, you don't have the choices of heated tubing or not.
So it's likely that the unit has failed. Since they are relatively low cost, it probably makes sense to just replace it.
It can be repaired by the Accbio folks but the cost would be a significant percent of the replacement cost.
You'll have a spare water chamber

The best price I found is $150.

[Pugsy]

http://www.secondwindcpap.com/Used_CPAP.html
Almost at the bottom of the page. $70
Just make sure you get the 50 series.

[Hawk88]

Thanks guys. I may take the humidifier apart just to make sure nothing came loose. I take it on motorcycle trips and it gets bumped around some.

[Janknitz]

Mine has not been working for about 6 months. I got a new humidifier and it's still not working, except for Passover mode. Kaiser tells me they are seeing a lot of problems with the main unit's communication with the humidifier in the 50 series and that I need to take it to Crapria. I have not had the time to diddle with them, but I really need to as I am getting more frequent upper respiratory infections (3 this year, NONE in the last 2 years) which I think are related to dried out nasal passages.

Anyway, according to Kaiser sleep techs, there has been a big issue with these machine/humidifiers.

[archangle]

Definitely unplug for a while, and disassemble everything.

There's a system one humidifier setting in the clinician's menu, so try changing that setting. It sounds like a hardware problem, but it's worth a try.

[Hawk88]

Okay, after reading up on some things today, I tested the heating plate and it is getting hot, even on 5. I learned about the System one and Classic, it was on System One humidification. I will change to Classic. Either its not heating sometime and heating other times or the System One Humidification thinks it humid enough. I wish I could upgrade the firmware to heat it before I put the mask on. Looks like I have REV 00.

[Hawk88]

BTW, updated my profile with my equipment. I did not put the software because I am not sure which I have. The 5 is still lit dim, but the heat plate is getting hot. Maybe the led is just losing brightness.