Humidifier seals

Do most of you replace your seals on your humidifier regularly? I just found out it is possible to do and I have been wondering if it would make the machine run more quietly. If you have replaced your seals has it made any difference as far as noise is concerned? Thanks for any info you can give me!
Best, Tuza

My first machine...used for 4 years never needed a seal replacement and my current unit is 2 years old and sealing perfectly. I have an S9 and I rarely open the humidifier chamber.....I never clean it... I simply refill the humidifier through the top hole.

Are you talking about those 2 round silicone seals in the PR S1 humidifier that are back behind the water chamber?
They don't normally need replacement.
If you happen to see a crack or they seem brittle that might explain excess machine noise but they don't normally require routine replacement.
They are relatively inexpensive though...if you wanted to try replacing.

It is far from being a common problem though.

Hmm, thanks LSAT and Pugsy! I was thinking any seals. I have been wondering why my machine seems so loud. I expect it's normal machine noise from my breathing since it has happened with every machine I've had, but it is so annoying. My thought was maybe it was the seals. My therapy is good. Just looking to be less irritated. Might just change them out like you suggest,Pugsy, and see what happens.

Is the breathing sound more on inhale than exhale?
Do you hear the same level of breathing noise if you put your fingers in your ears? If you haven't tried it...try it and see if the loudness seems the same or not.

You know, Pugsy, I am not sure whether it is inhale or exhale. I will try putting my fingers in my ears tonight and see if I notice a difference.

I paid more attention last night and the noise is on the inhale. It's not coming from the mask as far as I can tell. It appears to be coming from the machine but I am not sure where. When I put my fingers in my ears I can still hear it.

I found that I could hear my own breathing on the Respironics more on inhale also (with ResMed it was more on exhale) and the loudness didn't seem to change all that much if I plugged my ears with my finger tips.
If the noise doesn't really reduce if the ears are plugged...most likely it is "conductive" noise brought to the head by the hose, mattress, etc. I route my hose around my bed pillow and the hose lays on the mattress. Using a hose cover seems to reduce the conducted noise. I don't like having the hose upwards over my head using something like a hose buddy but that might also help. Anything to reduce the contact with anything that might conduct the noise.

Some people are just more sensitive to the "Darth Vader" breathing noise which primarily is conductive noise and hard to figure out how to reduce it especially at higher pressures.

FWIW....the noise on exhale using a ResMed machine was less noticeable than the inhale noise on all the Respironics machines I have used.
Hubby and I compared both brands...comparing motor noise and he said that both brands were nearly silent and he had to put his ear within about a foot to really hear either. Meanwhile I was hearing my own breathing but he couldn't hear what I was hearing....so that again points to conductive noise.

Robysue has a good post about conductive noise...but I don't have it handy and I am short on time so can't look around. If you have the time you might search her posts for it.

I don't think that this inhale noise is related to the silicone seals at all.

As an experiment you might try using ramp so you start out briefly with much lower pressures and see if that inhale noise lessens. I do think that pressures (as well as masks) can affect this "noise" to some extent with lower pressures being not quite so annoying. Probably one of the reasons I like the ResMed so much.... I can get by with lower starting pressures with a ResMed and the exhale noise is pretty much a non issue at lower pressures. Now with the P10 mask...I don't really hear my own breathing all that much unless I really make an effort to listen for it.

tuz, are you talking about this machine:

https://www.cpap.com/productpage/respir ... ifier.html

Well, thanks for your thoughts, Pugsy, sometimes the noise just drives me bats! I didn't think it was conductive noise because when the hose hits the pillow a certain way my breathing noise becomes much louder and seems to be in my head. This inhalation noise I can hear when I'm sitting on the side of the bed after I mask up and seems to be coming from the machine. Since I sleep alone I can't gauge what it would sound like to someone not hooked up to it. It was a long shot that it might be the seals since this has been a problem with every machine I've had so far - first cpap, then bipap, now asv - all having the same type of humidifier.

Avi, that looks like my humidifier. Do you know some humidifier tricks to make it quieter?

tuz, I have been using only Resmed products. Looking at those PR humidifier's seals I would not be surprised if any of them creates noise. My Resmed S9 humidifier has only 2 seals. One inlet seal and the other under its cover and it is pressed down forcefully and does not flutter or vibrate.

What kind of noise do you hear, is it a high pitch noise like the one that I hear in my ears all the time being at around 5,000 Hz? You can use this AudioNotch tool to find the frequency of the sound that resembles the noise that you hear:

http://www.audionotch.com/app/tune/

Thanks, AVI, those are quite some noises! What I'm hearing is much lower level than anything I found on your link. It doesn't cost much to replace the seals so I think I'll just do it and see what happens. I keep thinking it's coming from the area where the elbow seal is in your picture, but it is so hard to tell.

tuz, I just listened to noise from my APAP. There is quite a noise from the dehumidifier. It's the air going thru it. I don't think that any seal could cause such noise. After I detached the humidifier and was breathing only with the flow generator then the noise was cut down quite a bit to almost silence during inhalation. During exhalation the noise is from air going thru the vent holes in my mask. Overall, I like to sleep with all these noises. They act as a White Noise generator and then I don't pay attention to my Tinnitus (ringing in the ears). If any noise bothers you may I suggest that you use ear plugs.

Thanks, Avi! Somedays it doesn't bother me that much but other days it will keep me awake. I appreciate your experiments!