Humidification help needed

Hi Everyone,

I'm looking for some help and to gain a better understanding on how to adjust my humidification settings. I need lots of humidity to stop me from coughing. The coughing is not due to mouth breathing or leakage as I can start to cough immediately if the humidity is not high enough. When ever I get to the humidification level that stops me from coughing, I get water in my hose which wakes me not with water in my face but rather the noise of water gurgling very loudly. I end up having to get up and clear the hose by disconnecting and shaking it out.

Here are my stats and other stuff (let me know if any other info is needed to better assist me):

Tube temp: 67 f
Humidity level: 5
Room temp: 67 f (A/C climate controlled) - set to 68 f heat controlled in summer. Making the room warmer is not really an option (unless absolutely last resort)
Area: live in MA
Strategies used:
-fleece sock covering over the hose
-CPAP unit is below the level of the bed
-hose covered by additional fleece and buried in between my head board and the mattress
-I've tried keeping the hose in the bed with me to heat it up (when using a different mask - my current mask has the hose attachment at the top of my head making it challenging to then snake it down through the bed).
-I've tried having the tube temp up to as high as 86 f and then an RT suggested I turn it down to 68 f.

I don't understand the relationship of how the humidity level and tube temp interplay with the room temp to affect condensation. The more I think about it, the more of a headache I get! Feel free to point me to a post that already address this issue. I tried to search for some info but as a newbie I find it challenging to search for things when you don't really understand what you are searching for!!

Thanks again for any input!!

Warm air will hold more moisture before it releases/condenses than cooler air will hold. So if you want maximum humidity without the annoying condensation in the hose you need to keep the air in the hose warm enough so that it doesn't condense/release the moisture.

So...you either have to warm up the hose air temp or warm up the ambient room air temp so that it doesn't cool the air in the hose to the point of releasing the moisture.

I would have thought that a hose air temp in the 80s would have prevented the condensation in the hose.
How come you were told to reduce it so much?

Can't answer the why. I was at a mask fitting lab when I mentioned to the RT that I was having trouble getting the humidity high enough without causing condensation in the hose. She asked what my temp setting was set at. At the time I had it all the way up to 86 f. She said she always tells her patients to start at 68 F and then turn it up only if needed. So I turned it down to 68 F. For a day or so it seemed to work but now it is accumulating moisture again. I went down to 67 f thinking that it would be better to be at the same as the room temp. I've also played with the humidity setting. The highest I've gone to was 6 - which was great - except for all the condensation!!

Are there any posts or recommended reading you could suggest to help me better understand how the humidity coordination (humidity, hose temp and room temp) works?

Thanks,

Kristen

I don't know of any special posts but I did compose this a while back...generic response for rain out issues either in the mask or hose.

See posts #2 and 3 in this thread.
viewtopic/t94035/Pugsys-Pointers-3Deali ... -road.html

It's physics in action.
When warm air (which contains moisture) cools to a point it can no longer hold onto the moisture that is when condensation occurs.
So to prevent the condensation you have to prevent that air in the hose from cooling to the point it releases the moisture.
You have 2 choices (unless you reduce the humidity setting which you say you don't want to do) and those choices are either warm up the air in the hose so it doesn't cool or you can warm up the ambient room temp so that it doesn't cool the air in the hose.
The easiest solution is to warm the air up in the hose.
I have no idea why someone would tell you to reduce the hose air temp in an effort to prevent condensation from happening. It goes against the laws of physics that govern condensation.

You can warm up the air in the hose either by just increasing the hose air temp or sometimes adding a hose cozy or maybe using both.

That's pretty much it in a nutshell. The air in the hose has to be warmer and then it can hold onto the water droplets.
How you decide to warm that air in the hose is up to you.

Increasing the ambient room temp is another way but it would likely have to be a LOT warmer and that probably is not a comfortable option if you like things cooler.