Rainout

I've read a lot of threads on rainout. I still have some questions. I live where its hot (phoenix area) and I have a heated tube. I was still getting rain out so I turned the heat up, the humidity down to 1 and put pads on the mask sides. That helped a lot. The tempature outside dropped last night and my mask rained again. I have the inside house heat set to 73. I bumped it to 74. Is there anything else I can do ? I just am a heater at night. Even laying on top off all the blankets I radiate heat. I don't think I can stand my bedroom any hotter maybe I should turn the humidity all the way off ?

What temperature do you have the heated hose set at?

It was set at 83. I just bumped it to 84.

You might have to go up a little more on the heated hose temp....just keep inching it up until the rain out stops.
I assume it's in the mask and not the hose??????

Yes in the mask. I hate waking up with a wet face. I am not a fan of humidity on a good day.

You know it's probably the moisture in your own exhaled breaths that is condensing and I doubt that reducing the humidity setting will make that much difference. It's already about as low as it will go.

If you reach 86 degrees and still have it...get with me and we can chat about additional options.

And I do understand. I get a cold mist of a shower out the P10 vent holes from mine fairly often but I keep my house a lot cooler than you do. Heck even during the day the thermostat is set to around 66....and lower at night...and I am using the setting of 6 on the humidifier.
Talk about a ripe recipe for rain out.

One thing you might do....take a small bit of absorbent material and place it in an out of the way section of the mask...see if it will absorb enough moisture to not annoy you. Something maybe like those round things that dentists stick in our mouths to help open up the work area for them...and maybe cut in half. Roll up a tiny bit of gauze or similar material. Don't want it big or getting in the way...just in a spot where it doesn't touch your skin and is out of the way inside the mask...this is the DreamWear FFM still isn't it?
Or have you changed to something else? If you have changed...tell me what you changed to.

Cynmatthes wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 06, 2018 3:06 pm

I live where its hot (phoenix area) and I have a heated tube.

Do you have a hose cover?

No I don't have one of those yet. Was kinda given the impression that in Phoenix you didn't need one. But my dme has been wrong before.

Pugsy, yes I still use the dreamwear ff mask. I will try the higher hose temp tonight and if that doesn't work I will try the gauze you mentioned.

Couldn't hurt to try. If you have some old socks or rag towels, you could start by just wrapping some long strips around your hose and securing them with rubber bands or twist ties. I use a hose cover with my heated hose regardless of weather and haven't had rainout since. I made one out of fleece remnants I bought from the local fabric store and fasten it to the hose with some cheapo velcro strips. Good luck!

Thanks. We recently moved here from a much colder area. I have some long fingerless gloves that might make a good hose cover. Will have to give it a shot.

I also live in Phoenix. Phoenix should be the exact opposite of weather that would cause this 'rainout' effect. I haven't heard of this effect before but then again this is my first time on a cpap forum. But I have had cpaps, then bippaps for over a decade and never had any trouble with condensation inside the mask. And I psychologically can't stand anything over just my nose so I have been using full face masks as well for most of that time.

With high temps and low humidity, accept when the AC runs then it is warm with very low humidity your humidifier would have to be working overtime to get enough moisture in your air flow to cause rainout. How much water do you have left in the humidifier in the morning? Mine is nearly empty on a low setting. Anything over halfway and it would be dry before morning (which seems like the worst time to go dry). If you still have lots of water after each night then it seems unlikely the rainout is coming from there. Have you ever tried not having any water at all in the humidifier for one night? You might wake up with

I also wonder about turning up the warmth on the hose. I never had a heated hose until a few months ago and I didn't know that they are used to prevent rainout. Have you looked at your hose in the morning to see if there are little lines of water at the bottom of the folds in the hose? I there are only one or two lines of water right next to the mask it might be coming from the mask and not the hose If so making the hose warmer won't directly help.

If you do have a lot of humidity on your breath when you exhale I can believe that it could condense on the inside of the mask and rain back down. The mask is going to be somewhere between body temperature and room temperature, which means probably lots cooler than your breath/body temp. If you get the hose warm enough it will keep the mask warmer and reduce or stop the condensation. Does anybody make a heated mask?

I turned up the heated hose and that seems to have fixed it. Trouble was the air was so warm I had trouble falling asleep. got up and read till like 1 am but then had one of the best nights yet my ahi was .7 and that was SWJ.

I've got the humidity turned down as low as it goes. I get two nights off of a tank of water filled to the max line.

Too bad we don't have 0.5 degree increments for that hose air temp.

Keep using that one degree warmer...it will be something that becomes less annoying the more you use it.
I always feel the same way the first time I have to increase the hose air temp...eventually I get used to it and it's not as annoying...and even when annoying it's less annoying than the rain out is.

Yeah I will keep going with it till it warms up again. Looks like next week we will be back in the 70's. Yay!