Phillips / Philips Respironics recent recall notice discussion thread

[Goofproof]

I'm not worrying much, as long as they don't use use asbestos to make the replacement patch. We bathed in brake dust. Jim
. . .

It's probably what did in Steve McQueen.
Hi pre-celeb job was in a brake shop.

A brake shop would have been a breath of fresh air, I worked on 150 ton haulage trucks, each wheel had 20 pounds of brake dust in them, we just blew them out with a air wand, the wheel assembly weighted 4 ton each! You tried to be quick and not breath. Jim

[Sea Papper]

I don't understand the rampant speculation. We don't know what Philips knew, when they knew it, or the data on which they based their decision. It will come out, likely because of lawsuits.

its just a flesh wound.

To date, Philips Respironics has received several complaints regarding the presence of black debris/particles within the airpath circuit (extending from the device outlet, humidifier, tubing, and mask). Philips also has received reports of headache, upper airway irritation, cough, chest pressure and sinus infection. The potential risks of particulate exposure include: Irritation (skin, eye, and respiratory tract), inflammatory response, headache, asthma, adverse effects to other organs (e.g. kidneys and liver) and toxic carcinogenic affects. The potential risks of chemical exposure due to off-gassing include: headache/dizziness, irritation (eyes, nose, respiratory tract, skin), hypersensitivity, nausea/vomiting, toxic and carcinogenic effects. There have been no reports of death as a result of these issues.

[freelsjd]

I have used the Philips CPAP machines for many years (~ 12 ) and also have usedthe SoClean ozone sanitizer for about 6-7 years (soon after they came out). Nobody seems to be talking about the elephant in the room. I think any degradation of said foam in your CPAP would have been caused by SoClean or other ozone cleaners. On my first SystemOne, I had read it was possible to damage your machine with the SoClean (some wise people on this same forum warned people to avoid). After consulting with both SoClean and Philips, I took that chance and started using the SoClean. After some time, I noticed that the machine, indeed, did start to degrade and get significantly noisier. Fortunately, my 5-year time period had expired and I ordered a new SystemOne. However, this time, I made a significant change to my setup. Using my old, noisy System One, I rigged up the SoClean so that I do NOT send the ozone path through the machine. Instead, I sanitize my head gear, mask, tubing only and use the old machine reservoir to route the gas back through the SoClean. This way, only residual gas within the tubing and gear could possibly get into the machine itself. Further, if I allow the tubing to rest for a while and degas prior to plugging back in, there is likely zero chance ozone can damage the foam in the CPAP machine. The second SystemOne never got noisy. Then my time came for a new machine, and I upgraded to the DreamStation, and kept using the same setup and bypassed the machine. Also, I should mention, I learned to simply at least rinse out the humidifier tray and nasal pillows and let them dry during the day. This is not time consuming at all. I also wash with soap all components I can get to at least as often as the filters and pillows need to be changed, and perhaps more often then that if I can take the time (1/week). Since the Philips team is asking if you use ozone cleaners, I think that is probably the only way you get significant degradation of the foam. Further, I think they are doing this because they OKed the use of ozone cleaners to me and many others for years now, and just now admitting they were wrong, and the smart people on this forum who advised not to use them long ago were, indeed, correct. Not all CPAP machines can be damaged by the ozone, but obviously some can. I intend to keep using the ozone cleaner/sanitizer myself because I have confidence that my rigged setup is good.

[packitin]

Well, the sleep clinic personal don't know much, nor does my DME supplier. I called and set up an appt for Tue. with my doc. (that's the soonest I could get)

I have an old System 1 p750 bipap that is still pretty good, and apparently is not on the list, so I think I'll use that until Tue.

My goodness, what next? How serious do you think it is? I tried to call the Phillips co. nunber, but the message was that "there is a long waiting time", so I just gave up.

[10Gauge]

Understanding your point that Ozone cleaners might exacerbate the problem, there is no way to support your statements that:

"Since the Philips team is asking if you use ozone cleaners, I think that is probably the only way you get significant degradation of the foam." or
"I think any degradation of said foam in your CPAP would have been caused by SoClean or other ozone cleaners."

It may very well be ONE of the ways, or even the entire way, but they are not saying atm, and there are other possibilities. It may accelerate a normal degradation that would have occurred anyway or there may be other reasons, but you can assume they have competent lawyers, who would have a found a way out of the monumental costs of a recall, if there was someone else to blame and that their product was 'working as intended' but the consumer caused the problem with the non Philips approved SoClean machine.

As to "I think that is probably the only way you get significant degradation of the foam." may I ask what Subject your Degree is in ? Because it certainly isn't Logic.

[Pugsy]

Well, the sleep clinic personal don't know much, nor does my DME supplier. I called and set up an appt for Tue. with my doc. (that's the soonest I could get)

I have an old System 1 p750 bipap that is still pretty good, and apparently is not on the list, so I think I'll use that until Tue.

My goodness, what next? How serious do you think it is? I tried to call the Phillips co. nunber, but the message was that "there is a long waiting time", so I just gave up.

There is a website link where you can type in the serial number off your machine and see if it is affected or not.
It might be slow as I expect it is very busy but you don't have to talk to anyone or wait for someone else.
You can check yourself.

https://www.philipssrcupdate.expertinquiry.com/

Canada and US only...just follow the prompts.

This is for US
https://www.philipssrcupdate.expertinqu ... gistration

Everyone....make sure you are getting the blower unit serial number and not the humidifier serial number.
Despite being attached these are 2 different devices.
I mention this because in the past when I have asked for model number off the blower unit people have given me the model number off the humidifier because they didn't know there was a difference.

[raisedfist]

I submitted my Trilogy 100 S/N and contact information and it will be interesting to see how long it takes them to contact me and what the remedy offered is

[palerider]

I decided to take apart my (broken) old REMstar to find where this sound abatement foam is, and I think I found it inside the pump assembly. I recall seeing this crap on the filter and not knowing what it was. I think I breathed this in for years. Does anyone mind confirming that this is the same issue we're talking about?
IMG_0188.jpg
IMG_0187.jpg

No, you're looking at dust that made it through your filter.

[cafraz]

When you enter your Respironics serial number into the Philips recall website, beware of 0s that look like Os. That is: zeros may look like capital Os. The serial number on the bottom of my System One/RemStar Auto with A-Flex (550P) had mixed digits and letters and the last zero looked very much like an O and different from the other zeros in the serial number. When I entered the number using O is said my CPAP machine was NOT affected. But when I checked my serial number with a report from the Respironics EncoreViewer software I saw that the O was a zero. When I entered the serial number with a zero it said my CPAP IS AFFECTED. Also, SleepyHead (and probably OSCAR) report the correct number. To be safe, you could copy/paste the serial number from these programs.

Also, my CPAP machine's serial number was not labeled with the "SN" that shows up in all the examples. (This might be why people sometimes enter the humidifier serial number instead of the CPAP serial number, as pointed out by Pugsy.)

[Grumpy48]

Would it be anticipated that the DME's would notify their customers that had bought affected CPAP's? If I wasn't a member on this forum or the other similar forum, I likely wouldn't be aware of the recall and I suspect there are many people that still are not aware of it as they aren't part of a group like this. My DME does have my DreamStation serial number (it's on my sales slip), but I have no clue if somehow that serial number gets registered back to Philips so there is a traceability in ownership or for warranty coverage. So far no mention of any recall on my DME's site, but it could be they would prefer to not be the middleman in this recall process. The serial number is on my DreamMapper account and linked to my email, so perhaps that could used as a means of contacting me(?) Per the serial number I do have an affected unit.
Honda corporation knows where to send air bag recall notices for my Accord even though the car was bought at a dealership.

[EJW372]

I understand this board is affiliated with CPAP.com but I’m not thrilled at all with how they’ve jacked up their prices as a result of this.

The ResMed AirSense 10 AutoSet was $589 on Monday.

Today, Thursday it’s…$999

WTH?

[amenite]

Airsense 10 auto set is now up to $999.00 on CPAP.com. Glad I was able to get on it quickly. I imagine this price bump will go on for some time.

Both my PRS One machines are registered but oddly I have not received any email confirmations at all. Note your confirmation numbers on screen when registering, just in case.

[Fullygruntled]

Airsense 10 auto set is now up to $999.00 on CPAP.com. Glad I was able to get on it quickly. I imagine this price bump will go on for some time.

Check Second Wind. I’ve got an airsense 10 autoset brand new open box on the way. $559.

[Pugsy]

I understand this board is affiliated with CPAP.com but I’m not thrilled at all with how they’ve jacked up their prices as a result of this.

The ResMed AirSense 10 AutoSet was $589 on Monday.

Today, Thursday it’s…$999

WTH?

Please review my past explanation of how ResMed dictates the prices cpap.com can advertise any of their products for.
page 8 of this thread ...about middle of the page maybe.

ResMed is just doing what they do. Take your complaint up with them.

I expect it to go higher.

I don't know if this link will take you directly to it or not. If it doesn't...look it up. I am not going to retype it.
http://cpaptalk.com/viewtopic/t182248/S ... ?start=105

[Firemonkey]

PR has made it abundantly clear that ozone cleaning is a significant variable in this equation. Enough so that they’re asking the question on the registration page. I’ve seen posts here and other places where people are untruthfully responding “no” to the ozone question out of fear of it being an excuse to void their claim. Which, may seem a reasonable concern. Others have commented that perhaps they’re only asking so they can prioritize service to the ones most likely to be degraded. Also seems reasonable.

The post above about the ozone cleaner degrading the users machine to the point that the machine became their dedicated SoClean companion made me wonder about a possibility I haven’t seen mentioned anywhere-

Maybe they’re asking about the use of ozone in the machine because they want to qualify the device as suitable for refurbishment? The PR statement mentions servicing units and also mentioned refurbished units. Perhaps by asking the ozone question they can manage the intake of refurbish-able units to simply swap foam, reset, and get back out the door with a quick turnaround? Sort of makes the inaccurate “no” responses a bit problematic.

I’ve got 2 affected machines, probably 5 years old, but I traveled for work for 3-4 of those years so they don’t have anywhere near 5 years of hours on either machine (I traveled with a z1 auto). If they start taking machines in en masse, and re-distributing refurb machines as replacements, I’m going to be really apprehensive about not getting my own barely used machines back, versus one that’s seen 3X the use and potentially spent time on a soclean as well.

The foam issue is bad enough, but PRs apparent “make it up as we go along” response is a relations nightmare unfolding in slow motion.