a thin line between dry mouth and rainout

i am at my wit's end. yeah, i know;what else is new?

ever since i switched from my "for her" machine to my "vauto", i've been having trouble with dry mouth. i've always had a slight case of dry mouth. using xylimelts seemed to be enough to keep my mouth moist throughout the night.

after using the vauto for a few nights, however, i had to increase that one disc to two. it didn't really help. i then added biotene gel to the process. that doesn't help either.

along with increasing my mouth moisturizers, i've made sure that my scunci bands were tight as the lose their grip after a time. didn't help. replaced my foam firm cervical collar. didn't help. made sure my settings for humidity and heated hose matched my "for her" settings. didn't help.

i'm on manual with my humidity level set at 2 and my heated hose at 70, just as it was on the "for her" machine. bedroom temperature set at 64. room humidity is variable from 66 to 70. those last two variables haven't changed.

if i move that humidity to level 3, rainout ensues!

i know i should have been paying more attention when this came up with newbies. but honestly, it's not something have had to deal with for the longest time as i felt that i had it dialed in.and i realize this is a personal comfort thing and that what works for thee may not work for me.

all of that said, can anyone offer suggestions?

Increase hose air temperature to reduce chances of rain out happening.

If you do not have a heated hose, get one.
If you already have one, put a hose cover on it.

zonker wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 07, 2022 11:58 am

i'm on manual with my humidity level set at 2 and my heated hose at 70

Your heated hose will go a lot higher, up to 86.

[One of] The best ways to combat rain-out is to increase hose temperature.

Put it at 80 and see how you do, heck I'll bet you can get away with increasing your humidity.

Of course the extra electricity is going to cost you a penny or so in hydro* and we know what a cheap galoot you are, but you can recover the costs in xylimelts.

* Hydro is Canadian for Electrical Utility.

Pugsy wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 07, 2022 12:15 pm

Increase hose air temperature to reduce chances of rain out happening.

okay, will do that tonight. thanks!

chunkyfrog wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 07, 2022 12:16 pm

If you do not have a heated hose, get one.
If you already have one, put a hose cover on it.

yuppers, got the heated hose. will try as pugsy (and dog slobber) suggest.

Dog Slobber wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 07, 2022 12:36 pm

zonker wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 07, 2022 11:58 am

i'm on manual with my humidity level set at 2 and my heated hose at 70

Your heated hose will go a lot higher, up to 86.

[One of] The best ways to combat rain-out is to increase hose temperature.

Put it at 80 and see how you do, heck I'll bet you can get away with increasing your humidity.

Of course the extra electricity is going to cost you a penny or so in hydro* and we know what a cheap galoot you are, but you can recover the costs in xylimelts.

* Hydro is Canadian for Electrical Utility.

yeah, had it on 86 to clear out the water droplets in the hose one night! that was a tad too high for my comfort. i like the suggestion of 80, though. i'll do that right now before i forget it. 80 degrees and humidity at 3.

as to the penny or so, maybe i could start a gofundme page?

FWIW......adding a hose cozy to the heated hose won't make the air in the heated hose any warmer than the set temperature but it could very well reduce the amount of electricity used to maintain the desired or set temperature.

Now....sometimes masks have a short hose that comes after the long hose and that short hose isn't heated and as soon as the air enters the short hose it can start cooling down and it is possible that the air in the short hose/and mask can cool off to a point that condensation can happen.

First thing to always try is just quick, easy and simple....increase the heated hose temp if at all possible. This warms up the air going into that short hose/mask and might be enough to ward off the drop in temps once that heated air exits the heated hose. We never know how much but might get lucky and only needs a one or two degree increase.
Now if we get to a point that we have maxed out the heated hose temp at 86 degrees and we are still experiencing some condensation in the mask or short hose then that's when a little hose cozy on the short hose might come in handy. A cozy will help insulate the short hose air from cooling as quickly.

The whole idea behind hose air temps preventing condensation is to keep the air in the hose/mask warmer so that it doesn't cool off to the point that condensation occurs.
Remember....warm air will hold on to more moisture than cool air will.

Since you are using the P10 mask....you might want to consider a little homemade short hose cozy on that short non heated hose especially if you don't like the warmer overall temps needed to stop condensation.
Old bulky soft fluffy tube sock with hole cut out of the toe makes a great cheap short hose cozy.
This would maybe help with the overall too warm feeling you might experience with hose air temp increases.

I see Zonker has a p10 mask--putting a cover on that short hose might do the trick.

Just for your info. I have humidity at 5, hose temp at 84, a fleece hose cover using a F30 mask. We leave our window open about 2 inches everynight with the furnace at set to 60F , live in Canada so we are still freezing our ass off.

In the morning I have a small amount of condensation on the inside of the mask but not enough to drown.

Condensation either in the hose or mask won't hurt us...but it can sure hurt our sleep quality what with the noise and/or cold showers from the droplets getting blown out the vent holes and waking us up.
When the water in the hose creates enough noise to wake up my hubby and myself then I know I have a problem that needs fixing.

Anything that disturbs my sleep or hubby's sleep....is a problem that needs to be fixed.
Now if I sleep through it all and only have a little water in the mask and it didn't wake me up....I don't care. Just drain it out and let it dry and move on.

I sleep in a rather cool bedroom...I like it that way and I also like LOTS of moisture. Depending on outside temps my bedroom ambient temp might even drop below 60 degrees. Fortunately the max temp of 86 degrees seems to do a good job preventing condensation. It's rare that I have a problem that disturbs sleep.
If I did have a consistent problem then I would have to add a short hose cozy to the mix since I am already at the max hose air temp. While I am not crazy about the warm air up....it's better than cold air up my nose which I like even less.
If the warm air up my nose was a big problem...then I would lower the temp in the hose air and add a short hose cozy.

Don't forget barrel cozies as well. They help with condensation right at the pillows level.

Just one more tiny thing:
Make sure your scuncis are not blocking flow from your salivary glands.

Pugsy wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 07, 2022 12:53 pm

A cozy will help insulate the short hose air from cooling as quickly.
<snip>
Old bulky soft fluffy tube sock with hole cut out of the toe makes a great cheap short hose cozy.

hell, i'm so cheap, ALL my tube socks have holes at the toe!


i'll keep it in mind as that would cut back a bit on the temp.

roadcycler wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 07, 2022 2:03 pm

... live in Canada so we are still freezing our ass off.

i'm across the border in northern area of washington state. where abouts in bc are you?

(i'll be SO happy when we can get back and forth across the border with less strident covid 19 tests!)

Pugsy wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 07, 2022 2:48 pm

Don't forget barrel cozies as well. They help with condensation right at the pillows level.

iirc, i used some barrell cozies when i 1st started cpap. i don't think i liked them all that well. in fact, i prolly have them somewhere in my cpap stash. will try those too if the rest don't work.