previous F20 elbow (without the air and sound deadening)

I tried out the older F20 elbow, part of a mask kit purchased ligit from a DME , recently for a few nights. (The older F20 elbow is the one without the plastic sound and air deadening and without a rounded covering over the exhaust holes). I had never used it before. I thought it would be easier to clean.

When I put my hand over the end of the elbow while the the cpap was running but before I attached it to the mask, no air came out anywhere. But when I attached it to the mask and put it on, the air rushed out at great pressure somewhere close to the ring of exhaust holes. I tried it out at night and Oscar showed a continuous base large leak of approx 25 lt. ? but no significant change in AHI from when I was using the newer "quiet air" elbow. That has been consistent over the last few nights, that I have used the "older style " elbow.

I tried a second "older style" F20 elbow and had the same experience.

When I checked it on my watt/amps/volt meter, it showed what appeared to be somewhere close to a 70% increase in current draw! So that looks consistent with the large leak.

I also tried connecting it to another F20 mask--and no difference .

Does anyone have experience with the older style F20 elbow? Was it also called the "quiet air"? I can tell you it is not quiet in comparison to the newer elbow.

Others have reported a similar problem with the new F20/F30 elbow after washing. The problem was water (or specs of dust/dirt) remaining in the connector. It was fixed by blowing hard through the mask.

viewtopic/t174593/Weird-leaking-issue-w ... shing.html