Question about my humidifier Air Sense 11. Rusty?

Good morning,

I'm new with the CPAP machine and I want to thank you all because when I got the machine less than 3 months ago I was totally lost but thanks to this website / forum managed to learn a lot of things regarding the Cpap machine, therapy etc.

I have a question regarding the humidifier on the Air Sense 11....If you check the picture of my humidifier on the link: https://ibb.co/SPDk1tQ (I had to do it that way with the link because I couldn't upload the pic here) you can see that at the bottom there is a mark like rusty or something but it looks that it's not inside the humidifier where I put the water...It looks more like outside and at the bottom. What can I do? I use distilled water for the use of the machine, etc I clean it with vinegar and water also....

What do you recommend me to do? Do I need to change it? I understand they humidifier has a warranty so shall I contact Resmed and ask them to send me a new one? I contacted the supplier of the machine and their answer was: Oh it happens sometimes, it's normal, don't worry....

Thanks in advance.

I don't know about the water reservoir in the Air Sense 11, I'm assuming that it's similar to the Air Curve 10 reservoir.

If that's the case, then there's no ferrous materials in the chamber. No ferrous materials mean no rust, not from the chamber anyway. The metallic bottom of the reservoir is either stainless steel or aluminum, a magnet will not stick to it.

BTW, you mention a pic? It's not showing up.

Drareg65 wrote: ↑

Sun May 07, 2023 1:38 am

I have a question regarding the humidifier on the Air Sense 11....If you check the picture you can see that at the bottom there is a mark like rusty or something but it looks that it's not inside the humidifier where I put the water...It looks more like outside and at the bottom. What can I do? I use distilled water for the use of the machine, etc I clean it with vinegar and water also....

pic not there. pls see the following-
viewtopic/t183806/Attachment-storage-is ... MENTS.html

also, use the preview function to see if your images actually attach.

good luck!

Conrad wrote: ↑

Sun May 07, 2023 6:39 am

I don't know about the water reservoir in the Air Sense 11, I'm assuming that it's similar to the Air Curve 10 reservoir.

If that's the case, then there's no ferrous materials in the chamber. No ferrous materials mean no rust, not from the chamber anyway. The metallic bottom of the reservoir is either stainless steel or aluminum, a magnet will not stick to it.

BTW, you mention a pic? It's not showing up.

Hello! I updated my post with a link where you can see the pic of my humidifier. I couldn'tt post the pic because I got the error message and I saw a post with some tips and recommended to do it that way with the link.

Here the link:

https://ibb.co/SPDk1tQ

zonker wrote: ↑

Sun May 07, 2023 11:26 am

Drareg65 wrote: ↑

Sun May 07, 2023 1:38 am

I have a question regarding the humidifier on the Air Sense 11....If you check the picture you can see that at the bottom there is a mark like rusty or something but it looks that it's not inside the humidifier where I put the water...It looks more like outside and at the bottom. What can I do? I use distilled water for the use of the machine, etc I clean it with vinegar and water also....

pic not there. pls see the following-
viewtopic/t183806/Attachment-storage-is ... MENTS.html

also, use the preview function to see if your images actually attach.

good luck!

Hello! Thank you very much for your help. I read the post and at the end I had to use the link thing so the pic is available on the following link. Hope it works this time.

https://ibb.co/SPDk1tQ

Drareg65 wrote: ↑

Sun May 07, 2023 1:38 am

What do you recommend me to do?

Nothing. Just ignore it.

Drareg65 wrote: ↑

Sun May 07, 2023 1:38 am

I use distilled water for the use of the machine, etc I clean it with vinegar and water also....

Just make sure your diluting the vinegar according to Resmed's instruction.

I found (tip on the forum years ago) that denture cleaning tabs are great at cleaning the inside of humidifier - seem to do a better job even at removing the calcifications. I no longer use vinegar at all.
I use one tab, per full tank, do it once in a while - depending on how the inside of the humidifier looks.

If the discolored appearance bothers you, wet a "magic sponge" and rub it vigorously.
If it vanishes--good. If not, it's not going anywhere--nothing to worry about.

Drareg65, I don't know what it is, but I assumed it was some type of mold. My wife's AS11 humidifier had a recurring case of that; for some reason, mine never did. After cleaning it multiple times, and disinfecting it trying to get rid of it, I finally just replaced the hose and the humidifier.

She never exhibited any issues with the substance. No sneezing, stuffy nose, nothing... it just existed and annoyed me very much as I tried to clean it and it kept coming back.

Sorry, I couldn't tell you what it is, but that's the same look of stuff that occurred with my wife's CPAP.

chunkyfrog wrote: ↑

Sun May 07, 2023 10:02 pm

If the discolored appearance bothers you, wet a "magic sponge" and rub it vigorously.
If it vanishes--good. If not, it's not going anywhere--nothing to worry about.

Are you talking about a 'Magic Eraser' sponge? I would never use one of those in my water reservoir. I don't know what kind of chemicals they use in those sponges, but I wouldn't trust it in my machine.

Conrad wrote: ↑

Tue May 09, 2023 7:10 am

chunkyfrog wrote: ↑

Sun May 07, 2023 10:02 pm

If the discolored appearance bothers you, wet a "magic sponge" and rub it vigorously.
If it vanishes--good. If not, it's not going anywhere--nothing to worry about.

Are you talking about a 'Magic Eraser' sponge? I would never use one of those in my water reservoir. I don't know what kind of chemicals they use in those sponges, but I wouldn't trust it in my machine.

Magic Erasers (melamine) don't remove stains from a chemical reaction, they do so with abrasion. Essentially they're like a very fine sandpaper.

It depends on where the stain is--on the heating plate or outside of tank, no problem.
Inside the tank--I'd rinse really good after scouring.
(It is a scouring pad, after all)

The marks are on the bottom of the water tank and would seem to look like scuffs/scrapes from some kind of abrasion as it slides back and forth from insertion and removal onto the heating element in the AS11. Does the heating element in the AS11 appear to have similar markings? Perhaps something got onto the water tank bottom while was out and setting on a table or countertop and it's causing what is shown in the image.

Whatever it is, it is not rust--or mold.
It appears to be flat and smooth, too.
It's like the first little ding on a new car-
-drives you nuts, unless you learn to live with it.
Perfection is nice, but don't let it own you.

Dog Slobber wrote: ↑

Tue May 09, 2023 7:18 am

Conrad wrote: ↑

Tue May 09, 2023 7:10 am

chunkyfrog wrote: ↑

Sun May 07, 2023 10:02 pm

If the discolored appearance bothers you, wet a "magic sponge" and rub it vigorously.
If it vanishes--good. If not, it's not going anywhere--nothing to worry about.

Are you talking about a 'Magic Eraser' sponge? I would never use one of those in my water reservoir. I don't know what kind of chemicals they use in those sponges, but I wouldn't trust it in my machine.

Magic Erasers (melamine) don't remove stains from a chemical reaction, they do so with abrasion. Essentially they're like a very fine sandpaper.

I stand corrected. I didn't realize that is was abrasion only that removed the stains.

Formaldehyde-melamine-sodium bisulfite copolymer is what they are made of. No thanks.