Tubing diameter dilemma

After getting my new Airsense 11, I was given the heated tubing. I could not get enough air thru that tubing and I woke with sore lungs. I replaced the heated tubing with the non heated tubing from my Airsense 10 and slept well. That tubing was purchased from CPAP.com and it is 7/8” diameter. Now on Medicare, my supplier sent me 1/2” diameter slimline tubing. I’ve got the same issue as with the heated tubing, I wake up with sore lungs from laboring to inhale.

Is there such thing as a standard tubing that is 7/8” OD with Slimline tubing being 1/2” OD? I think the volume of my inhale is being limited by the smaller diameter tubing.

My CPAP supplier only carries the Slimline 15mm CPAP tubing, I had to buy more own 19mm tubing.
I didn't have the breathing issue you had. Good luck

Lyndmc wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 12, 2024 12:29 pm

After getting my new Airsense 11, I was given the heated tubing. I could not get enough air thru that tubing and I woke with sore lungs. I replaced the heated tubing with the non heated tubing from my Airsense 10 and slept well. That tubing was purchased from CPAP.com and it is 7/8” diameter. Now on Medicare, my supplier sent me 1/2” diameter slimline tubing. I’ve got the same issue as with the heated tubing, I wake up with sore lungs from laboring to inhale.

Is there such thing as a standard tubing that is 7/8” OD with Slimline tubing being 1/2” OD? I think the volume of my inhale is being limited by the smaller diameter tubing.

You made a previous comment (viewtopic.php?f=1&t=185930&p=1460395&_g ... .#p1460395) in which you were advised to correctly set the configuration of your hose with the device. You never responded. Set it correctly, and you won't have a problem with the slimline hose.

Sorry, I must have missed your post. My machine is currently set on standard, I must never have seen that setting. Tonight I’ll try the slimline tubing on the slimline setting.

Thanks for this. I did find that my usable tubing is 19 mm rather than 16 mm slimline. So is it safe to say that the slimline setting just increases the pressure? I ask because I have tried to raise the setting above my normal setpoint in the past and it didn’t work. It’s been my assumption that the ID volume of the slimline was the problem and I couldn’t get the flow, but maybe this is incorrect.

Update: I connected the slimline tubing and set my Airsense 11 for slimline. I was able to go to sleep, but I woke at 3:30 am and had to swap the tubing to standard. Once I swapped the tubing to the 19 mm and changed the setting to standard, I went right back to sleep and slept well.

The slimline tubing was kinda ok for me to be able to go to sleep, but I woke up in the middle of the night uncomfortable. In conclusion, I’ve got to stick with the 19 mm standard tubing if I want a good night sleep.

One night does not make a trend.

I have the SAME problem as the OP.... I had a AirSense 10, and it came with a Slimeline 15mm Tube.... However, I couldn't sleep, and I felt like I was NOT getting "enough Air", like breathing through a straw.
Talked with a Sleep Doctor, and they told me to try the 19mm Standard Tube.... FIXED the problems immediately. Never had a problem since.

However, I've now encountered a NEW problem.... I have to replace my AS10, got an AirSense 11.
But guess what, they DON'T MAKE... 19mm Standards anymore, heated nor unheated, and I want the heated. There doesn't even exist ANY "Knockoffs" that I can find. There are some "extensions", but not the "main hose" itself.

They **** Me... I now have to go BACK to my sleep doctor, get a "New Prescription" SPECIFICALLY stating that I need the 19mm Tubing. Alpine Medical, here in UT won't replace the machine, with a machine that has 19mm Tubes, without this.
What's worse is my Medicaid is likely ending soon, and I was already in a "time crunch"... I already had to try and get them to "fully cover" the CPAP, cause Alpine tried to charge 12 Months with a monthly payment plan. They said that's what Medicaid has told them to do, but then Medicaid said it should be fully covered, nothing in the approval said they have to do that. So, originally had to get them to NOT do the monthly payment plan. Now I have this TRASH....

Even worse, all of these CPAP machines after ALL these YEARS.... they STILL won't give us a proper big enough "Water Tank", that lasts MORE than 5 or whatever hours on high setting, depending on machine.
This is especially bad with those of us who have INSOMNIA.... and take a powerful Sleeping Pill. There are days when I don't sleep, and to catch up, depending on how long it went, if really bad, I might sleep up to "20 HOURS" or MORE.

I hate company's.... There no "morality" anymore giving us actual QUALITY.

leeuniverse wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 16, 2026 7:13 pm

I had a AirSense 10, and it came with a Slimeline 15mm Tube.... However, I couldn't sleep, and I felt like I was NOT getting "enough Air", like breathing through a straw.

ResMed AirSense 10 has a setting to select the tube diameter (15mm or 19mm) to ensure accurate pressure delivery and leak detection. This setting is typically found in the clinical or advanced settings menu. It is essential to select the correct diameter (SlimLine 15mm or Standard 19mm) to prevent therapy issues. Make sure yours is properly set.

It doesn't matter which tube you are using; if you have the proper tube setting, the machine will deliver the pressure (and flow) to the mask.

I don't know what the ambient humidity is where the people live who are complaining about the water chamber of the AirSense 11 not holding enough water because I have tried my AirSense 11 at the max setting of 8 and I haven't had the chamber go dry except for 1 time (and that was a night where I had a massive leak and the ambient humidity was quite low) in fact I never had the water level in the morning be close to the 1/4 line on the bottom of the chamber.

My ambient humidity is usually around 40% and when it rains it's a lot higher.
Ambient humidity is very important when it comes to water consumption and pressures used.

leeuniverse wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 16, 2026 7:13 pm

I have the SAME problem as the OP.... I had a AirSense 10, and it came with a Slimeline 15mm Tube.... However, I couldn't sleep, and I felt like I was NOT getting "enough Air", like breathing through a straw.
Talked with a Sleep Doctor, and they told me to try the 19mm Standard Tube.... FIXED the problems immediately. Never had a problem since.

However, I've now encountered a NEW problem.... I have to replace my AS10, got an AirSense 11.
But guess what, they DON'T MAKE... 19mm Standards anymore, heated nor unheated, and I want the heated. There doesn't even exist ANY "Knockoffs" that I can find. There are some "extensions", but not the "main hose" itself.

They **** Me... I now have to go BACK to my sleep doctor, get a "New Prescription" SPECIFICALLY stating that I need the 19mm Tubing. Alpine Medical, here in UT won't replace the machine, with a machine that has 19mm Tubes, without this.
What's worse is my Medicaid is likely ending soon, and I was already in a "time crunch"... I already had to try and get them to "fully cover" the CPAP, cause Alpine tried to charge 12 Months with a monthly payment plan. They said that's what Medicaid has told them to do, but then Medicaid said it should be fully covered, nothing in the approval said they have to do that. So, originally had to get them to NOT do the monthly payment plan. Now I have this TRASH....

Even worse, all of these CPAP machines after ALL these YEARS.... they STILL won't give us a proper big enough "Water Tank", that lasts MORE than 5 or whatever hours on high setting, depending on machine.
This is especially bad with those of us who have INSOMNIA.... and take a powerful Sleeping Pill. There are days when I don't sleep, and to catch up, depending on how long it went, if really bad, I might sleep up to "20 HOURS" or MORE.

I hate company's.... There no "morality" anymore giving us actual QUALITY.

Good grief, there's no reason to rant here, or to your doctor about this.

19mm unheated tubing with 22mm rubber connectors is a ventilation industry standard, and is still readily available for home or clinical use. Choosing your preferred tubing type for comfort during your PAP therapy, or changing to a different tubing later, doesn't require a prescription or for your doctor to specify it.

The only heated 19mm tubing ever offered for the AirSense 10 machines is the ClimateLineAir Oxy, which is only intended to be used with supplemental oxygen. The similar ClimateLine Air Oxy for the 11 series machines now uses 15mm tubing, just like the regular ClimateLine heated tubing. As mentioned in a previous post, the machines automatically adjust flow to compensate for different hose sizes, either by automatic detection of a connected ClimateLine heated hose, or by changing the machine settings in the case of unheated hoses.

If you're convinced that you must have 19mm tubing on your new machine for some reason, you can easily buy standard 19mm tubing here from this forum's owner/sponsor for less than $5, or on Amazon and elsewhere for less than $10. Just connect it to the back of your new AirSense 11 machine, change the tube type in the Accessories section of the Settings menu to Standard, and you're good to go.

Regardless, you're not going to get a 19mm heated hose for an AirSense 11 machine no matter what you or your doctor do, because no such unicorn exists. If this is a CPAP therapy deal-breaker for you, then you should insist on getting another AirSense 10 instead of an 11. The 10 series machines are still manufactured and have the same therapy efficacy and features as the newer 11 series machines. Many also say the humidifiers on the 10 series work more effectively and last longer than on the 11 series.

Regarding the topic and negative sentiment expressed towards Resmed in general: 15mm SlimLine (unheated) and 15mm ClimateLine (heated) tubing has successfully been ResMed's standard equipment on literally tens of millions of therapy machines sold globally since ResMed first introduced the AirSense 10 machines back in 2014. Resmed currently uses 15mm tubing on all 12 different models of AirSense and AirCurve 10 and 11 series CPAP, APAP, BiPAP, VPAP, and ASV machines. In 2025 alone, Resmed sold $2.6 billion in devices (not counting another $1.8B in masks and other related accessories.) With a conservative estimate of $2000/device, that's more than 1.3 million machines sold globally in just one year... all with 15mm hoses as standard equipment.

From up here in the internet cheap seats your professed hatred towards Resmed appears to be both unwarranted and unreasonable. There's nothing wrong or immoral about their choice to use more flexible and/or heated 15mm tubing instead of bulkier more rigid unheated 19mm tubing. They did it to improve patient comfort and therapy compliance, which represents an increase in "actual quality." The vast majority of Resmed customers over the past 12 years have been quite happy with the product and technology improvements. For those few that aren't... well the old school rigid unheated 19mm tubing is still readily available on the secondary CPAP supply market for a fraction of the cost of the good stuff.