warm water in bipap?

Due to it being just one contributor in the HORRIBLE night's sleep I've been getting for the past week, I have finally caved and bought the Aussie heated hose, which I'm hoping will warm my air. However... it'll take a little while to get the hose, and I need relief pretty much now so I can function over Thanksgiving. If I stuck some warm water in my tank (I'm thinking warmer than room temperature!), might this warm my air a bit and allow me to sleep? I have a hose cover and have never had a problem with rainout.

ciounoi wrote:Due to it being just one contributor in the HORRIBLE night's sleep I've been getting for the past week, I have finally caved and bought the Aussie heated hose, which I'm hoping will warm my air. However... it'll take a little while to get the hose, and I need relief pretty much now so I can function over Thanksgiving. If I stuck some warm water in my tank (I'm thinking warmer than room temperature!), might this warm my air a bit and allow me to sleep? I have a hose cover and have never had a problem with rainout.

Hmmm... If your problem is cold air, then warmer water might help initially. Once the heated humidifier takes over it will help. However, another option comes to mind. You don't mention where your CPAP is located, but often they are placed next to the bed, which is often near an outside (read cold) wall. You might want to rearrange the machine so it faces toward the center of the room, rather than the wall. This might give you a little warmer air.

Is the machine on the floor? Then you might want to raise it, so it pulls from higher in the room.

Hope it helps.

warm water won't hurt anything, may even help for a few minutes.

I recently got the Sleepzone hose and it does make the air noticeably warmer. No harm in putting warm water in the humidifier, it just means it doesn't have to heat up as long before reaching its operating temperature (generally under 140 degrees F).

but will it heat the air? that's what I'm going for!

ciounoi wrote:but will it heat the air? that's what I'm going for!

Not much. Air is a great insulator. It is slow to change temperature. So, running it over slightly warm water won't do much. It will help move humidity into the water a little quicker, since the heated humidifier will not need to increase the water from room temp to the heater setting. But no, it won't do much for the air temperature.

ciounoi wrote:but will it heat the air? that's what I'm going for!

Humidifiers will add moisture to the air but not heat the air.

The Best thing you can do is to raise the room temp or add an electric heater near the air intake. Else do as suggested above.

Also keep in mind that the water will be quickly cooled by the latent heat of vaporization as the air takes up humidity. So, it will be down to the humidifier setting temperature quite rapidly.

I like the idea of placing the machine so it draws in warmer air. Or, make your own heated hose with a reptile heater as described on another thread.