RESPIRONICS PART - NEED ADVICE

My daughter has been using the Respironics ComfortFull 2 for a few years. Since insurance will only let her have a new one every few months, we do our best to nurse them along as long as possible. The right-angle nozzle assembly in the front with the anti-asphyxia valve seems to be the week point of the mask and tends to separate at the sonic welds causing significant air leaks. Perhaps this failure has something to do with the high pressures prescribed for her.

We used to be able to buy the entire nozzle assembly online as a replacement part but apparently Respironics is not offering it this way any more. Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions? I've tried crazy glue (didn't work) and we hate to throw away a perfectly good (and expensive mask) because this $18 goes bad.

Thanks.

have you tried asking any of the online suppliers (that you used to get it from) or the folks at cpap dot com why it's not available and what you're supposed to do when it breaks?

Get them to find out from the PR (Phillips Respironics) reps.

JDK11 wrote:My daughter has been using the Respironics ComfortFull 2 for a few years.

We used to be able to buy the entire nozzle assembly online as a replacement part but apparently Respironics is not offering it this way any more. Thanks.

Hi JDK11:

If the Respironics mask parts are made of the same material that my Oracle mask is made of ( the clear hard part ), then it's likely that it is made of clear PVC material.

If that is true, then there are some super PVC glues at the home store for connecting PVC piping. They should work on your parts. You don't want the purple stuff but the gooey clear stuff that is the actual glue. The purple stuff is a surface cleaner to get oils etc. off the surfaces before you glue.

Before you do anything irreversable. you should check to be sure it really is PVC. Get the PVC glue and take a toothpick a get a tiny drop of the glue and place it on some inconspicuous place on the nozzle. Let it dry for a while and then check to see if it has deformed the surface and made it foggy. If so, it's PVC, if not you're looking for a different glue.

There are other solvents out there that can be used if it is not PVC.

For your mask nozzle, clean it well with detergent and make sure that it is really dry. Then paint on some PVC glue on both surfaces, wait a few seconds ( 4 or 5 should do it ) and then press the parts together and hold them there for about one minute. If the material really is clear PVC, they should be more-or-less be permanently joined until stress cracks them again. The process should work more than once and get you through the next replacement cycle.

A word of caution here. You should let the mask dry completely after gluing, at least 24 hours. You don't want any of the vapors from the glue to still be there. If you can still smell them the next day, wait another day.

Be really careful that you don't get the glue anywhere you don't want glued. Maybe use blue painters tape to protect the swivel areas and so forth.

I used epoxy glue many times on my ComfortGel nasal masks when they broke where the clips attach. (Respironics finally fixed the mask design so they don't break there any more.) I got some Devcon epoxy from Walmart in the syringe package. I don't get the fast curing stuff like "5 minute" epoxy, the 15 or 30 minute stuff is fine.

I'm not familiar with the part you're speaking of, so this advice may not be correct for that particular repair.

Mix the epoxy and put it on both sides of the crack, getting it into the crack if possible. Then build up a thick layer of epoxy on the surface on both sides of the crack. On both sides of the part, if practical. It's important to get the surface of the broken part "wet" with the epoxy over a reasonably large area. Try to build up a thickness of the epoxy so that there is enough epoxy to absorb the stress. Be sure you don't put the epoxy on anywhere it will interfere with something else or block airflow.

It looks ugly, but it's worked well for me. I clean my masks in the dishwasher, and haven't had problems with the glue. I put it on really thick and it looks awful, but it holds up well.

Once the epoxy sets, it's chemically pretty stable, so I'm not too worried about fumes. Let it sit at least 24 hours. However, the repair I did was on the outside of the mask, so the fumes really couldn't get to me anyway. If your repair needs to be on the inside, don't forget that there's quite a bit of airflow going through the mask, so the fumes shouldn't be too concentrated.