PR System One Heated Humidifier Tank, Won't Fill

Pugsy wrote:

drdrew wrote:it does weird stuff if you fill it without removing the lid. (ie through the hole at the top) mine does this sometimes.....

I have never removed the lid. Way more work or trouble than I want to do just to add water.. I am lazy..
I just try not to miss the hole on top and I add a little at a time...tilt to level to check fill line and add a bit more if not quite enough.

When I first got mine I could not figure how to remove that goofy lid so I took it to the DME and asked the tech. He fussed with it for about fifteen minutes and still couldn't figure how to open it until the office receptionist walked by and said "have you "men" ever considered reading the manual?" She then said "press the tab in the center of the opening and the lid pops off!"
I had a really great laugh, but the tech had kind of a disgruntled look on his face.

But, it's actually extremely easy to do.

Janknitz wrote:I highly recommend taking the tank OUT of the machine and placing it on a flat surface where you can easily see the markings as you fill it. That's the safest way to avoid damage to your machine, and if the tank itself is leaking you will notice it before it goes into the machine.

Piggy backing on this. I can't even imagine trying to fill that tank with it partway inserted in the machine.

My distilled water is kept in the bathroom. I bring the tank in there and take the top off of it to fill it. Whenever I try to just pour water into the hole on the top, I manage to miss. Or the tank is tilted. Or ... whatever. And water winds up on the counter and floor. When I take the top off, no problems.

Vader wrote:But, it's actually extremely easy to do.

Yeah but just one more step that I will avoid if I can. I will admit to being lazy and taking a shortcut whenever I can.
I don't make a mess too often unless I am in a hurry.

The manufacturer says the "proper" procedure is to open the tank. That also gives you the option to dump the old water, rinse, inspect, and clean it. It also makes it easier to refill.

The tank is a quite clever design if you study it. It has several tricks to keep you from spilling water back into the machine.

If you want to understand it, take the tank out and go to the sink and play with it. Do all of this over the sink. Use tap water so you don't want to waste your distilled water.

First, examine the chamber. The air outlet is on the top. The air inlet is on the side, under sort of a lip on the bottom half of the humidifier. If you stick your finger into the hole on the top, you will be touching the air inlet tube. Find out where the air inlet tube comes out of the side of the tank.

I'll assume you already know how to open the tank.

First, you can only fill the tank up half way to the top of the container. If you fill it up above that water pours out through the air inlet hole. Take the top off, and start filling the bottom part with water (over the sink). As you get over the 100% mark, you'll notice water starts pouring out through the side. Look carefully, and you'll see why. It's designed so you can't overfill it.

Now notice that the air inlet comes out in the center of the water chamber. Tilt the water chamber left, right, up, and down with some water in the bottom half of the tank. Notice that you can't make the water pour out of the inlet tube as long as the water level isn't too high. This is the main thing that keeps water from getting back into the blower unit.

Fill the bottom half of the tank up to 100% and put the top on. Now, notice that you can't make water pour out of the air inlet hole. You can make it pour out of the outlet hole, but the air inlet hole always stays above the water level. That's the really slick trick of the design.

Open it up, dump the water out, and look at how the top part fits into the bottom part. Notice that there is sort of an inner chamber formed when you put the top piece onto the bottom piece. Water can only get from the inner chamber to the outer chamber at the bottom. Put it back together.

Now, hold it level and pour water quickly into the hole in the top. If you look carefully, you will probably see that the water level in the inner chamber rises more quickly in the inner chamber than the outer chamber. The inlet tube (which is where overflow runs out) goes into the inner chamber. If you pour water in too quickly, you can fill up past the inlet tube and your water will pour out. However, once you let the water settle out, you'll notice it's not full because water didn't get into the outer tank at first. If you pour water in slowly, it has time to settle into the outer chamber, and you can fill the outer chamber up to the "full" line.

That's why PR tells you to take the top off to fill the tank.

Now, experiment a little. Make a note of where the air inlet is on the side. Tilt this side up at 45 degrees where water can't flow out the overflow hole. Now you can pour water in pretty quickly through the outlet hole and it will flow into both the inner and outer chambers. Fill it as much as you can. Now, set it back level and some water will pour out of the inlet hole. When it's through draining out, you'll still be a little over 100%. Tilt it up and pour a little out of the outlet hole until you get it below 100%. Be careful to set it on a level surface to see that it's below 100% all around, or simply leave a safety margin big enough that you don't have to be finicky.

Hopefully, now you know how to fill the tank the "proper" way, and also how to safely fill it the quick and dirty way.

Be sure the tank is not filled over 100% before you put it back into the machine. You need a little safety margin below where it automatically overflows.