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Updating everyone after my first night as a hosehead: Bottom line - success! Story: Due to the limitation of a 6 foot hose (can't get a 10 foot heated one?) and the weird configuration of our bedroom (don't ask), we ended up with the machine on a TV tray on the bottom of our king sleigh bed (good thing I'm not real tall and don't thrash around a lot). I don't think I really slept as well as usual, but certainly did sleep enough that Mr. Sensitive was able to determine that this thing is a major miracle sent to us from the Gods at Blue Shield! We had a couple issues, like if I had to adjust the nosepiece, the rush of air was a "What was THAT???!!!" kind of moment. Then if I opened my mouth and tried to talk, or if I needed a sip of water.... We will have to adjust. But all in all, I hope that this first night is a good sign.

My S9 Auto II is as close to silent as it gets. It would be akin to having a very small, high quality, table fan running at worst.

I also have an oxygen concentrator running as my breathing gets very shallow in REM sleep due to acute pneumonia and lung damage therefrom and 4L/M of O2 infused into the airflow brings up the oxygen concentration of the air just enough to keep me above 95% SpO2 all night and I sleep like a bloody log. After trying out a few I wound up with an Everflo Q and the whole shebang makes the noise of a large table fan through the night. No more snoring. No sudden noises asides from the occasional face fart from the seal breaking with my face.

If you don't require infused O2 (use your recording pulse oximeter to ensure you SpO2 is above 90% all night) I would highly recomment the S9 Auto as being a very quiet machine. And once you get used to the mask you will sleep like a baby. Snoring is a sure indicator of an underlying anatomical fault. I would avoid further surgery like the plague.... it just isn't worth the results. And the ENT surgeons are tripping over their feet to get you into the OR these days due to better education with regards to OSA.

Stinkielee wrote:Updating everyone after my first night as a hosehead: Bottom line - success! Story: Due to the limitation of a 6 foot hose (can't get a 10 foot heated one?) and the weird configuration of our bedroom (don't ask),

They do make longer hoses but not in the heated hose which it looks like you have. 8 foot and 10 foot.

Does anyone know if the feather weight extension hose for the SleepWeaver would connect to a standard mask coupling?
I don't have one to check. It would add 18 inches to the hose length. I know one end will work to the hose but unsure about the other end that normally goes to the SleepWeaver.

Your profile shows the PR System One 60 series Plus CPAP....this machine doesn't gather any useful data on that SD card.
Only thing it gathers is how many hours you use the machine.
Might want to confirm for sure which model you have just in case you picked the wrong one from the equipment list.
The model number for the machine you have chosen is 260. Turn the machine over (remover water tank first) and look for a sticker with a 3 digit model number....it might say REF or DS in front of that 3 digit model number.
Any model number less than 450 doesn't offer full data.
It may not matter to you but I just wanted to bring this up now. You are going to see a lot of people talk about their reports and may wonder what it all means.
Read Janknitz blog here all the way to the bottom and if you do have a "brick" (what we call a non efficacy data machine) see if you want try to get a full data machine.
You have zero way to even check to see if your leaks are well managed...nothing..
Hopefully you chose the wrong machine from the equipment list.
http://maskarrayed.wordpress.com/

As already said, the newer machines are very quiet. 26 db, as some of these machines advertise, is barely a whisper above ambient room noise.

Looks like your problem is solved. However, for other readers.....worst case - IF you end up with an older, noisy machine, build a box that is lined with 1" styrofoam insulation. Put in in there. Have a hole for the hose and AC plug coming out as well as a hole for the air intake. This will greatly reduce the blower noise. I do this for a cooling blower I have for another purpose and works like a charm. Just be sure the CPAP machine is not heating up inside the box. With air in and out, it should be fine.

Tom

Does anyone know if the feather weight extension hose for the SleepWeaver would connect to a standard mask coupling?
I don't have one to check. It would add 18 inches to the hose length. I know one end will work to the hose but unsure about the other end that normally goes to the SleepWeaver.

The standard CPAP fitting for a hose is 0.9 inches OD. The rubber end slides over this fitting. This is almost exactly the same outside diameter as a piece of 1/2 inch ID PVC pipe.

So, to splice two hoses together, just cut a 3 inch long piece of 1/2 inch pvc pipe and use it as a coupler.

CPAP.COM makes an 18 inch long hose for connecting a separate pass-over humidifier to a CPAP without a built-in humidifier. You can use one or more of these to extend your hose by 18 inches at a time to whatever length is required.
It should work just fine even for manufacturer's heated hoses when connected between the hose end and the mask.

I just went out to my garage, cut a piece of pipe and it fits perfectly.

https://www.cpap.com/productpage/18-inc ... igodigital
I didn't think of this above. Use it with the PVC tube connecting to the long hose.

If the mask end of the SleepWeaver featherweight hose would attach to the mask then there wouldn't be a need for the pvc connector.

Or this little connector instead of PVC
https://www.cpap.com/productpage/hose-c ... -cpap.html
with the 18 inch hose above.

The first night, I had the CPAP on a table by the bed. The table was touching the headboard, which was amplifying the sound like a speaker. Once I moved the table so it didn't touch the bed, it got really quiet. My wife has commented that she is having to get used to the quiet.

I just put two hoses together using a coupler. Don't know what you can do about heated hoses but worst case get yourself an insulated wrap (zippered) and insulate the hoses so you prevent rainout. In the S9 the heated air is also provided by running it over the heated water in the humidifier and I find that sufficient except on the coldest nights.... then I just pull the machine up close and use the heated hose to prevent rainout. Also.... I hang the hose at the head of the bed using some hose gear so that it comes way up and then only a few feet come down to my facemask. Any rainout runs back down into the hose that is behind the headboard generally. The couplers and generic hoses are only a few bucks online. I always carry two hoses when travelling, sometimes three if I have room. Lets me put the blower anywhere. The oxygen concentrator has a 25 foot hose with it so it is not an issue at all.

Murray L

torontoCPAPguy wrote:I just put two hoses together using a coupler.

If you play with it a little, the standard cheapie rubber hose ends will let you stuff one end into another and you can actually get a good seal.

It would be harder on the ones with fancy ends like climateline or slimline, but I was able to stuff a standard rubber hose end into a slimline and it looks OK.

The featherweight hose fits onto any mask at the mask end and any hose's 'out' end at the other.
I can not hook it to the machine except at the wrong end.
But I don't want to, anyhow.

To Pugsy RE: my machine not offering full data - you are correct. I intend to talk to my MD and/or whoever does the follow-up with me to see if I have any options. When I did the sleep study, I was told that I just barely qualified for CPAP, and when they titrated me, it was apparently a very low setting (6). So maybe no one gives a hang about how effective this is, since I only wanted it for the snoring in the first place?? I'll ask anyway, and I think it would be interesting to look at the data. I'm kinda geeky.

For others looking at this thread I wanted to tell you that the noise of an at home CPAP machine may be much less than the noise of the machine in your sleep study. It was for me and I would hate for someone to think that because the noise kept them awake in the lab that they decide not to do CPAP because of the noise.

You should get a data capable machine now if at all possible. If the apnea gets worse (getting older, Gain/Loss of weight, change of sleep position...) you will want a data machine as it can tell you/doctor the problem and perhaps make adustments without a new sleep study

Stinkielee wrote:Updating everyone after my first night as a hosehead: Bottom line - success! Story: Due to the limitation of a 6 foot hose (can't get a 10 foot heated one?) and the weird configuration of our bedroom (don't ask), we ended up with the machine on a TV tray on the bottom of our king sleigh bed (good thing I'm not real tall and don't thrash around a lot). I don't think I really slept as well as usual, but certainly did sleep enough that Mr. Sensitive was able to determine that this thing is a major miracle sent to us from the Gods at Blue Shield! We had a couple issues, like if I had to adjust the nosepiece, the rush of air was a "What was THAT???!!!" kind of moment. Then if I opened my mouth and tried to talk, or if I needed a sip of water.... We will have to adjust. But all in all, I hope that this first night is a good sign.

Update 9/20/2012: I ended up getting 2 24" short hoses and 2 couplers and added them to the hose that comes off my mask. Works perfectly. I also traded my Swift LT for the Swift FX. What a difference!