AirFit P10 vent blocked?

[scott1965]

2" under water equals 5cm. Depending on what your pressure is, it may well not blow air out 2" or so under water.

What is your prescribed pressure?
If you hold the hose the same distance underwater does it blow air out?

"I then put it in water and plugged the pillows with my fingers and NO air exits the vents at all but it blows like crazy from the pillows when I unplug them, still underwater."

Yes, the hose blows and bubbles like crazy at 2"+ underwater. So do the unplugged pillows. The vents do nothing, nada, no slight fizz, nothing.

[PaulaO2]

Is it possible she gave you a new mask? If so, take that mask back and get another. Easy fix. Even if she says she did not, get another.

[scott1965]

Is it possible she gave you a new mask? If so, take that mask back and get another. Easy fix. Even if she says she did not, get another.

That is the plan. Thanks all for the diagnostic assistance. I'll let you know how it goes.

[scott1965]

Saw the Rep. There are scattered reports coming in. It turns out the mesh on this mask is so fine that a few nights of use in some cases can cause blockage in the integrated polymer/mesh vents. You can see it's happening because the polymer begins to look like a plastic coating.

I soaked it in very hot soapy water for an hour worked it over well with a toothbrush and rinsed in distilled water and the vents opened up.

It seems it would be a good idea to keep an eye on this so a person does not end up rebreathing their air. Peace and Good health

[kderevan]

That is good information to know--sorry you had to be the "pioneer" but thanks on behalf of all of us who use the Airfit P10 for passing on that news.

Saw the Rep. There are scattered reports coming in. It turns out the mesh on this mask is so fine that a few nights of use in some cases can cause blockage in the integrated polymer/mesh vents. You can see it's happening because the polymer begins to look like a plastic coating.

I soaked it in very hot soapy water for an hour worked it over well with a toothbrush and rinsed in distilled water and the vents opened up.

It seems it would be a good idea to keep an eye on this so a person does not end up rebreathing their air. Peace and Good health

[herbm]

That's weird. Compared with most everyone else I don't wash mine all that often.

[JustinXD]

I just started having this same issue. My p10 was working great for about 5 months, and I love the mask. But all of the sudden it keeps getting clogged up. I wash it now every night, and it seems to help, but it kind of a pain in the butt to go through all that every single night.

[AshSF]

I just started having this same issue. My p10 was working great for about 5 months, and I love the mask. But all of the sudden it keeps getting clogged up. I wash it now every night, and it seems to help, but it kind of a pain in the butt to go through all that every single night.

You can see the "total leaks" on your leak graph on sleepyhead. If it is not much lower than the listed venting rate of the p10 at your pressure, you should be okay.

I encountered the same issue when I received the P10. I could hardly feel anything coming out of the vents, I also saw the plastic coating over the mesh. In my case, I even saw that it was venting less than what is listed in the venting rate for the P10 in its manual. At my start pressure of 7.5, it consistently has shown me total leak of 20Lpm whereas the listed venting rate is closer to 27Lpm. I had raised this issue in a different thread on apneaboard.

I feared I may be rebreathing some CO2 due to this. So I did some research and here is what I found:

If you are generally in good health, your body will keep your blood CO2 in a tight range. It will respond to a higher CO2 level in your incoming air by increasing the work of breathing to vent off CO2 more. That means your tidal volume will increase and sometimes your respiratory rate (both graphs are available on sleepyhead) will increase.

In my case, I saw that my average respiratory rate is similar to when I was using a F10 FFM. But my tidal volume actually went down a bit (by about 20 cc) and my minute ventilation went down ~0.2Lpm. That means that the P10 is somehow more efficient at removing CO2 than the F10 (probably due to lower dead space volume).

So taking my data point as a reference, if your total leak is 20Lpm, you have nothing to worry about. I am sure it will be okay even at a bit lesser total leak rate but I won't attest to that since I see a 20Lpm total leak rate at my start pressure. My unintentional leak rate on the P10 has never gone more than 3Lpm. I am extremely impressed with this mask.

Hope this helps alleviate some concerns on P10's less venting or apparently less venting.

[numbersman]

I bought the AirFit within a month of its release. It is by far the best mask I have had in almost 20 years of CPAP use. Lately the exhaust ports have been clogging and causing me to wake up breathing heated and oxygen depleted air. First time I thought I was having a heart attack. Washing helps, but cannot get exhale volume back up to what I get on a newer AirFit I bought for my travel kit.

I don't wash the mask daily, and probably should, but more likely the mesh is so fine that over time something is happening to it that is either not allowing itself to get clean, or the plastic mesh itself is distorting. I think I'll call Resmed and see if I can get a replacement.

[OpineCone]

I just started having this same issue. My p10 was working great for about 5 months, and I love the mask. But all of the sudden it keeps getting clogged up. I wash it now every night, and it seems to help, but it kind of a pain in the butt to go through all that every single night.

The ResMed User Guide for the P10 recommends daily cleaning of the separated mask components in warm water using mild soap, including using a soft bristle brush to clean the vent, PLUS then inspecting each component and rewashing as many times as it takes to get it visually clean. I actually soak the mask components for at least an hour in soapy water before applying the soft bristle brush because I want to make sure that any dried on crud has time to loosen or dissolve. I confess that I don't always do exactly what user guides tell me to do, but my CPAP is so important to my health that in this case I think it's worth the effort to follow the instructions precisely.