[CPAP] Burning Smell

[vsheline]

IT's BACK All was good up until Friday night and the smell came back. Hubby couldn't breath, smell filled the room..etc... This is my 3rd machine and I am almost embarassed to take it back because the DME didn't find anything wrong with the other ones. Saturday night was worse, the smell was horrific, like I have stated...my husband relates it to Carbine smell. It is not the humidifier, I don't use one, we don't smoke, we have checked the outlets and wiring in the bedroom, I have a smoke alarm/carbon monoxide detector and it hasn't gone off... This is getting ridiculous, he can't sleep. Please if anyone has any suggestion let me know! I am desperate!!! Also the smell goes away when I turn the machine off.....it is driving me crazy!!

Was the power supply replaced when changing to the new unit?

Maybe the power supply is overheating? To keep the power supply cooler, try hanging the power supply in such a way that it has free airflow on all sides (including the side it normally lays on).

It also may help to try sleeping with an outside window open a little to allow fresh air to enter the room.

Good luck,
--- Vaughn

[archangle]

Is it a different power supply?

It sounds to me like it's something other than the CPAP. If so, it may be important to find out what is smoking.

Try sleeping in another room with the CPAP as a test. Ask him to come check on you if he wakes up during the night and see if he smells it.

Where is the machine sitting? Could it be sucking up some sort of fumes from close to the floor, etc.? Move the machine a few feet from where it was sitting before. If it was on the floor, sit it on a table or something.

Are you using a power strip, extension cord, etc.?

Turn off smartstart. Then move the CPAP into another room and let it run for a while during the day to see if the smell shows up. Or run it during the day in the bedroom for a while while you're not in the room. Then come in and see if you can smell anything.

If it happens again, immediately turn everything off, disconnect everything and have him sniff the hose, the air inlet and outlet of the blower unit, the power supply, etc.

Has he tried sniffing the airflow coming out of your mask vent? (Sounds kinky, doesn't it?)

Unless it's the water "burning," there's really no way for the CPAP machine to be producing enough fumes to make it difficult for hubby to breathe for a period of months. It takes a fair amount of material for something to produce that much gas. It has to be consuming some sort of material, and using up a certain number of grams of material every night.

Think of it this way. If it was some kind of air freshener or incense, you'd have to consume some air freshener liquid or the solid incense each night in order to stink up the room. If the CPAP is stinking up the room, you'd have to be burning or evaporating something and you'd use up whatever it's burning.

[cjhaile]

IT's BACK All was good up until Friday night and the smell came back. Hubby couldn't breath, smell filled the room..etc... This is my 3rd machine and I am almost embarassed to take it back because the DME didn't find anything wrong with the other ones. Saturday night was worse, the smell was horrific, like I have stated...my husband relates it to Carbine smell. It is not the humidifier, I don't use one, we don't smoke, we have checked the outlets and wiring in the bedroom, I have a smoke alarm/carbon monoxide detector and it hasn't gone off... This is getting ridiculous, he can't sleep. Please if anyone has any suggestion let me know! I am desperate!!! Also the smell goes away when I turn the machine off.....it is driving me crazy!!

THANK YOU! The power supply is close to the machine....I will try moving it. I slept in a totally different bedroom last night and hubby slept all night, no smell where he slept. The power supply in the other room where I slept wasn't as close as the one in our bedroom. Don't understand what the difference is but I definitely will give it a shot!!

If you have your power supply close to your CPAP machine, this has been known to cause issues with the CPAP machine.

My only other suggestion is to call the manufacturer and ask them what they might offer. Resmed's phone number is 800-424-0737. This is how I found out about the power supply and 3 other things that could cause issues with the CPAP machine.

If I can think of anything else, I will post it later.

Sorry this has happened to you and hope you can figure this out.

[me50]

IT's BACK All was good up until Friday night and the smell came back. Hubby couldn't breath, smell filled the room..etc... This is my 3rd machine and I am almost embarassed to take it back because the DME didn't find anything wrong with the other ones. Saturday night was worse, the smell was horrific, like I have stated...my husband relates it to Carbine smell. It is not the humidifier, I don't use one, we don't smoke, we have checked the outlets and wiring in the bedroom, I have a smoke alarm/carbon monoxide detector and it hasn't gone off... This is getting ridiculous, he can't sleep. Please if anyone has any suggestion let me know! I am desperate!!! Also the smell goes away when I turn the machine off.....it is driving me crazy!!

THANK YOU! The power supply is close to the machine....I will try moving it. I slept in a totally different bedroom last night and hubby slept all night, no smell where he slept. The power supply in the other room where I slept wasn't as close as the one in our bedroom. Don't understand what the difference is but I definitely will give it a shot!!

If you have your power supply close to your CPAP machine, this has been known to cause issues with the CPAP machine.

My only other suggestion is to call the manufacturer and ask them what they might offer. Resmed's phone number is 800-424-0737. This is how I found out about the power supply and 3 other things that could cause issues with the CPAP machine.

If I can think of anything else, I will post it later.

Sorry this has happened to you and hope you can figure this out.

try putting your cpap on a nightstand and the power supply that you plug in the outlet on the floor and see what happens. you can try this during the day and see if you smell that burning smell. hope this helps.

[cjhaile]

IT's BACK All was good up until Friday night and the smell came back. Hubby couldn't breath, smell filled the room..etc... This is my 3rd machine and I am almost embarassed to take it back because the DME didn't find anything wrong with the other ones. Saturday night was worse, the smell was horrific, like I have stated...my husband relates it to Carbine smell. It is not the humidifier, I don't use one, we don't smoke, we have checked the outlets and wiring in the bedroom, I have a smoke alarm/carbon monoxide detector and it hasn't gone off... This is getting ridiculous, he can't sleep. Please if anyone has any suggestion let me know! I am desperate!!! Also the smell goes away when I turn the machine off.....it is driving me crazy!!

He has related the smell to Carbide not Carbine, and also related it to burning wires. I did sleep in a totally different room on Sunday night and he had no smell in our bedroom. I moved back into the bedroom last night and this time used a heavy duty extension cord and plugged the machine into a different outlet and made sure that my machine and the powere supply were not real close to one another (read above comments in post about power supply not to be close to machine). As far as I know, he didn't smell it last night, he was still asleep when I left for work.

May I suggest you remove people and things from the room one at a time to see if one item is the problem. Or, perhaps you and your equipment to another room?

I' not sure what you mean by Carbine smell? Do you mean Carbide?
To me, Carbine is a US .30 caliber rifle developed in WWII and used in WWII, Korea and Vietnam.

[justMongo]

Carbide is an old name for Acetylene. A common welding gas. I've smelled it before in metal work; so I would recognize the smell.

CPAP machines only use about 60 Watts. That hardly requires any heavy gauge extension cords.
You are using a Remstar machine. Does that have a separate power supply? I don't believe it does, so there may have been some confusion when folks were suggesting keeping the power supply away from the CPAP machine. I believe the Remstar has in integrated power supply for direct plugin to the AC outlet. (S9 Resmed machines use a separate power brick.)

I would guess that the smell is from either some warm plastic part; or circuit board component. And I would suggest that perhaps your husband is highly sensitive to it. (Perhaps even allergic.)

[cjhaile]

Is it a different power supply?

It sounds to me like it's something other than the CPAP. If so, it may be important to find out what is smoking.

Try sleeping in another room with the CPAP as a test. Ask him to come check on you if he wakes up during the night and see if he smells it.

Where is the machine sitting? Could it be sucking up some sort of fumes from close to the floor, etc.? Move the machine a few feet from where it was sitting before. If it was on the floor, sit it on a table or something.

Are you using a power strip, extension cord, etc.?

Turn off smartstart. Then move the CPAP into another room and let it run for a while during the day to see if the smell shows up. Or run it during the day in the bedroom for a while while you're not in the room. Then come in and see if you can smell anything.

If it happens again, immediately turn everything off, disconnect everything and have him sniff the hose, the air inlet and outlet of the blower unit, the power supply, etc.

Has he tried sniffing the airflow coming out of your mask vent? (Sounds kinky, doesn't it?)

Unless it's the water "burning," there's really no way for the CPAP machine to be producing enough fumes to make it difficult for hubby to breathe for a period of months. It takes a fair amount of material for something to produce that much gas. It has to be consuming some sort of material, and using up a certain number of grams of material every night.

Think of it this way. If it was some kind of air freshener or incense, you'd have to consume some air freshener liquid or the solid incense each night in order to stink up the room. If the CPAP is stinking up the room, you'd have to be burning or evaporating something and you'd use up whatever it's burning.

Thank you for your response and I agree fully with what you said. I have tried various things....extension cord, no extension cord, with humidifier, without humidifier, different outlets, different bedrooms, different surfaces, different machines, different power supplies, etc. I am so exhausted trying to solve this mytery, it is almost worse than having sleep apnea. All I can tell you is that if I move out of the room he doesn't smell it. If I sleep in the bedroom with him and use my old cpap (2003 model) then he doesn't smell it. If I sleep with him and use the new cpaps (I have tried 3 of them) then he smells it. How could 3 machines all have the same problem, I have been told it would be virtually impossible for that to happen yet it is happening. Am I the ONLY one going thru this? Should I go ahead and mention it to the DME again? (they already think my hubby is crazy and nothing is wrong with the machines). How do you explain it not happening with the old machine or when I move out of the bedroom if it is just him? I GIVE UP!

[archangle]

Have you tried unplugging your husband for a few minutes and then plugging him back in?



Sorry, wish I had a better answer. I can imagine how there might be a smell, but not how it could be bad enough to cause trouble breathing after months of airing out.

[me50]

Is it a different power supply?

It sounds to me like it's something other than the CPAP. If so, it may be important to find out what is smoking.

Try sleeping in another room with the CPAP as a test. Ask him to come check on you if he wakes up during the night and see if he smells it.

Where is the machine sitting? Could it be sucking up some sort of fumes from close to the floor, etc.? Move the machine a few feet from where it was sitting before. If it was on the floor, sit it on a table or something.

Are you using a power strip, extension cord, etc.?

Turn off smartstart. Then move the CPAP into another room and let it run for a while during the day to see if the smell shows up. Or run it during the day in the bedroom for a while while you're not in the room. Then come in and see if you can smell anything.

If it happens again, immediately turn everything off, disconnect everything and have him sniff the hose, the air inlet and outlet of the blower unit, the power supply, etc.

Has he tried sniffing the airflow coming out of your mask vent? (Sounds kinky, doesn't it?)

Unless it's the water "burning," there's really no way for the CPAP machine to be producing enough fumes to make it difficult for hubby to breathe for a period of months. It takes a fair amount of material for something to produce that much gas. It has to be consuming some sort of material, and using up a certain number of grams of material every night.

Think of it this way. If it was some kind of air freshener or incense, you'd have to consume some air freshener liquid or the solid incense each night in order to stink up the room. If the CPAP is stinking up the room, you'd have to be burning or evaporating something and you'd use up whatever it's burning.

Thank you for your response and I agree fully with what you said. I have tried various things....extension cord, no extension cord, with humidifier, without humidifier, different outlets, different bedrooms, different surfaces, different machines, different power supplies, etc. I am so exhausted trying to solve this mytery, it is almost worse than having sleep apnea. All I can tell you is that if I move out of the room he doesn't smell it. If I sleep in the bedroom with him and use my old cpap (2003 model) then he doesn't smell it. If I sleep with him and use the new cpaps (I have tried 3 of them) then he smells it. How could 3 machines all have the same problem, I have been told it would be virtually impossible for that to happen yet it is happening. Am I the ONLY one going thru this? Should I go ahead and mention it to the DME again? (they already think my hubby is crazy and nothing is wrong with the machines). How do you explain it not happening with the old machine or when I move out of the bedroom if it is just him? I GIVE UP!

why don't you ask the DME to give you another brand like a respironics or resmed and see what happens? Not sure what else to suggest.

[wobby77]

I experienced this smell for the first time last night. Funnily we were away for the night so the machine was in a different place and at a differnet height. I erred on the side of caution and did not use it, thinking if I was breathing in smoke, I would not wake up at all, so had not a lot of sleep in the end.

I had a tv once that was giving off a similar smell and in the end it turned out it was overheating and melting on top of the slopping bit at the back. I will inspect the machine again tonight and give it all a good clean to see if it happens again. Hoping I don't need a new one as going on holidays in 2 weeks and just don't need the expense and really want to take it with me to get a good night sleep to get the best out of each day.