Humidifier temperatures.

[airway]

I have been using a CPAP for 12 years with no problems until now. Have never used a humidifier but now need it and have purchased a REMstar Pro C-Flex+. The problem is that it starts out by warming the water to about 33 degrees. However after several hours the temperature drops to between 20 and 25. I took back the original machine and it was replaced but this second one does the same thing. Can anyone with humidifier experience tell me if it should maintain the same temp. all night. The blue light which is supposed to indicate that the humidifier is working remains on all the time.

[diamaunt]

the newer machines try to keep a more constant humidification level to meet changing conditions during the night, as opposed to a simpler constant temperature which results in varying humidfication.

[Sleepster]

I have been using a CPAP for 12 years with no problems until now. Have never used a humidifier but now need it and have purchased a REMstar Pro C-Flex+.

Is it the Model 450P or 460P? And do you have the heated hose?

With the 450P you should be able to set the humidification to its maximum setting of 5 and get plenty of humid air in the hose. It does adjust the water temperature according to your room's humidity level. If the air in your room is humid, the water won't get as warm as it would if the air in your room were dry, so it appears it's working correctly.

[trish6hundred]

Hi airway,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
Hang in there for more responses to your post and best of luck to you with your new machine.

[airway]

My machine is the 461P. I am finding that when the room temperature is 0ny 10 degrees as it is at the moment that if the water temperature is only 20 that the air coming through is too cold and I end up with a lot of condensation around the nasal prongs. I don't have a heated hose. Would this help this problem?

[Sleepster]

My machine is the 461P. I am finding that when the room temperature is 0ny 10 degrees as it is at the moment that if the water temperature is only 20 that the air coming through is too cold and I end up with a lot of condensation around the nasal prongs. I don't have a heated hose. Would this help this problem?

The condensation is called rain out. Yes, the heated hose is designed to fix this problem, but I don't know if your machine is equipped with the option needed to accommodate the heated hose. The model number 461P indicates that it may have this option. If it does I think there will be a TS after that but I'm not sure.

To address the rain out you can turn down the heated humidifier, wrap the hose with a snuggy to insulate it, or get the heated hose if that's an option. Of course if you turn down the humidifier that will make the air even colder.

Anyway, the condensation is a sign that the humidifier is working and doing what it's designed to do. By the way, 10 °C (50 °F) is a pretty cold room! It's no wonder you're getting rain out. And no wonder you need humidification!

Your best bet may be to warm up your bedroom.

[airway]

Thanks for that. Had to laugh. Every other year I have heated the room but was under the obviously naive impression that a humidifier would warm the air in the hose enough that I wouldn't need to. Anyway heater on tonight. Thanks so much. Just needed to know that the machine was doing what it should.

[Sleepster]

Since you have the Model 561P that means that it may have the option for a heated hose. If it does, it means that when you connect the hose to the CPAP machine you are also making an electrical connection with the heating element embedded in the special heated hose. That would solve all your problems as it would allow you to both humidify and heat the air you're breathing.

[archangle]

The PRS1 machines have a smart "System One Humidification" setting. You can turn it off if you want to.

With it turned on, it tries to be smarter about the humidity based on the actual humidity. Without it, I think it just heats the tank to some fixed temperature. This is probably why you're seeing the variation in temperature.

You can change this in the clinician's menu if you want to experiment with it.

Some people find turning this off to get more humidity, at the expense of more water usage and the risk of rainout.

I think the humidifier light stays on all the time when the humidifier is on, not just when the heater element is heating. You can disable this to some extent in the clinician's menu, but I think it turns the light off whether the humidifier is heating or not.