Is my humidifier working or not?

[Roger Oscar Lima]

Sorry if this is a silly question, but I need help here.

How can I be sure it is working? I set Humidity to 4, but I do not see any vapor inside the tub. Nor anythinhg even remotely similar to humidity in the air tubing or mask.

I can’t feel any humidity or heat in the air I breath. My nose and airways are getting a bit dry... It is not being comfortable. I augmented the humidity to 5 and got absolutely no change. 

When I start the therapy, the display shows the icons of heating and humidity. They remain lit all the time. They never go out.

I made a test. I stopped the therapy after 3 hours. I turned off the CPAP. I carefully pulled the humidifier tub out of the main device. I touched the metalic plaques (1 - inside the CPAP; 2 - beneath the tub): both were totally cold! How can the humidifier work if the plaques are 100% cold? Water will never get hot, there will never be no vapor. [Moreover, the heating icon and humidity icons are lit!]

My CPAP is brand new. I bought it very recently (october 9th). I am affraid it can be defective.

I have already read the User Manual and the Clinical Manual entirely and got no clue. The ResMed site has some Q&A that simply say “look for the green smiley for the humidifier”, but if the plaques are not getting hot and there is no vapor, what is the value of an icon?

Or am I doing something wrong?

[SarcasticDave94]

Hi Roger Oscar Lima,

First 

OK secondly, there are 2 possibilities that come to mind with the humidifier. One is the settings you're using. I think your ResMed device should have an Auto or Manual choice, and then you then should have options for humidity level and the heated hose if it's available.

Auto has the device decide whether you're getting humid air according to what it senses how dry or humid it already is. Manual, which is what I use, allows you to control how humid that air you breathe becomes regardless of your room condition. Humidity Level ranges from Off then 1 - 8, where the higher the number is, the more heat and humidity it should produce. So you can check settings.

Part 2 is that the humidifier is in fact broke. Assuming you're in manual mode, after a short time, the metal bottom plate in the tub should be somewhat warm. How warm it has become is tied to your humidifier setting. If you have no temperature change regardless of setting, it's probably defective.

Dave

[Uphill]

I don't have an answer for you, but this is what happened to me. The humidifier quit working on my 6 month old Resmed AirSense10. To test it, I ran it up to 8 and there was no change, it was cold, it didn't go through any water. I took it back to the supplier, where the tech looked at it and told me nothing was wrong because there was no error message. He told me I just wasn't aware it was working and that I had to buy a heated hose. I was having a bad day, and my responses to him were not all that pleasant. I apologized, but in the end he talked to his supervisor and they gave me a new machine rather than worry I might come back. That night I almost drowned because I had the humidity turned up all the way. The new machine definitely worked, my old one definitely didn't – even though there was no error message.

[Walla Walla]

Your not going to see vapor in the tank or hose that would be fog. The humidifier increases the water content of the air based on evaporation. If you look at a lake in the summer there's evaporation going on from the heat of the sun. But you don't see it.
If your water dish/tub has lost some water during the night than it's working. Try turning it up all the way and use it all night.
You'll know if it's working or not in the morning.

[Roger Oscar Lima]

Dave, Uphill and Walla Walla
Thanks for the wellcome and the replies. All of them were very useful, informative and very educative for me.

1 - I don't have Auto or Manual settings because my hose is the SlimLine, the original one that came with the CPAP. Not the optional ClimateLineAir heated
air tubing.

2 - I tested as suggested: set humidity to 8, run it all the night, stopped it and checked the warming plaques. They were somewhat hot: not capable of burning my fingers, but anyway, warm.

3 - After about 7 hours of therapy, there was a noticeable decrease on the water level in the water tub.

I conclude that  my humidifier is working, thanks God.

[Roger Oscar Lima]

One additional note. I don't know if this is important or not, but it confuses me.

If Humidity Level is 1, 2, 3... or even 6, when I stop the therapy, take out the tub and touch the heating plaques, I can't feel any warming. At these settings, they do not get even slightly warm (at least my fingers can't feel). The impression is that, at these levels, the plaques stay cold, regardless of the duration of the therapy.

I have not tested 7 yet. The only setting that produced a noticeable warming was level 8.

Nevertheless, the water level really lowers after a night of use at level 6.

[dracus]

I was wondering this myself. Turned up the humidity. It was wonderful until my house filled up with water.

Rain out.... More like flood out.

Any thoughts to whether me ordering a climate line were worthwhile had been answered. 

Anthony

[Walla Walla]

The max temperature the climateline hose runs at is 86 degrees. I'm guessing the humidifier plate runs pretty close to that. That's not hot to the touch. The human body temperature is 98.6 degrees. It's enough to evaporate the water over 8 hours though.

[SarcasticDave94]

Walla Walla is right. Despite it not feeling hot to the touch, if your water level decreases noticeably over usage, it's most likely working correctly. In my opinion, humidity settings, and if a heated hose are used, it's setting as well, are Comfort and personal preference. Unless the settings you have available aren't providing your preferred comfort level, you should be fine.

Now if it's not comfortable with any setting you have available, then you have something to address. Some like a heated hose, it's my personal preference too. Some use a cover on the hose. Some also invest in hose hangers. I'm getting both when I've got the money to invest.

Hope that helps,

Dave B

[Roger Oscar Lima]

All understood. Thank you all for your help.

Roger