Larger reservoir for Air Sense 10 Autoset

[Ernie47]

I have the same problem with my S9 Elite reservoir. I have it set at 3.5 and come morning I'm sucking dry air. I wish they would offer larger reservoirs.

[PaytonA]

I have the same problem with my S9 Elite reservoir. I have it set at 3.5 and come morning I'm sucking dry air. I wish they would offer larger reservoirs.

How are your leaks???

Best Regards,

PaytonA

[RonKMiller]

Nalgene bottle ordered. Some nylon hose barbs, vinyl tubing and a new drill bit and I hope to be snoozing non-stop for 9 hours in high humidity.

Either that or I'm going to trash my new CPAP machine!

[nsherry61]

Nalgene bottle ordered. Some nylon hose barbs, vinyl tubing and a new drill bit and I hope to be snoozing non-stop for 9 hours in high humidity.

Either that or I'm going to trash my new CPAP machine!

You could always start with your Nalgene plumbed into your reservoir. Set the Nalgene next to, and at the same level as your reservoir and fill it up to exactly the same level as your reservoir and see what happens. Worst case, the nalgene empties into your reservoir, but not enough to damage anything. Probably, it would just act as a larger reservoir and work? In the end, maybe a low, wide, air-tight bottle filled up to the same level as the reservoir would be the best option - like a sealed hard plastic sandwich container?

[RonKMiller]

Nalgene bottle ordered. Some nylon hose barbs, vinyl tubing and a new drill bit and I hope to be snoozing non-stop for 9 hours in high humidity.

Either that or I'm going to trash my new CPAP machine!

You could always start with your Nalgene plumbed into your reservoir. Set the Nalgene next to, and at the same level as your reservoir and fill it up to exactly the same level as your reservoir and see what happens. Worst case, the nalgene empties into your reservoir, but not enough to damage anything. Probably, it would just act as a larger reservoir and work? In the end, maybe a low, wide, air-tight bottle filled up to the same level as the reservoir would be the best option - like a sealed hard plastic sandwich container?

Umm, yeah...

The whole idea behind the collapsible Nalgene bottle is that it is much more travel friendly than a hard container. (see a previous post) I'm also not too sure I would want water that I'll be inhaling coming into contact with a sandwich container almost for certain made in China - from polypropylene - although it is supposed to be safe and BPA free. Nalgene bottles are made from 100% virgin resin polyethylene, fabricated in the USA and certified BPA free. That works for me. A few drops of Betadyne, plain old tap water and some vigorous shaking for a few seconds should be more than adequate to sanitize it - the same solution I'm currently using on the CPAP reservoir.

I don't believe a sealed container would work since it would create a vacuum and possibly restrict flow, especially since I'm going to be using very small id tubing. Once again I'm not an engineer and just guessing here. To me it makes sense to have the atmospheric pressure in both chambers the same - since the CPAP reservoir is pressurized I intuitively think the aux reservoir should be too.

My biggest concern is making the compressor work any harder than it is now. There will be a little extra stress on it since it's going to be asked to fill TWO chambers with air, but as I mentioned I'm only using a 9 setting currently so should have some wiggle room there. It's entirely possible that someone who is using near the highest setting may prematurely burn out their compressor. Caveat emptor! ...and no, I do NOT intend to sell this, but if successful will let the community have access to how I did it. This won't be rocket science.

The only way to know for sure if it will work the way I think it will is to actually build it - which I intend to do next week.

[RonKMiller]

My reservoir is finished. Bottom line, it works just fine.

I had enough water left over this morning to sleep for probably 18 hours without running out. After playing around it with I think the "pressure line" from the top of the CPAP hard reservoir to the bottle is not needed and may confuse the "brains" of the machine, although I could not detect any discernible difference in air flow/performance. A classic case of over engineering. I already plugged it and just had the bottom tube draining water into the CPAP reservoir. The key thing is establishing the height of the Nalgene bottle to make sure it doesn't overfill the CPAP reservoir. Lying on the same table as the machine it consistently maintained the level in the CPAP reservoir to about half full at all times.

The white plastic inlets are quick connects. The Nalgene bottle can easily be detached by pressing down on the collars for removal of the tubes, then the cap of the Nalgene may be unscrewed for filling, cleaning, etc.

It was SOooooo nice not waking up at 4 am with a dry, raspy throat and mouth or having to refill the reservoir. Our dew point and RH in Tucson are extremely low right now, so this was a great time to test it out.

[RonKMiller]

           

[RonKMiller]

Parts:

1. Irwin 1/8"-27 NPT Tap, use with 21/64" drill but use a smaller pilot hole FIRST! Use a brand new drill and drill SLOWLY or you'll melt the plastic. You have been warned.

   

2. Note how I cut the cap to allow enough room for the quick connect to be inserted all the way flush, although this is not necessary since these are tapered threads and should seal well with just a few threads poking through the other side. I decided to put a small brass jam nut on the other side but this is overkill. Note there is very little clearance here so make sure you locate the holes in the right spots.

   

3. Watts quick connect 1/4" x 1/8" PL-3004 (2)

   

4. The tubing is a commodity 1/4" vinyl HARD tubing found on a spool in any good hardware store like ACE. You'll need a foot. Make sure to use a tubing cutter or really sharp scissors so the ends are clean and square or it will leak. A new utility blade would probably work well too.

5. Nalgene one quart collapsible wide mouth cantene (Amazon has it)

I take absolutely NO responsibility if you mess up your $$$$ machine or reservoir. Have fun and breathe humidified!

[player]

Nice to see a happy ending.

[Davvinci]

Hi everyone,
First post for this forum. It seems to me, as much as I like DIYing, this is something of a design failure by the manufacturer. It looks as though the tank could be extended to the right side easily but it should be manufactured by the MANUFACTURER. I have an AirCurve 10 VAuto which the doctor actually had to write the prescription for so they didn't trade it out for another cheaper model. When I found out what this cost, I was shocked and I think I would have a hard time explaining how the machine was fried and what I did to assist in the destruction. 
I run mine at 4 or 5 on the humidity and it runs out after about 6 hours. If the tank that was extended about an inch and a half to the right would give it appoximately 30% more capacity. Yes, I just eyeballed that with no calculations (I'm sure someone will call BS on that one). It does not seem unreasonable to me that this should be the manufacturers problem especially since so many people are having the same problem. 
How about a letter writing campaign?  I hate the smell of the aluminum heat transfer when it is hot with no water in it. It can't be good for you health-wise. It smells very acrid.

Other than that I love the machine and I have owned 6 different models previously. This one is the most comfortable for transition from inhale to exhale and vice versa. I wouldn't want to have to pay for another one myself even though I hate waking up enough to refill the water tank in the middle of the night.