un-heated humidifier

[WJThurtell]

today is my 1st day on CPAP.
what difference does having a heated humidifier make?
my machine has a heated unit but i would prefer to just use @ room temperature water without the heater on

will this cause me any negatives?

turtle57

[GPSMapNut]

The only problem with using it with the heater off is that it may not deliver enough humidification.
With heat on low, you get more humidification and by the time air gets to the mask it cools down anyway.

[trish6hundred]

Hi WJThurtell,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
Hang in there for more answers to your question and much success to you with your CPAP therapy.

[WJThurtell]

The only problem with using it with the heater off is that it may not deliver enough humidification.
With heat on low, you get more humidification and by the time air gets to the mask it cools down anyway.

thanks GPSmapnut

[wolson]

Welcone to the forum.

Without heat, you will not get the humidifying effect unless you live where it is hot and dry. Humidity is important to keeping the mucus in your nose from drying out. It is generally considered a comfort feature not a therapeutic feature but if your nose is dry, you may suffer sinusitis.

Walt

[WJThurtell]

Welcone to the forum.

Without heat, you will not get the humidifying effect unless you live where it is hot and dry. Humidity is important to keeping the mucus in your nose from drying out. It is generally considered a comfort feature not a therapeutic feature but if your nose is dry, you may suffer sinusitis.

Walt

thank you - it is very hot & dry here but i will use it in future

[PoolQ]

It's called passive humidity, that's what I do. Personally I can't sleep with even passive with a full tank. I put a folded up paper towel in the tank and get it soaking wet. Lasts two nights and is just perfect for me. (I do not live in a high humidity area and do not like humidity). Sometimes I just let it go dry for a while.

[OMyMyOHellYes]

Without heat, you will not get the humidifying effect unless you live where it is hot and dry.

Not so.

It is a factor of relative humidity.

I am not convinced that heated humidification is all that it's cracked up to be. I went for 40 years without any PAP or artificially humidified air overnight. Most of the human race does with no problem. The air coming out of a CPAP is no drier than the ambient air everyone else is breathing. (No, I don't think the miniscule pressure differential that the CPAP machines put out has that great impact on RH, in any meaningful measure.) Some folks try it and like it and think they #need# it from a physiological stand point - well, my opinion on that doesn't really matter ....

And I don't really "need" it. I travel without it and don't notice much of anything. I also nap without it in the recliner. Depending on recline angle, my mouth may crack open and dry out a little bit - but it does that without CPAP too. When I used an S-8 as a primary (back when I thought I liked ResMed machines), I never used heated humidification in the summer months (April-Nov here). Current machines, with more integrated humidifiers, make it harder to do that.

So, if you are using passive humidification and are happy with it, I wouldn't bother with the heated route. I would like to get one of the Respironics passive humidifier boxes just to have if needed in extended power out scenarios where I would NEVER think of using heated humidification while operating on batteries.

OMMOHY

[wolson]

Without heat, you will not get the humidifying effect unless you live where it is hot and dry.

Not so.

It is a factor of relative humidity.

...
OMMOHY

You need to have heat in order to have humidty in the air! A higher relative humidity in the air that is breathed is what we are after especially since he lives in a dry climate. The will be a level of evaporation even without added heat but it will not be much. By adding, that is increased significantly.





Walt

[OMyMyOHellYes]

Point is you DO get humidification, not as much, but you do get some, even without heating the water. And that "some" is a lot more than most folks get during sleep. Heating water increases vapor pressure. Hotter air has more moisture carrying potential (lower relative humidity). I get that. I really do.

But frankly, we don't "need" the humidification. Billions and billions and billions of people (forgive the Sagan moment) sleep every night without added humidity. The ambient air a non-PAP bed partner breathes is the roughly the same relative humidity as the air breathed by the non-humidificated PAPer. Some folks get spoiled by the artificially high humidity and "need" it.

OMMOHY