Resmed™ S9 Climateline hose durability

Unfortunately I found that my ClimateLine hose had developed a leak last night. The leak is right where the hose meets at the cuff. Its impossible to repair at that position with gorilla tape. I initially i thought i was having issues with my Swift LT pillows collapsing on me as my setup was just so loud last night when i rested my head on the pillow, i spent a good few minutes adjust straps and playing around to get a good fit. Well in the end i unhooked my hose from the top strap of my Swift LT (I have run over my head) and put the cuff next to my ear and sure enough i could hear the gushing air.

I was aware that this was a very fragile design for the hose and i was always very careful with it. Fortunately for me i am withing the 3 month warranty period and i have a replacement on the way. The leaking one will be returned to Resmed.

So with the replacement hose I want to add some protection or reinforcement to the cuff. Initially i thought adding a few wraps of gorilla tape would do the trick but the cuff on the Climate Hose is not a perfect cylinder shape and its difficult to wrap tape around it. I guess the irregular shape cuff is due to the temp sensor inside



I remember looking at the Aussie heated hose product and thinking that its reinforced cuff looks to be some kind of shrink wrap tape. Does anyone know where to get this and how it gets applied?

Maybe heat shrinkable tubing ... from an electronics supply/internet vendor.

You can use a hair dryer to heat the tubing safely and it shrinks to fit.

I've been very tempted to buy an S9 Autoset, but keep hesitating when I read of problems some people are having. I have read of leaks with the SlimLine hose in that same spot, but I didn't realize that the ClimateLine tubing could be that fragile too.

It's difficult to understand why ResMed didn't thoroughly use-test these hoses before offering them for sale. Those hoses, at $55 a pop for the ClimateLine, aren't cheap! I hope that ResMed will improve the design so we can feel confident that we're buying a top-quality product.

A couple other possibilities might be a tube of 100% silicone or even stretch-and-seal silicone tape.

The slimline/climateline series of hose is too short. Yeah, I know it's supposed to be 6.5 feet long, but it's just not enough. Every time I turn over, it tugs on the line. Those tugs add up. The hose should be no less than eight feet. Ten feet is preferable.

I added a two foot humidifier extension to mine right from the start and have been using pur-sleep's cozy hose boss to manage the hose. When it tugs, the hose boss takes the brunt of the tug and distributes the force better across the hose. Also the hose is inside a hose cover, allowing the hose cover to once again receive and better redistribute the force of turning-over tugs. I toss around too much for a hose to be useful at 6.5 feet long. So what if my second temp sensor is not directly at the mask. It's good enough.

Under these conditions, I have not had too many problems with my climateline hose.

The pliability/flexibility of the climateline and slimline hose is alluring, but it seems to come at the cost of lower durability. The connectors do need reinforcement like the aussie tube has, but with the wall thinness of this hose, it might just be moving the ripping problem further down the hose. The thickness of the hose wall should be increased to ensure better durability, even if it does come at the cost of pliability. We'll probably cover it with a hose cover anyway...

On another note - my climateline hose came partially smooshed in transit. I was able to unsmoosh it so that it's perfectly round again, but you should note - don't expect the climateline to take a full-on stomp by your foot in a heavy shoe. It likely won't recover. A flattened hose has different aerodynamics and will affect your pressure at the mask. The copper warming coil has no coil-shape-return memory and will likely remain in whatever shape you press it into. A standard-sized unheated hose could probably get by once or twice - it happened to me once by mistake and I could not tell that the standard hose had been stomped after a couple days. For the price, this hose could use a better coil-shape-return memory in case of such accidents. In the case of the slimline hose, I suspect, it will probably not survive more than one full-on shoe stomp.

That said - I still love my climateline hose. I'm willing to see how long it lasts.

DreamStalker wrote:Maybe heat shrinkable tubing ... from an electronics supply/internet vendor.

You can use a hair dryer to heat the tubing safely and it shrinks to fit.

http://www.cabletiesandmore.com/heatshr ... ardant.php

Good stuff.

DreamStalker wrote:Maybe heat shrinkable tubing ... from an electronics supply/internet vendor.

You can use a hair dryer to heat the tubing safely and it shrinks to fit.

I'd be worried about melting the actual hose itself, the plastic between the coils looks to be a thin as the bubbles used in bubble wrap.

Taping the hose directly does not seem like a good idea because when you want to remove the tape you would likely tear the hose.

My next idea would be just regular 3 inch wide ACE stretchy band aid tape. a few wraps with that and then a little tape at the end might do the trick. It could then also be removed for hose cleaning.

Cold shrink tubing is also available but i don't think you could get the tubing to shrink enough after the insert has to go over the bulky rubber cuff.

There is a tape that we use to make repairs on airplane that would be perfect for this it is called F4 tape. I have seen it in auto repair stores and home depot on a small roll.
I just did a google with the following:

F4 Tape Self-fusing Silicone Tape Black

and it came back on Amazon.com

this is water proof and will remain flexible at temperature extremes below zero to well above

Chris

carbonman wrote:

DreamStalker wrote:Maybe heat shrinkable tubing ... from an electronics supply/internet vendor.

You can use a hair dryer to heat the tubing safely and it shrinks to fit.

http://www.cabletiesandmore.com/heatshr ... ardant.php

Good stuff.

120 degrees to melt that, I'm not sure if a hair dryer would get that high. But even if it did I bet the temperature inside the heat shrink would get high enough to melt the tube.

So i wonder how the Aussie tube guy got his on

KC5cychris wrote:There is a tape that we use to make repairs on airplane that would be perfect for this it is called F4 tape. I have seen it in auto repair stores and home depot on a small roll.
I just did a google with the following:

F4 Tape Self-fusing Silicone Tape Black

and it came back on Amazon.com

this is water proof and will remain flexible at temperature extremes below zero to well above

Chris

Chris I think you might have nailed it

Thanks

A couple other possibilities might be a tube of 100% silicone or even stretch-and-seal silicone tape.

Wonder how the aeronautical version compares to the Home Depot tape.

on edit: it looks like the aeronautical tape is wider and heavier gauge for better durability!

Uncle_Bob wrote: 120 degrees to melt that, I'm not sure if a hair dryer would get that high. But even if it did I bet the temperature inside the heat shrink would get high enough to melt the tube.

So i wonder how the Aussie tube guy got his on

As I hear more and more from the S9 pioneers,
I am less and less impressed.

My Ozzy hose gets used and abused and keeps on ticking.

carbonman wrote:

Uncle_Bob wrote: 120 degrees to melt that, I'm not sure if a hair dryer would get that high. But even if it did I bet the temperature inside the heat shrink would get high enough to melt the tube.

So i wonder how the Aussie tube guy got his on

As I hear more and more from the S9 pioneers,
I am less and less impressed.

My Ozzy hose gets used and abused and keeps on ticking.

Bear in mind the S9 can also be used with any standard CPAP hose according to the clinician's manual. When Apria finally delivers my S9, I think I'll save the ClimateLine wear-and-tear for winter use only...

The previous Aussie hose should be S9 compatible as well...

-SWS wrote:Bear in mind the S9 can also be used with any standard CPAP hose according to the clinician's manual. When Apria finally delivers my S9, I think I'll save the ClimateLine wear-and-tear for winter use only...

It's true that the S9 can be used with any standard hose, but without the ClimateLine hose you don't get the "rainout protection" feature. At least that's how I understand it. That is one of the big selling points of that machine for me.

The previous Aussie hose should be S9 compatible as well...

I see no reason why you couldn't use the Aussie hose with the S9, but again, no "rainout protection." I sometimes use the Aussie heated hose with my S8 machine, but it definitely has not prevented rainout for me. It does allow me to turn up the humidifier slightly without getting rainout, but I don't think it would function as well as the ClimateLine, which has the sensors at the mask-end of the tubing.

Bottom line is that ResMed needs to make the tubing (both SlimLine and ClimateLine) more durable. For the money they're charging, this is ridiculous. I hope they're "listening"!

DreamOn wrote: Bottom line is that ResMed needs to make the tubing (both SlimLine and ClimateLine) more durable. For the money they're charging, this is ridiculous. I hope they're "listening"!

So is Uncle_Bob's our first report of a cracked ClimateLine hose or are there other reports?

I haven't been following all the S9 threads that closely.