empty water tank

[springman946]

what would happen if I ran my bipap machine without any water in the tank would I ruin the water tank and have to get it replaced or would it create a burning smell

[chunkyfrog]

Mine ran dry this morning. At about 9.9 hours, I was awakened by the "dry tank" smell.
This time it was completely dry--not the first time, but I'll clean the tank tonight before bedding down,
and it will be all fine and ready to go. No big deal. Did this happen? Or do you want to try a dry night?

[Sir NoddinOff]

Running out of water is not something to be overly concerned about if it only happens a few times... maybe your throat or sinuses will get a little dry. It's happened to me several times. I run pretty high humidifier temps and my ResMed S9 H5i tank is too small, therefore I sometimes run out of humidifier water in the early morning, especially when the weather is cold in California. It's a big drag, but what I do is keep a disposable bottle of distilled water near the machine and top off the tank in the middle of the night during a pee break - mostly if I'm sleeping in or, as I said, if the temps in my room are very cool.

[Pugsy]

You can run the machine with the tank empty AND with the setting set to 0 for off and nothing will happen.
If you run the machine with the setting for one of the humidifier setting numbers without water in the tank it will start to make the air going to your nose stink like burnt plastic. I don't know if it really hurts anything but the smell is awful. I have had it happen when I have forgotten to add water and the tank goes dry early in the night. The smell is pretty bad.

But if you want to have the humidifier attached and not have any water in it...just turn the heater off and it won't hurt a thing and won't stink either.

[Kenwood]

If you run the machine with the setting for one of the humidifier setting numbers without water in the tank it will start to make the air going to your nose stink like burnt plastic. I don't know if it really hurts anything but the smell is awful. I have had it happen when I have forgotten to add water and the tank goes dry early in the night. The smell is pretty bad.

Yeah, the smell will usually wake me up when I run dry. The smell reminds me of "super glue"

[Sir NoddinOff]

Yeah, the smell will usually wake me up when I run dry. The smell reminds me of "super glue"

Kenwood: I notice you and Pugsy have PR machines. Like I mentioned above I've run out of water in my ResMed S9 Adapt maybe three times in eight months and have never smelled anything at all. Maybe some different machine owners will weigh in on this issue. Super glue does not sound like a good smell.

[Pugsy]

Doesn't smell like super glue to me...just smells like hot/burning plastic to me.
I have had it happen with any machine I have ever used when I forgot to fill the tank. That would be the Respironics M series...My PR S1 machines...and even the S9 VPAP I used for about 14 months.
The longer it has gone dry..the worse it smells. If it is not quite dry..still smells like burnt plastic but very faint smell.
Once it goes totally dry..stinks to high heaven and will wake me up and force me to get up and remedy the situation.
On a rare occasion..I just used up pretty much all the water even though I did fill it. It's just something I deal with if or when it happens.
Using less added humidity is worse on my nose than a little stinky smell is.

[Jeannh]

I have a ResMed S9, and if I turn the humidity to 6 (I like the temp at 80), and the room humidity is <40% (thank you, whoever recommended I invest in a cheap room humidity reader, was maybe $10 at amazon), my tank will run dry. No smell that I remember, but it feels funny enough to wake me.

I'm careful about that now, since getting up at 3am to refill the tank interrupts my sleep, and I've learned that anything that interrupts my sleep is unwanted (thank you, Pugsy!)

The things we learn!

[mgaggie]

I've let my tank run dry a few times, there is a plastic burn smell(or funny brown smell as we call it in my family)and my nostrils feel irritated

[Wesley Y]

I run passive humidity on my cpap, and keep the setting at zero. I can not stand breathing warm air, as I feel as if I am suffocating. When my tank runs dry, I can immediately tell because I get that funny smell from the tank. No heat, but the smell is there. It has always been hard to describe, but one poster hit the nail on the head... Super glue... THAT'S IT!!!

I hate cpap, but the best mask I have found for me is the cloth mask by Circadance.

Does anyone else have vanity issues with being on cpap? I refuse to see what I look like on cpap because if I do, I will never wear it again!!! It was bad enough when a co-worker asked if I used it because he saw lines on my face. If someone could just invent a maskless, hoseless, non facial attaching cpap, life would be perfect!

Also, any suggestions on how to keep the hose from wrapping around my neck when I sleep?

Thanks

[LSAT]

I run passive humidity on my cpap, and keep the setting at zero. I can not stand breathing warm air, as I feel as if I am suffocating. When my tank runs dry, I can immediately tell because I get that funny smell from the tank. No heat, but the smell is there. It has always been hard to describe, but one poster hit the nail on the head... Super glue... THAT'S IT!!!

I hate cpap, but the best mask I have found for me is the cloth mask by Circadance.

Does anyone else have vanity issues with being on cpap? I refuse to see what I look like on cpap because if I do, I will never wear it again!!! It was bad enough when a co-worker asked if I used it because he saw lines on my face. If someone could just invent a maskless, hoseless, non facial attaching cpap, life would be perfect!

Also, any suggestions on how to keep the hose from wrapping around my neck when I sleep?

Thanks

For most people vanity is not an issue...their health is.

[chunkyfrog]

If vanity prevents someone from using their cpap, so be it.
Natural selection works.
IMHO, Vanity is foolish and not worth dying for.

[ChicagoGranny]

Wesley Y
Also Posted As:
(a64pilot)
(AuSable River Rat)
(CocoPazzo)
(Sal_In_Ga)
(Shinino)

This puzzles me. The Au Sable River is 900 miles by road from Atlanta, GA.

[Michelle-OH]

Does anyone else have vanity issues with being on cpap? I refuse to see what I look like on cpap because if I do, I will never wear it again!!! It was bad enough when a co-worker asked if I used it because he saw lines on my face. If someone could just invent a maskless, hoseless, non facial attaching cpap, life would be perfect!

I'm glad my mask doesn't give me lines, it would bug me too. I think it's ok to be vain , it's not like your giving up on cpap due to vanity!

Also, any suggestions on how to keep the hose from wrapping around my neck when I sleep?

I bought a hose holder off Amazon, slides between the box springs and mattress, for only a little over $10 with shipping. DME provider had one for $49 that only looked slightly more sturdy. Now the hose doesn't get tangled up.

[ChicagoGranny]

Do you need help to learn how to use the forum quote feature, Michelle?