How to know if humidifier is working correctly?

[Country4ever]

I know the humidity in our house goes up and down, depending on how much the A.C. is working, if a window is open, etc. But recently, things have been pretty consistent, weather-wise, but the water in my humidifier chamber isn't going down. Plus, I've developed headaches and pressure in my forehead which I'm wondering might be from no humidity in there. I know awhile back, I lowered the level on it because I was getting too much moisture around my nasal pillows. I suppose I could crank it up high to see......but it should be working at a slightly lower level too. Just curious what could be amiss that I haven't had to deal with before.
Unfortunately, I think I, once again, have a frontal sinus problem. I'm hoping it's just a bipolar humidifier.

I have a Resmed H5i humidifier.
Any ideas?
Thanks.

[Pugsy]

What setting are you currently using?
Are you using the heated hose or a non heated hose?
Has it been raining lately where you live?

My suggestion...turn up the setting and see what happens in terms of water consumption and your sinuses.

[LSAT]

Remove the water tub and see if the heater plate is warm....if it is, the humidifier is working.

[D.H.]

Remove the water tum and see if the heater plate is warm....if it is, the humidifier is working.

This is true. If it is warm, the humidifier is working (at least to some extent). However, the converse is not necessarily true.

[palerider]

Fill up the humidifier tank to the full line with cool (cold water tap), pop it into the humidifier (you do always remove the tank to fill it, right?) then run the warmup cycle. (turn knob to humidifier, hold knob down for 3+ seconds till it says it's warming up) come back in a bit and see if the tank is all steamy inside.

If it is, then the humidifier is working and heat the water,
If it isn't steamy, then you might have a problem in the circuitry. If's very rare that the resmed humidifiers have a problem, but anything's possible.

[Legrunt]

Fill up the humidifier tank to the full line with cool (cold water tap), pop it into the humidifier (you do always remove the tank to fill it, right?) then run the warmup cycle. (turn knob to humidifier, hold knob down for 3+ seconds till it says it's warming up) come back in a bit and see if the tank is all steamy inside.

If it is, then the humidifier is working and heat the water,
If it isn't steamy, then you might have a problem in the circuitry. If's very rare that the resmed humidifiers have a problem, but anything's possible.

I've always wondered what's the reason for that particular instruction... to ensure that you remove the tank from the machine before filling it... What's that harm in filling the tank while it is still attached to the machine?

[LSAT]

Fill up the humidifier tank to the full line with cool (cold water tap), pop it into the humidifier (you do always remove the tank to fill it, right?) then run the warmup cycle. (turn knob to humidifier, hold knob down for 3+ seconds till it says it's warming up) come back in a bit and see if the tank is all steamy inside.

If it is, then the humidifier is working and heat the water,
If it isn't steamy, then you might have a problem in the circuitry. If's very rare that the resmed humidifiers have a problem, but anything's possible.

I've always wondered what's the reason for that particular instruction... to ensure that you remove the tank from the machine before filling it... What's that harm in filling the tank while it is still attached to the machine?

If you spill the water, you may damage the heating element.

[Country4ever]

Thanks everyone. Hmmm.....I always wondered why sometimes there was a blue light in the water chamber, and a orang-ish light at other times. But I think I've been setting it right before use.
Interesting.......I never knew about how to warm up the water first. Is that just a test, or should I be doing that every night before I use it? Guess I should have read the instructions many years ago!
One thing I've noticed is that if I set it, for example, to 3.5, it seems like it doesn't use any water. But if I go up to 4.0, it's too much moisture at my nose. Maybe that's just the way it has to be?
Maybe it's sort of like my geothermal air conditioner.......If I set the thermostat to one number, it's too cold. If I go up one number, it's too hot. Maybe that's just the way some things are.
I guess I wouldn't have thought much about the humidifier, if I weren't waking up a lot of mornings with pain in my forehead and sinuses and wondering why.

Thanks for the info!