humidifier runs out of water by the time its morning

[sunrunnerdave]

im trying to figure out why when set on 5 my water tank wont last until morning when i wake up after 7 1/2 to 8 hours sleep its bone dry . you would think the m series designers would have allotted for 8 hour sleep in there design of the tank

[BlackSpinner]

A lot of it depends on the atmosphere. When I was in Alberta my humidifier used up twice as much water as it does in Montreal where it is humid.

If there is very little water to begin with then it needs to add lots of water to the air to get to the level at which you set it.

[sthnreb]

I set mine on 3 and don't fill it to the water line. Setting it to 5 makes the heating pad hotter to produce more vapor. That uses up the water but you are correct, it should be large enough to last for 8 hours at the highest setting. I still use distilled water even though the DME said our water was fine here out of the tap. (Respironics recommends distilled) I try to set it to use up the water just as I wake up. Then I empty the container, rinse it out and let it air dry separated. Haven't got a film on it this way yet. If I did set mine on 5, I would fill the water to the water line. If it used it up, I would turn it back a little until I found the setting that lasted all night with minimal water left. That would get all you could out of the humidifier.

[sunrunnerdave]

im thinking of getting a room humidifyer and draw backs , heck its winter in the bay area cant be this dry can it.

[rested gal]

im thinking of getting a room humidifyer and draw backs , heck its winter in the bay area cant be this dry can it.

Instead of a room humidifier, if it were me, I'd spend that money on a Fisher & Paykel HC 150 heated humidifier for your cpap machine. I'd remove the integrated M humidifier and connect the F&P humidifier to it instead. The F&P humidifier comes with a short connector hose. Works fine with any brand of CPAP machine.

My comparison of the amount of water several humidifier chambers can hold:
viewtopic.php?p=206305

I just now measured the water capacity of three water chambers, filling each just to their "fill line":

Respironics M series humidifier - 11 ounces
I wouldn't try to overfill this one at all.

Respironics non-M (classic) humidifier - 14 ounces
Can be overfilled another two ounces without problem - to 16 ounces.

Fisher & Paykel HC 150 separate humidifier - 16 ounces
Can be overfilled one more ounce without problem - to 17 ounces.

Those "overfill" numbers I'm using are from my own experience using cpap pressures in the range of 8 - 16 cm. If a person is using more cpap pressure than 16, you probably wouldn't want to overfill a humidifier chamber much, if any. The greater force of air hitting the water is going to cause more turbulence on the surface of the water.

You know you've overfilled a humidifier tank if you hear splashing, spitting, or gurgling sounds when you turn on the air. Need to pour a little out and not fill it that much next time. Been there, done that!

When I use an M series machine, I never use the integrated humidifier for it. I always use my good old F&P HC150 humidifier connected to the M machine. Holds a LOT more water than the M humidifier.

Such a handy humidifier to have, that F&P HC150. Can be used with any brand/model machine.

[rjjayrt]

I'm gonna respectfully disagree with some on this topic. The M series Humidifier is large enough to accomodate 8 hours sleep at a setting of 5. That is of course if the atmospheric humidity is adequate. Especially in the winter when the room air is much dryer any humidifier will use more water. A room humidifier in most cases will correct the problem. A case in point is the difference between the humidifier in the M series and the humidifier in the PR Remstar series. Both hold the same amount of water, but because of the additional humidifier sensor which allows for your settings to be correlated with the actual humidity the PR heated humidifier doesn't have this problem. If getting a different humidifier is the way you want to go thats fine, but the reason it works is because its larger, not because it works different. The PR heated humidifier is the only humidifier I know of that has this additional sensor.

[Judy R]

I have the same machine as you do, and I live way out here in Central West Texas, you can't get to much drier than out here, except maybe Arazonia, LOL!!! I've had mine set on 5 lots of times and never, ever ran out of water. My RT told me to use distilled water, and fill it up to the rim, not the water line, the rim just below the rubber seal. It seems to last all night and then some. Also, I've just added humidifiers to each room in the house, and now I can set my humidifier on my machine to a 2. You may want to consider a room humidifier, I've noticed that it's helped out a bunch here. The heating and airconditioning in our homes really dry out the air, so a room humidifier helps to put the moisture back into the air, besides, I've noticed that I'm sleeping better with the added moisture. Let us know how things work out.

[Arizona-Willie]

See the thread on Dual Humidifiers.

[rested gal]

The PR heated humidifier is the only humidifier I know of that has this additional sensor.

It may be the only one that measures not only ambient temperature, but...according to their marketing blurbs...also measure humidity and airflow.

The Fisher & Paykel HC 150 heated humidifier had one of those things -- an ambient temperature sensor -- long (years) before Respironics recently incorporated that particular feature into the PR System One humidifier. So, it's more than just the bigger capacity of the water chamber compared to others that makes the F&P heated humidifier work so well, imho.

[rjjayrt]

I gladly stand corrected

[rjjayrt]

the effect of the ambient temp sensor in the F&P Humidifier only affects rainout as I understand it, doesn't really address the problem of providing adequate humidity when in a dry environment. Its a good humidifier but other than its capacity doesn't really address the problem that was posted. Yes I just went to there site and read up on the F&P specs.

[rested gal]

the effect of the ambient temp sensor in the F&P Humidifier only affects rainout as I understand it, doesn't really address the problem of providing adequate humidity when in a dry environment. Its a good humidifier but other than its capacity doesn't really address the problem that was posted. Yes I just went to there site and read up on the F&P specs.

Addressing rainout (trying to prevent it) has the accompanying effect of letting more humidified air continue on through the hose and all the way to the person instead of having some of the humidified air cool enough to lose its moisture on the long journey.

That means people can generally use a lower heat setting on the F&P HC 150 humidifier to get the same (or more) amount of humidified air reaching them. The lower the heat setting that has to be used, the less water that gets used up.

So, yes, I do think an F&P HC 150 heated humidifier could address the problem (all the water in an M series chamber being used up in an 8 hour sleep session) that was posted.

[rjjayrt]

I agreed that the F&P humidifier is a good one. I just disagreed that it may be the answer to this particular problem. Besides physics suggest that if there were rainout in the tubing that the air would be saturated therefore needing no more additional water to create humidity. And as long as there were no water being forced out of the tubing(in other words the tubing wasn't totally occluded by water) then there'd be no decrease in efficency. This is a my dog is prettier than your dog disagreement, As I said the F&P Humidifier is a good humidifier, but in this instance a $35.00 room humidifier may be a better fix that a $150.00 F&P heated humidifier (not really sure of cost of F&P humidifier, but you get the point). I certainly respect your opinon and I almost always agree with you, in this case we differ...

[sunrunnerdave]

i have a 10 foot hose too

[ozij]

I'm gonna respectfully disagree with some on this topic. The M series Humidifier is large enough to accomodate 8 hours sleep at a setting of 5. That is of course if the atmospheric humidity is adequate.

Of course, if someone is unfortunate enough to live where the atmospheric humidity is not adequate, they should move. Respironics cannot accept responsibility to providing adequate humidity at high pressure if the machine is not used under proper atmospheric conditions. That's so basic!!!


rjjayr -- When a person tells you his or her machine is not supplying enough humidity disagreeing with them is inherently disrespectful. I know you mean no disrespect, but the way you just chose to protect Respironics equipment when faced by a patient reporting dissatisfaction is exactly what makes patients feel misunderstood, and poohed poohed. Not to mention making them feel they ared face by a company rep whose priority is company income instead of a therapist whose has their well being as the highest priority. I'm not saying you are one, no way. I'm saying you just talked like one -- please be more careful.

By the way, the amount of water needed also depends very much on the pressure one needs. More pressure needs more humidity. And is less apt to create rainout.

O.