Mask does NOT leak but Airsense 10 records 60-120 L/min

doctorboll · Post by **doctorboll** » Sat Feb 16, 2019 11:04 am

When I started CPAP over three years ago, I had no problems except mask leakage. I bought five different masks until I found one that did not leak--the F&P Simplus Full Face Mask. The problem is that my CPAP machine consistently records leakage between 60 L/min and 120 L/min each night. I'm convinced that there is no leakage other than the exhaust. How do I know this? Because my second-besk mask, a Philips Respironics Comfort Gel Blue full face, leaks occasionally and both the sound and sensation eventually wake me up. To know for sure, I put the Simplus mask on and watched a long movie. After three hours of leak-free CPAP (from mask, tube or machine), the machine showed a frowny face for leakage.

The AirSense 10's leak scores are supposed to compensate for exhaust loss, and the Simplus mask says the loss is 60 L/min at a pressure of 25, which happens to be my maximum pressure setting. My AHI (events per hour) is generally around .6, which is not terrible, but does not correlate with the L/min from night to night. For those familiar with the AirSense nightly scoring system, this means that my scores always hover right around 80% but never higher.

I've read dozens of threads regarding leaks and AHI, but have never come across someone who is convinced there is no leakage despite the recorded data. Has anyone else had this issue?

Pugsy · Post by **Pugsy** » Sat Feb 16, 2019 11:12 am

Welcome to the forum.

Any chance you have facial hair of some sort?

Do confirm that there are no holes in the hose anywhere though. Either the water test to check for holes or a similar experiment with a totally different mask. Make sure no leak somewhere else in the circuit besides the mask.

Can you post the detailed report showing pressure and leak, etc from the 3 hour test where you were awake watching TV?
Need to see if it ever sealed at all or the entire baseline leak is off.
Need the software to do that. Do you know about available software? If not read the sticky at the top of the Announcements section "Newbies please read". I explained the software stuff in that post.

palerider · Post by **palerider** » Sat Feb 16, 2019 11:59 am

doctorboll wrote: ↑
Sat Feb 16, 2019 11:04 am
When I started CPAP over three years ago, I had no problems except mask leakage. I bought five different masks until I found one that did not leak--the F&P Simplus Full Face Mask. The problem is that my CPAP machine consistently records leakage between 60 L/min and 120 L/min each night. I'm convinced that there is no leakage other than the exhaust. How do I know this? Because my second-besk mask, a Philips Respironics Comfort Gel Blue full face, leaks occasionally and both the sound and sensation eventually wake me up. To know for sure, I put the Simplus mask on and watched a long movie. After three hours of leak-free CPAP (from mask, tube or machine), the machine showed a frowny face for leakage.

The AirSense 10's leak scores are supposed to compensate for exhaust loss, and the Simplus mask says the loss is 60 L/min at a pressure of 25, which happens to be my maximum pressure setting. My AHI (events per hour) is generally around .6, which is not terrible, but does not correlate with the L/min from night to night. For those familiar with the AirSense nightly scoring system, this means that my scores always hover right around 80% but never higher.

I've read dozens of threads regarding leaks and AHI, but have never come across someone who is convinced there is no leakage despite the recorded data. Has anyone else had this issue?

If the machine says you've got 60-120l leaks, then you've got 60-120l of leaks, from somewhere.

And that's a *lot*.

doctorboll · Post by **doctorboll** » Sat Feb 16, 2019 12:45 pm

Pugsy,

Thanks for the thoughtful and speedy response!

I'm brand new to this site so I'm still finding my way around it. I will get the necessary software and post my data ASAP. I'm going to have to redo my TV test as that was several months ago and the data is no longer available...I assume.

Uff Da · Post by **Uff Da** » Sat Feb 16, 2019 1:21 pm

Between the ResMed APAP machine I used for six months and the Phillips Respironics bipap, I tried out nine different masks, trying to find one that didn't leak. Some leaked worse than others, but the conclusion I reached was that some of the leaks I just couldn't hear. Some leaks just have a different sound than others, but I trusted what the machine said, which corresponded fairly well to what the Sleepyhead software reported. With large leaks, the number of events showing up on the software during that period was typically fewer, indicating that the machine probably wasn't able to pick up events with that large a leak.

Mask does NOT leak but Airsense 10 records 60-120 L/min

Mask does NOT leak but Airsense 10 records 60-120 L/min

Re: Mask does NOT leak but Airsense 10 records 60-120 L/min

Re: Mask does NOT leak but Airsense 10 records 60-120 L/min

Re: Mask does NOT leak but Airsense 10 records 60-120 L/min

Re: Mask does NOT leak but Airsense 10 records 60-120 L/min