Smokey smell coming from new cpap

Hello everyone!

I'm new here. I just purchased a Luna 2 QA auto cpap machine and after running it for a while the first night, I took the mask off and noticed a smokey smell, almost cigar-like. This happens after I am running my machine for 20-30 minutes.

A few things to note, 1. I didn't read the directions before I started using it and I believe that I accidentally turned the humidifier on the first night that I ran the machine but I did not have any water in it. I read some similar posts and tried cleaning the machine and soaking the hose and mask but the strong smoke-like, burning smell persists.

I wanted to ask if anyone had similar experiences and could this be from running the humidifier without water for 30-min to an hour? My fear is that if I leave the machine running and fall asleep that I will either wake up to a smoke-filled room or an electrical fire.

I would really appreciate any feedback.

Thank you.

The plastic in the water chamber could have been damaged from the heat when it was heated up without water in it.
I have run out of water in the middle of the night and wake up to a real stinky bunch of air going up my nose.
Normally running the machine for a while with water in it will resolve the stinky issue but I am not familiar with the brand of machine you are using nor its water chamber nor how easily it might have been permanently damaged.

I would let the machine run/blow during the day with water in the chamber for 8 to 10 hours and then see if it still smelled bad.
It wouldn't be impossible for there to be a problem inside the blower.
Also might consider getting a new water chamber.

Did you buy it online or through a brick and mortar DME local to you?

If it was used by a smoker (and no one told you), what can help is running it for a day without being connected to you, and sometimes the smell will go away, or at least lessen to a bearable degree.

I have noticed campfire odors following a camping trip. A filter change helped.

Everyone seems to have missed this little bit:

baycpap wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 08, 2021 10:29 pm

I took the mask off and noticed a smokey smell, almost cigar-like. This happens after I am running my machine for 20-30 minutes.

Taking the mask *OFF* and smelling something means it's not coming from inside the machine, it's also unlikely to be coming from the machine itself, because it would get sucked into the inlet.

The smell's almost certainly coming from *something else*, perhaps the OP, or something else near the OP, like people that take the mask off in the morning and talk about a smell, (which is probably coming from their pillow, laundry soap scent, etc).

baycpap wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 08, 2021 10:29 pm

I would really appreciate any feedback.

yet you'll never come back to read it.

I never heard of that brand cpap machine.
Edit: I see them now.
Really cheap prices--a fraction of what I consider a medical quality machine.
And they look a lot like old respironics
If one is looking for a low priced machine,
a few posters have used DeVillbiss Intellipap Auto for years.
I have one that I have used off grid--a bit noisy,
but not enough to prevent sleep.
Functionally, it felt a lot like the S9 Autoset I was using at the time.
Data is disappointing--feed a code number into their website,
and you get some of the most wanted numbers--if the site is running OK.

The smoky smell often results from covid and other respiratory problems caused by repiratory infections and sometimes neurological malfuction
having nothing to do with cpap machines. In these cases, the patient smells foul odors which can make normal foods smell like foul garbage, and other materials smell like foul smelling smoke. Heated CPAP air, too, can mistakenly be blamed for foul, often smoky smells.

This malfuction of the sense of smell can be connected with covid, and often lingers for months after covid recovery. There are a large number of olfactory malfuctions described on numerous respected medical sites. It would take a book to describe them.

After getting a foul, smoky, very unpleasant smell while using three different ResMed machines, my doctor and I concluded the smell was caused by conditions internal to me, not the machines. This was confirmed by special tests of the sense of smell. Treatments vary, but in most cases the problem is resolved after months or even a couple of years of either retraining your brain to smell correctly (neurologically caused), or treatment of a respiratory infections.