AirSense 11 AutoSet arrived, a few questions

Wow! Now I know what a freaking idiot I was not to have gotten a new machine, like, six years ago. No wonder my new sleep doctor laughed at my old brick.

So small, light, and quiet! One bad thing is stupid water compartment design, as noted in the instructional video at cpap.com. Forget carrying it from the bathroom, much easier to keep the distilled water jug by the bed. Still not a perfect solution for how easy it is to spill it and annoy the machine. What engineering genius thought the Max fill line should be coincident with the top of the container. (The video notes that if you don't fill it to the top, it may get used up before one night is over.)

Also do not like the newer stiff tubing. The more flexible tubing of the olden days was much easier to deal with. This one has a mind of its own: You are not putting that here! Boing!

I've been doing CPAP fairly happily for around 12 years at a steady 6 setting. I just tested the AirSense with my two-month-old new and somewhat beloved mask, the AirFit N30i. It's going fine and the machine is delighted at my mask fit! That's nice because I wasn't really sure if the cushion was always seated optimally.

Question 1 - Is there any way to turn it off completely without unplugging? It just has Therapy On or Standby. No doubt Standby is sucking electricity. It hums inside.

I do appreciate that there is no light on at all when you're sleeping. I can save my black tape for all the other little lights in the room.

Question 2 - It has a blue snowflake symbol flashing. The instructions do not address that. Is that Bluetooth? I got the app, but haven't created an account. I probably won't use that unless you all tell me it's amazing. My phone is never in my room at night anyway.

I have trepidation about the heated tube, have never used one, or needed one that I know of. Assuming a heated tube is different from the heated humidifier + regular(?) tube I had before.

Thanks for any insights!

The blue snowflake indicates that the humidifier is cooling. At the same time, the fan is running at a very low speed to help the cooling. You can feel the air blowing out the tube for about 20 minutes after you turn off the machine. A heated tube is important if you are getting rainout (water in the tube). The electricity used by the machine costs about $1-2 a month in most areas.

surf_rower wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 21, 2024 11:14 am

Question 1 - Is there any way to turn it off completely without unplugging? It just has Therapy On or Standby. No doubt Standby is sucking electricity. It hums inside.

For the AS10, a longer press on the on/off button does it (two seconds or something like that). I doubt they changed it for the AS11.
My machine lives in drawer - pull out and use, push in for the day.
It's plugged into a power bar with a switch and I turn off the electricity after the machine had finished the 20 -30 minute cooll down. This is the equivalent of unplugging but less wear and tear on the plug and the socket.
i do that because otherwise, the machine in the drawer gets warm.

surf_rower wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 21, 2024 11:14 am

What engineering genius thought the Max fill line should be coincident with the top of the container. (The video notes that if you don't fill it to the top, it may get used up before one night is over.)

Well....if someone is using all the water in one night then that's sure not common unless they are using the cpap for a lot more hours than I do.

See my posts here in this thread about my own personal experience using the humidity setting of 8 and getting 9 hours of use and I still had water left in the chamber.


viewtopic/t187684/Heated-Tube-Transitio ... l?start=15

I have run completely out of water in the humidifier twice in the last month and it is extremely close to empty most nights. The nights it ran dry, I used the machine for just over 7 hours. Waking up to a dry humidifier gave me a miserable headache.

That said, the temperatures went down to -44 celsius about a week ago (-47 degrees F) and it is very dry in winter always. They said we were one of the coldest places on earth. I think the humidifier uses a lot more water in dry conditions, especially with forced air heating.

I think most people on this forum are below the 49th parallel and would not have the same experience as me in the frozen north.

I'm not a Robot wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 21, 2024 2:27 pm

I think the humidifier uses a lot more water in dry conditions, especially with forced air heating.

Yep. I totally agree with you. I have always said that ambient humidity is probably the main factor in water consumption.
Then when we add in furnaces or wood heat to dry out the air more it is a recipe for using all the water.
Of course there are other factors like pressures used and leaks but ambient humidity is the big one.

Thanks for the helpful info, all!
Regarding the water chamber, I'm used to the massive one on my old machine that took two or three nights to use up all the water in dry winter and longer in humid summer. Seems like they should have made this one a wee bit bigger, but we'll see how it goes.
This is the last night before I leave for a 3-night car trip and maybe I shouldn't risk my sleep on trying this machine out, but I can't wait to see if it helps me sleep better, so I think I'll go ahead with it. Can always switch over to the old one if something goes awry. And will take both on the trip.
Halftime must be over by now. Go Bills!

If it was me, I'd get a hose hanger and say "goodby" to messin' with the dang hose. I've used the Hose Buddy for about 15 years, and I'm well pleased with it. There are other types, and some forum members have devised their own.

Sheriff

There's a simple fix to the water compartment leaking water as you carry it: shut the water compartment before you carry it. Unless your water compartment is somehow defective, you can fill your compartment to max, shut the compartment, and turn it completely on it side, and it won't leak. (Don't get carried away and turn it upside down, though )

surf_rower wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 21, 2024 11:14 am

One bad thing is stupid water compartment design, as noted in the instructional video at cpap.com. Forget carrying it from the bathroom, much easier to keep the distilled water jug by the bed. Still not a perfect solution for how easy it is to spill it and annoy the machine. What engineering genius thought the Max fill line should be coincident with the top of the container. (The video notes that if you don't fill it to the top, it may get used up before one night is over.)

This should solve the problem filling your water chamber to the "Max" without spilling water: https://youtu.be/-lGYJd1xghU

Another cause of the water chamber running dry during the night is mouth breathing.

Sheriff Buford wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 22, 2024 9:10 am

If it was me, I'd get a hose hanger and say "goodby" to messin' with the dang hose. I've used the Hose Buddy for about 15 years, and I'm well pleased with it. There are other types, and some forum members have devised their own.

Sheriff

Thanks, I do have a hose buddy type thing (forget the actual name) but my simpler hack is to tape a scrunchy to the wall. (With "photographic" tape, doesn't pull paint off.) I travel a bit so that's easier to tote. Or if the bed has a head board, I put a towel along the edge (to keep the hose from making noise/moving, and just drape it on that.

ProTruckDriver wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 25, 2024 10:56 am

surf_rower wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 21, 2024 11:14 am

One bad thing is stupid water compartment design, as noted in the instructional video at cpap.com. Forget carrying it from the bathroom, much easier to keep the distilled water jug by the bed. Still not a perfect solution for how easy it is to spill it and annoy the machine. What engineering genius thought the Max fill line should be coincident with the top of the container. (The video notes that if you don't fill it to the top, it may get used up before one night is over.)

This should solve the problem filling your water chamber to the "Max" without spilling water: https://youtu.be/-lGYJd1xghU

Thank you!
So I forgot entirely to put any water in two nights ago, and slept just fine. Put water in the second night using your technique, much easier. (Duh me.)
The machine doesn't care if there's no water, does it? My head doesn't seem to notice the difference.

surf_rower wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 29, 2024 5:27 pm

The machine doesn't care if there's no water, does it?

Unless you also turn off the heater when no water is present all night there is the potential for the heating element to do something unwanted to the water chamber.
The machine doesn't know if there is water in it or how much or if it runs dry for a short period of time.

You don't want the machine to be regularly heating the water chamber with no water in it.

So the machine might care especially if it happens often. That water chamber stinks to high heaven when it gets overheated and its dry.

Pugsy wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 29, 2024 5:49 pm

surf_rower wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 29, 2024 5:27 pm

The machine doesn't care if there's no water, does it?

Unless you also turn off the heater when no water is present all night there is the potential for the heating element to do something unwanted to the water chamber.

Yes I feared that, though I probably did have the heat turned off. However the names of things are confusing. Let's see, Climate Control is set for Manual and tube is Off. But Humidifier is Enabled.
Not sure whether heat is involved in just Humidifier (on 4). I will pay attention to the metal plate.

I had it on AutoSet with min 6 max 6, worked fine. But just noticed you can choose CPAP instead of AutoSet and then select the number. Probably doesn't matter which method is used to deliver 6.

One reason I don't want heated air is it feels warm at the cushion, which is weird. And leads to sweating. Summer would be much worse of course (no AC). I never had any rainout with the old brick, regular hose, and its water tank.