Protecting Furniture From Humidifier

I thought I would share what I have done to protect my nightstand from my humidifier.

I use a silicone baking sheet and put the CPAP/Humidifier on it. You can pick them up just about anywhere including WalMart and grocery stores for just a few dollars. I have discovered many uses for these things since I am not much of a cook/baker anymore.

Hope this hint helps someone else who is concerned about the humidifer.

Louise in Houston

Is this to protect from water? or from heat?

I have my bipap sitting on a plastic serving tray that I've had for years. It is large enough to hold the machine with room on all sides. IF there were ever a problem with a leak, I believe the tray is large enough to hold the entire contents of the humidifier.

When I travel, I have a small plastic cutting board that is nearly the exact size of the footprint of my machine. I set the machine on that whenever I am in a motel, to protect the machine from any germs that may be on the floor or nightstand (wherever I put the machine for the night).

I use off the shelf spongy rubber style shelf liner. It has the added benefit of being non skid and provides some vibration reduction qualities.

I use it to protect from the heat. It also acts as a "cushion" and the machine doesn't move, no vibration at all.

Louise

jbn3boys wrote:I have my bipap sitting on a plastic serving tray that I've had for years.

Be sure that even if the tray fills up with water and overflows, the feet on the machine hold all the vital bits of the machine above the water. I probably wouldn't put my machine in a tray at all unless I sat the machine on something in the tray that wouldn't even let the bottom of its feet be in standing water.

I don't know what you people do with your machines/humidifiers, but I have had my CPAP sitting on the table next to my bed with a thin rubber pad for 30 months without pans or any other device and I don't have a mark on the table. I don't fill my humidifier while it is in the unit and all the humidity goes into the hose and mask not onto the table.

I use the tray that mine sits on because beside my bed is a cedar chest with a cushion on top. I needed something firm so that it didn't sink into the cushion.

As far as it "standing" in water, I think that there is such a rare chance of the humidifier leaking that I'm not really worried about it. But IF it were to happen, I'm guessing insurance would cover a new one. But there is no replacing the cedar chest below it--which belonged to my grandmother and is from the turn of the century (and I don't mean 11 years ago!)

LSAT wrote:I don't know what you people do with your machines/humidifiers, but I have had my CPAP sitting on the table next to my bed with a thin rubber pad for 30 months without pans or any other device and I don't have a mark on the table. I don't fill my humidifier while it is in the unit and all the humidity goes into the hose and mask not onto the table.

The legacy REMstars had a design that was almost guaranteed to leak water eventually. Many of the more modern designs are much less likely to leak, but most of them still have a seal between the heating plate and the plastic that has some chance of occasionally leaking. Plastic does sometimes crack, too.

If you have rainout, I suspect some of the designs are susceptible to spilling some water when you remove the hose or humidifier from the machine.

jbn3boys wrote:I use the tray that mine sits on because beside my bed is a cedar chest with a cushion on top. I needed something firm so that it didn't sink into the cushion.

As far as it "standing" in water, I think that there is such a rare chance of the humidifier leaking that I'm not really worried about it. But IF it were to happen, I'm guessing insurance would cover a new one. But there is no replacing the cedar chest below it--which belonged to my grandmother and is from the turn of the century (and I don't mean 11 years ago!)

Mine leaked after a year but it was a slow dribble so even if it started to leak during the night, it wouldn't have emptied itself. Catastrophic failure usually doesn't happen while it is quietly sitting there.

jbn3boys wrote:But IF it were to happen, I'm guessing insurance would cover a new one. But there is no replacing the cedar chest below it--which belonged to my grandmother and is from the turn of the century (and I don't mean 11 years ago!)

Don't count on the medical insurance replacing a broken CPAP machine. Lots of folks have reported not being able to get a replacement for a broken machine. Or having to get a new sleep study before getting a replacement machine. ($$$ and wait time without CPAP.) And then having to do a new copay and/or machine rental payments?

Maybe your homeowners insurance will pay, but that might be iffy and time consuming, too. Is your homeowners insurance going to pay retail for a new machine, or just tell you they'll pay for the copay you originally paid? And then the med insurance won't pay the rest?

By the way, if there's enough water to overflow the tray, it will overflow whether the machine is standing in the water or not. No reason not to set the machine on something high enough that it won't overflow.

I've also had a hose with a tiny leak that would spit out a little rainout water on occasion. That could cause water drops on valuable furniture. My mask also sometimes has a little water that could dribble out if I don't shake it out before setting it down.

I lost a good end table from a leaky humidier..
oh like 12 years ago. We went out and bought Plastic ones, we found at office depot or office max
i think it was, wheeled storage drawers out of heavy duty plastic.they are nicer then the 20$ ones from walmart. They were like 35$ each but have lasted this long and still don't look bad. The top and frame is black the drawers white so it goes perfect with my black bedset anyhow.
Perfect height too. My bedframe/mattress/boxsprings etc. is higher then average and average endtables would be way below the bedlevel. so these are perfect.
And the storage has been a blessing. One was all drawers the other had a door on the bottom third (its the BF's since he stores books & magazines in it).. I could never go back to a *Standard* end table and give up my storage. lol