Water Chamber Broken

I woke up this morning and began cleaning my machine. While cleaning the bottom of my water chamber the silver piece that heats it broke. Actually it started to come off the plastic. I'm wondering what to do? Has anyone ever ran into this?

Here is the water chamber:

http://www.thecpapshop.com/cpap-humidif ... humidifier

I'm going to call the Cleveland Clinic and see if they can warranty it. My bigger concern is what to do tonight??? I'm just now starting to get used to my cpap with around 5 months of use.

Monstrosity wrote:I woke up this morning and began cleaning my machine. While cleaning the bottom of my water chamber the silver piece that heats it broke. Actually it started to come off the plastic. I'm wondering what to do? Has anyone ever ran into this?

Here is the water chamber:

http://www.thecpapshop.com/cpap-humidif ... humidifier

I'm going to call the Cleveland Clinic and see if they can warranty it. My bigger concern is what to do tonight??? I'm just now starting to get used to my cpap with around 5 months of use.

It broke in 5 months!?!? Wow Respironics/your DME should cover a replacement. Did you drop it? Cracked?

I'm looking at mine and it seems to be held by several plastic rivets (Maybe molded in place/epoxy?)

Hopefully your heating plate is not overheating and damaging it.

You don't "NEED" it as therapy - your machine will work fine. If you tend to dry out a lot, consider either a floor humidifier for the room, or possibly putting a bowl of water behind the machine at the air intake.

It is possible to use the machine without the humidifier.
You may feel some discomfort in the morning, but your providers should be able to help you tomorrow.
(unless they are open today--Cleveland clinic is big; it wouldn't hurt to check them out--maybe they have a loaner)

Along with what has been said, do NOT try to use the humidifier without the metal plate in place. You can turn the humidifier all the way off and use passive humidity assuming the tank doesn't leak. If the plate will stay in place while you slide the tank in, you can probably use it with heat, but I would be a little concerned that could cause damage to the humidifier if it got too hot. Probably not, but a risk nonetheless.

It shouldn't break like that. I've had the same tank years. (And really, you should probably replace it every 6-12 mos just because plastic develops scratches that harbor bacteria).

Does it tend to run dry? I wonder if it got too hot and caused this problem.

The plastic rivets broke. I did not drop it. All I can figure is from using the highest setting every night must have caused premature failure. I dry out like the desert at night. Great idea on putting a bowl of water behind it, never would have thought of that. At first I couldnt get the tray back in due to all but one rivet broke but after using some finnese I got it in. Thanks for all the advice!

Monstrosity wrote:The plastic rivets broke. I did not drop it. All I can figure is from using the highest setting every night must have caused premature failure. I dry out like the desert at night. Great idea on putting a bowl of water behind it, never would have thought of that. At first I couldnt get the tray back in due to all but one rivet broke but after using some finnese I got it in. Thanks for all the advice!

I'm guessing you're using a nasal mask and are leaking your therapy air out your mouth. Too much heated humidity can increase nasal congestion and cause mouth-breathing or mouth-leaking. That's a detriment to therapy.
If you have a data-capable machine, you need to be downloading your data and checking the reports.
Please fill out your profile with the exact make and model of your machine and mask and the machine settings.


Den

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If they won't cover it under warranty I'd just buy a new tank online where they are 1/2 the price of the DME.

If nothing is severely cracked, I'd just use some quality epoxy and glue it back together to be honest.

Wulfman... wrote:

Monstrosity wrote:The plastic rivets broke. I did not drop it. All I can figure is from using the highest setting every night must have caused premature failure. I dry out like the desert at night. Great idea on putting a bowl of water behind it, never would have thought of that. At first I couldnt get the tray back in due to all but one rivet broke but after using some finnese I got it in. Thanks for all the advice!

I'm guessing you're using a nasal mask and are leaking your therapy air out your mouth. Too much heated humidity can increase nasal congestion and cause mouth-breathing or mouth-leaking. That's a detriment to therapy.
If you have a data-capable machine, you need to be downloading your data and checking the reports.
Please fill out your profile with the exact make and model of your machine and mask and the machine settings.


Den

.

I've updated my profile. As far as the data goes I'll look into that further. I'm going to get fitted with a full face this Friday to rule out any leaks. I had the Resmed Quatro FX at one time. I got rid of it due to I felt suffocated in it, that was prior to them upping the pressure on my machine... I'm open to suggestions on full faces. I was told they arent good for facial hair. Sometimes in the winter I will grow a beard but I wont if it doesn't work with my mask.

torontoCPAPguy wrote:If they won't cover it under warranty I'd just buy a new tank online where they are 1/2 the price of the DME.

If nothing is severely cracked, I'd just use some quality epoxy and glue it back together to be honest.

Good news, they will cover it! Bad news is I have to drive up to see them today to get it, then back up Friday to get fitted for a full face. The trip is nice and I did not sleep well last night. I'll take the extra trip for some quality sleep!