Humidifiers

[silvercarper]

The Remstar M series humidifier I have has developed a problem with the control switch.
Even though it was supplied by the hospital it appears that they cant repair or replace it so its likely that I will have to buy a humidifier.
The obvious.,and cheapest, answer would be buy a Remstar humidifier BUT if my Remstar APAP packs up the hospital would replace it with a Resmed APAP.
This would mean I have wasted £150.
Stand alone????

[Tigers Fan]

Hi silvercarper

A very long time ago I posted about Respironics USA sending me a round-robin letter - because I bought my machine in the States - recalling 'M' Series humidifers because of a fault. When I called Respironics UK about this, they said," oh! no - not a problem, just a catch-all letter".

Might be worth calling them and see if you can get yours repaired - or at least they can give you instruction about where to look.

TF

[Fredxx]

You could always try a couple of goes of calling the clinic because the lack of humidifier is giving you problems...they could well give in and change your machine for the new Resmed one quicker. At the extreme, you could accidentally let water get into the APAP, and then get a replacement for the broken machine (not that I would advocate such a dubious practice obviously!!)

Alternatively, give Respironics a call and see if they can help with a repair rather than buying a replacement.

[silvercarper]

As my hospital does not supply full face masks or it seems humidifiers I,m beginning to wonder if its worth going for a contract from Respreonics or something else.

[Fredxx]

I went down the route of just buying my own stuff (masks, spare machine etc) when I realised it was cheaper to do that than to take the time off to go to the clinic every time there was a problem (I am self employed), plus there is the bonus you get the kit you want!

I have to admit, it is nice to be in the financial position where I can do it, but then if you reckon on changing the mask once a year and the machine every 6 years, it only works out at about £250 per year - not even £1 a day!

I went with James' recommendation of the DeVibliss Sleepcube as fitting the bill for me - easy to maintain, very reliable, can run economically off a 12v supply when you want and light/compact to carry around. The right one for you may be different depending on what you want from it.

[silvercarper]

Respironics can quote for a repair but as its the hospitals property Im not sure if I will be allowed to send it off .
Also I can still use the humidifier, without heat, which is better than nothing at all.

[silvercarper]

The hospital has contacted me and they will swap my APAP to a Resmed S9 and I will have to buy the matching humidifier.
BUT
I am beginning to question if I have OSA to start with so everything is on hold.

[silvercarper]

The hospital have supplied me with a Resmed S9 and I have bought a H5i humidifier.
I now wish I had not bought a dc cable for my Remstar a few months ago . grhhh. I only used it twice.

[DarthVader]

Humidifier

Hi Folks,
I'm new to forum had OSA for 15 years had Cpap for 13 I have ResMed S8 i called hospital this morning regarding a humidifier they said no problem & i picked it up this afternoon. Maybe its area you live in? I'm in Scotland but have heard of alot of people having problems getting humidifier's from NHS

[Tom @ Intus]

The Remstar M series humidifier I have has developed a problem with the control switch.
Even though it was supplied by the hospital it appears that they cant repair or replace it so its likely that I will have to buy a humidifier.
The obvious.,and cheapest, answer would be buy a Remstar humidifier BUT if my Remstar APAP packs up the hospital would replace it with a Resmed APAP.
This would mean I have wasted £150.
Stand alone????

A stand alone humidifier would help with that problem, as if you were to change your CPAP machine to a different manufacturer or model then you wouldn't be left with a unit you can no longer use.

Some, such as the Fisher & Paykel HC150 Heated Humidifier can be just as effective as a modular unit, although you do lose the convenient "lock on" design that many use.