Humidifier position by the bed.

[puffin]

Up to 2 weeks ago, I just had a past over style of humidifier, i.e. unheated. I was still getting a very, very dry mouth. I had the Cpap machine sitting on the top of the humidifier at the same level as I slept, on a bed side cupboard.

I was loaned a heater unit by the sleep clinic. It is basically a heater tray that the past over tank sits on. This has improved the dry mouth I was experiencing. Problem has been with rain out, which has increased 10 fold. It got so bad that an egg cup full flowed into the mask. The valve in the elbow gurgled waking me up in time to get a wet face! I have ended up putting the kit on the floor, so that the water flows back into the tank.

I was wondering where everyone else have their machine set up next to the bed? And has anyone else experienced the same thing?

[SteveP]

Very similar story for me...

When I was given the heated humidifier, the nurse said the best thing was to try a different setting each night until I find the best result for my nose versus rain out. So I setup the humidifier next to the CPAP, on top of my bedside cupboard, a few cm above the bed.

Setting1 first night was sort of OK. Setting2 2nd night: my wife thought I became a scuba diver. There was so much water in the hose, each breath was making a gurgle sound... At some point I woke up and for a second I thought I was going to drown! I had to empty the hose twice that night.

So on 3rd night I tried with the humidifier on the lowest shelve of my bedside cupboard (about 50 cm below the top of the bed) and I have lived happily forever after!

SteveP

[Sleep2Snore]

Slightly lower than the level of the bed is best, but not on the floor as they advise up here. My one is just lower than the bed level, but not enough so I get the dreaded gurgle on a very cold night. The pipe to the mask goes down before it reaches me via the back of the pillow. This way any water collects in the down loop, which wakens me in the end due to noise or wife digging my ribs I just lift the tube up and the water runs back into the humidifier, then a few seconds later I'm soundo again

This might only happen a couple of times a night.
I find I can turn the humidifier down slightly during the winter nights without airways drying out.

[Tigers Fan]

Insulation

Intus sell hose sleeves for £10 - these insulate the warmed, humidified air and vastly/completely (according to room temperature) eliminate rain-out. They also tame the hose and cure snake-like tendencies and they hugely reduce the rushing air noise that comes from a bare hose.

Failing that, there are the expensive Oz heated hoses - but wait to see how much Intus market them for, hopefully less.

I run my humidifier at max setting (5) and use an Intus sleeve and haven't had rain-out yet. I'll have to wait to Jan and Feb to see what is required then!

On humid summer nights you can reduce the humidifier setting and still maintain delivered air moisture content.

Tigers Fan

[puffin]

I now have the machine set up 6inches below the bed surface. This seems to work reasonably well. Also use a fleese sleve for the pipe. I still get the odd problem with condensation in and around the relief value on the mask. It does not close completely when wet and POP's on every other breath. The only solution is to completely dismantile the mask and wash and dry every thing before putting back together again.