Humidifier feedback please?

[katiemcewan]

Hi all,

We are thinking of buying a humidifer for my husband's CPAP. It's barely been a decent summer here in the UK as we all know but it can get a bit dry and sticky.

I would like to ask you, what is your feedback on them?

Do you tend to use them in the summer only or all year?

Does it help a lot?

Is there any more noise?

What about maintenance?

I hope someone can help, thanks.

Kate

[MoutheBreather]

A benefit from using a cpap humidier in the winter is that it also warms the air so it's not as cold. Though that's only an issue for me on really wintery days, when sub zero outside.

I don't think it adds any noise though it's been a while to compare.

I tend to use filtered water which doesn't leave much scaling. Once a year or so I rinse it with white vinegar.

[katiemcewan]

Oh thanks, hadn't thought about winters, good point!

[JackTheSnorer]

I recently went on holiday to Australia and after that, I quite fancy a humidifier for next time. But they don't operate on batteries I believe so it's a bit of a catch 22. Yuo want one for travel, but can only use them in a portable fashion when you're not on a battery. Which doesn't make it portable.

[wombat]

humidifier shouldnt be a problem ....

Just a thought .... the power supply on the humidifier hotpate is only used to warm the water a little. If you are going to Aus in warm weather - I doubt you'll need to warm the water - unless the nights are very cold!

I've had my humidifier a few weeks & it has stopped most of the dry nose & mouth discomfort I was getting.
(It also worked perfectly this monday night when I forgot to press the on button!) - it connects to the CPAP with a short tube onto the port where the long tube normally goes & the long tube for the mask plugs onto the top of the humidifier.
I only realised when I took the humidifier off it's tiny hotplate to empty it next day and found it not switched & the water cold .....& my nose was fine!!

[wombat]

re humidifiers

So sorry I forgot one of your queries ...

my humidifier is absolutely silent!

[puffin]

Hi
I had an appointment checkup at my clinic today. I happened to mention that I was getting a dry itchy nose and mouth. "We can loan you something for that", said they.

So I came home with a "cold water humidifier", basicaly a flat plastic box with air baffels to make the air flow move around over the top of an enclosed water tray, before exiting via the face mask tube.

I'm going to try it for the first time tonight, told to use boiled water, strile you see. But would filtered water be an alternative, as we are not hot drinks people. Our kettle is only used 3 to 4 times a year so we are not in the habbit of boiling water!

Any hint and tips would be welcome.

[wombat]

Hi Puffin!
A thin smear of vasaline in each nostril will keep your nose fairly comfy - but didnt do anything for my dry mouth - like the humidifier will. (might be an option if you dont want to take the humidifier gear camping.)

Sterile water is ESSENTIAL for use in a humidifier for your safety! but I it can be bought in 5 ltr bottles from Halfords.

A Kettle is not essential for boiling water! A saucepan - providing it's clean with an unspoiled inner surface will do as well. (But remember it wont whistle when ready or switch itself off!) Takes time to cool down as well.
Good luck & have a good trip!

PS. ....
My fav Technician also warned me -

NEVER forget to wash out your tubes & humidifier after EVERY USE! Use a drop of mild detergent in the water & rinse thorouly with clean water! results of not doing this can lead to ....
VERY NASTY PROBLEMS!

[Joe McManus]

Reasons for using pure water for humidification are two-fold. First of all, the water goes into your body so any particles in the water that shouldn't go in the body will be deposited inside you somewhere. This build-up can cause irritation, inflammation, and in case of really bad water, ultimately disease.

Secondly, pure water will leave no residue inside your machinery either. You humidifier, tube and mask will last longer with pure water.

Now, considering you probably don't drink 100% sterile, medically pure water (sub 10 dry residue parts - TDS- is medically pure; Highland bottled has over 100 particles of non-water left after boiling dry) some of these residues end up in your system anyway and your humidifier/equipment can be rinsed fairly easily.

So yes, if possible, use the purest water you can get your hands on but it's not like your equipment will fail, or you will die if you use bottled/filtered water every now and then.

I wouldn't use tap water though as this has so much stuff added, you wouldn't want that in yourself or your equipment. You can get a Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) sensor for a few quid on eBay if you are worried about your water quality.

I use an air sterilizer (airfree p80) to keep my air quality as best as possible. If no living organisms are in my air, they won't make it into any humidifier, CPAP or airway system either.

By the way, I'll soon be blogging about research which proves that heated humidification improves CPAP compliance significantly. In the first few weeks, new CPAP users WITH humidifier didn't drop out as much as those without humidification. So whether you suffer from stuffy nose etc. or not, apparently a humidifier makes things a lot more comfy.

[puffin]

Thanks
The unit I was given is just a cold water container with NO heating device at all, so camping is not a problem. One answer to the boiling and cooling of water is to boil at least 2 ltr at a time and store in a precleaned and strille bottle. The unit takes approx. 500ml of cold water at a time.

Used the machine for the first time last night so was unsure of the results. It did seem to help with the itchy nose and my mouth was not as dry. But one night is not a true test. Give it a few weeks.

The cpap air noise seem much less, possibly the water obsorbed some of the sound energy generated by the air pump.

[katiemcewan]

Thanks wombat, puffin and Joe! Appreciate the feedback. We didn't get one yet though with Christmas coming up, who knows

Keep us posted puffin, will be curious to see how you fare after gettin gused ot it.

[JackTheSnorer]

CPAP for Xmas, now there's a thought.

[puffin]

Now there's a thourght!

Santa, who is a little over weight to say the least, with OSA. Would the Department of Raindeer Licensing (DRL) take his license off him, till he gets a Cpap.

Has he been falling asleep at the sled controls?
So thats why he has been missing me for the last few years!

Is Christmas night the only night of the year that Mrs Santa gets a good nights sleep with no snoring from Santa?

Would his humidifier freeze at the north pole?

[Roberto]

Just to add my two penneth to this.

I have a Fisher & Paykel heated humidifier and was myself concerned about water quality. I asked the nurses at Papworth and they said clean boiled tap water is perfectly safe to use. When I mentioned getting sterile water (the type they use in hospital, she laughed and said it would cost me a bloody fortune !) I have had no problems in the 4 years i have been using it. It does mean that the water tanks (disposable) get scaled after a while, but these are changed regularly and cleaned by myself daily.

We breath in far more crap just by breathing what we term as "fresh air" nowadays. As long as you keep your gear clean and your CPAP air filter free of fluff, you should have no problems.