Posted by Octavian on February 10, 2002 at 16:27:04:

In Reply to: I use up all the water posted by water sniffer on February 09, 2002 at 09:23:27:

Dear Water,

I have a FP heated humidifier to. I have used it for 6 years now. Mine can also tends to run out of water. What I found was that the more humidified I ran my system, the less problems that I had with nasal stuffiness and Rhinitis.

The amount of water that you use during the night, is a factor of:

1, The temperature that you run your humidifier at.

2 the water level that you fill your receptacle to.

3, The humidity of your room air.

4 The temperature of your room air

It is not a danger if your humidifier runs out of water. It is pretty much the same as just running your c-pap machine with out a humidifier. If you have “any” water left in your humidifier it will be just as effective as if you had a full humidifier.

Since the humidity of the air that comes out of your humidifier, is a factor of the surface area of the water and temperature.

And since the surface area is the same if you have 1/16 of an inch of water in your receptical or 5 inches of water, the surface area is the same (about 20 to 25 square inches.

If you are running completly out of water you can change your water usage 4 different ways.

1 The higher the temperature setting on your humidifer the more water per hour you will use.

2 You can exceed the recomended water level a modest amount. I.e. 10 to 20 % as long as no water is getting into your tubing. That should give you an extra hour of humidified air.

3 you can raise the humidification of the air in your room. An inexpensive cool air humidifier. Can increase the humidity of the in-coming air and subsequently decrease the amount of water that your humidifier needs to add to your impute air.

4 you can raise the temperature of the air in your bedroom. A small inexpensive electric heater can increase the temperature in your room by two or three digress and make a significant differenc. You may also find that you can save a fair amount on your heating bill. By just raising the temperature of your bedroom.

The advantage of this method is that if you get a “cool fan and air heater” combination unit at your hardware store for about $30.

It can also serve as one of the world’s best partial equipment sterilizer.

Almost every type of bacteria does poorly in dry environments. What I do is after I rinse my equipment in the mornings, is to put all of my supplies in a wire basket in front of the fan.

My mask, the tubing (by using a rubber band to keep the tubing‘s orifice facing into the air coming out of the fan.). Using a rubber band so its orifice faces the air coming out of the fan places the tubing. I also place my humidifier receptacle facing the fan.
When I get home, all of my equipment is bone dry.

I have run my fan 20 hours a day for 6 years. In about 6 years I will probably need a new one. It keeps my bedroom warmer in the winter and keeps my bathroom and c-pap equipment fresh and dry every day of the year.

The most critical factor in water usage is the temperature of your humidifier, So your first step would probable be best to modestly decrease the temperature of your humidifier.

Most sincerely,
Octavian

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