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geode1
+0 points
·
over 4 years
ago
Original Poster
My resmed machine does not turn off when I remove mask; it’s been turning off months with no issue.
This is my second machine where I’ve had problems with auto start/stop.
When this happened with my last machine; the air pressure would sometimes increase to max and I could only lower by turning the machine off .
The machine would then turn itself on and run for hours unattended. My dealer tried to convince me I left machine on.
The problems always began with the same symptom- machine would not turn off . Resmed referred me to dealer. Dealer had me jump through hoops until warranty up and then had no record of my problems .. that’s just an aside . No one claims to have ever heard of problem.
An airsense 10 is a fixed set pressure with a ramp start pressure. Do you use this ramp feature? If so, how long do you have the ramp set at? If not, then something is wrong with the unit. DME's suppliers will try and drop the ball, but you have to be alot more stern than you are. It seems your machine is malfunctioning. When you say it turns on by itself and runs unattended? When you start to breathe with your mask on, it senses you breathing and turns on. If this is the case and it runs it's attended then.
You are not the first one with this problem. I recall there have been one or two others with the problem, and unfortunately do not recall if there ever was a solution. You could try a search here to see what you find. One possible cause could be having the mask type set wrong for the actual mask you have. For example if you have a nasal pillow mask which uses a lower purge flow, but have the mask set on full face which uses a larger purge flow, then perhaps the machine does not see the flow as high enough when you take the mask off. The other possibility is that your set pressure is very low, and when you remove the mask the flow does not go high enough to shut the mask off. One other possible cause is the way you take your mask off. Do you remove the mask and leave it attached to the machine? If so the flow rate may not go high enough to shut it off. If you disconnect the hose from the mask first before taking the mask off, the flow will likely be higher. I have the ResMed AirSense 10 but I do not use the auto stop feature, only the auto start. I just manually turn the machine off and then remove the mask, as my wife is usually sleeping when I get up and I don't want to disturb her with the big whoosh of air when you let it auto stop. So, I don't even know if my machine would shut off if I just removed the mask first. I know for sure that if the hose disconnects in the night that will shut the machine off if I don't get it reattached in less than about 5 seconds.
You have an option to have the machine turn on when you breathe in the mask... it has to be enabled on the settings on the machine. When you wake up the machine has to be shut off manually with the power switch.
One possible way to troubleshoot this is to use SleepyHead or OSCAR and look at the leak rate when you disconnect the mask hose from the slimline hose. You should get an indication of how high the flow goes and whether or not it shuts the machine off. Next then try it by just removing the mask from your face with it the hose connections still made. You can again see how high the flow goes and whether or not it is high enough to shut the machine off. I suspect it shuts off based on a flow rate, not a flow switch. But that is just a guess.
My smart start/stop has started working again. I switched mask types, from a nostril mask to a nasal pillow and changed the setting on the machine. It still wasn't shutting off until I switched masks while the machine was on.
Normally I take the mask off my face. In the middle of the night I removed the mask from the tube while the machine was running, and before I could attach the other mask the machine turned off on its own.
The next morning I removed my mask as usual and after a few seconds smart start turned the machine off. For some reason, now it is working as it should.
I don't understand what changed has taken place that the machine understands I am no longer wearing the mask and shuts itself off.
My wife has trouble from time to time with this issue on her ResMed S9 machine. Then it just goes away and starts working again. I suspect the flow setting that shuts it off is marginal and sometimes it just does not see enough flow to make it work. ResMed should put an adjustment on the flow needed to make it work.
I use F&P masks with my ResMed machine.
If I have the "pillows" setting on the machine will automatically shut off when I remove the mask. It doesn't matter if I am using a pillow mask or a nasal mask the machine will shut off as it should. If the setting is nasal, the machine doesn't shut off. This wasn't always the case.
If you look at the manual for each of your masks there should be a purge rate graph and/or value. In general the larger the mask the larger the purge flow to keep CO2 in the mask low. Full face have the most flow, and I believe nasal will have more than pillows, but it may depend on the specific mask. I believe when you set the mask type in the ResMed it then compensates for the expected purge flow. If you use a F&P mask then you need to match the mask purge flow to one of the ResMed ones, to get the correct setting.
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