The DreamStation Foam Removal Thread

[AHIGuy]

I have been on PAP therapy for about 7 years.  Oscar and this forum has been a life safer for me.  Since my doctor is/was little help, I started studying sleep apnea over the past 3 years and took charge of my personal therapy.  

Even though my dreamstation is due to be replaced in 4 months I choose to remove the foam.  I opted to cut "flaps" on the top of the fan housing using an axacto #15 blades.  NOTE: My fan/airduct unit had NO WAY TO ACCESS the foam on the side to the fan inlet.  It was totally sealed with only the outlet on the bottom to the fan.  So, maybe my older unit is different from others. (?)  There was no way to get a wire/hook to access the foam on this side.  The xacto knife blade helped reduce fine particles dropping into the air inlet. The foam removal with a forceps was easy and quick.   After a through cleaning I hot glued the thin cut lines around the flaps in place.  For more insurance I coated over with super glue.  My reasoning is that the hot glue is not toxic and the super glue would help secure the flaps, but not penetrate into the chamber, if  it is toxic.  I noted the foam in my machine with over 4 1/2 years of use showed NO deterioration.  As to the toxic gas issue.......who knows. I did find areas of minor dirt and dirt stains on fan blades.   Also surprised to find a broken piece of plastic air filter spring wedged near the inlet fan opening.  (? another who knows?)

Note:  I disassembled the unit laying it out in an orderly manner to help proper reassembly.  I also took cellphone pictures of each step.  This would help me if I got confused on the exact reassembly.  You also need to be careful when pulling the two plugs so as not to cause damage. The long multi-wire plug is tight.

On reassembly my machine worked properly.  I put it on for 15 minutes and observed via Oscar that it was indeed working perfectly.  My concern was that the foam would certainly have some resistance to airflow and how it might effect my settings.  I did not notice any increase  in machine noise.  For the life of me I cannot understand whythey would put foam in the inlet air channel? And, the Dreamstation 2 will have foam in the air channel also, but a different type. (white and less porous)   Also, Dreamstation 2 is currently not compatible with Oscar.  I definitely will not get another Dreamstation...........I need and depend on OSCAR!

Last night my use time was 7 hrs. 49 min.  with the brief results:

Settings:  Epap 7 / Ipap 17 PS (pressure support) 2.

Last night                                      Last month averages
     
AHI 0.99                                       1.05
Pressure average 7.9                      7.97
Events  8 hypopneas                       Normally some centrals and small to no obstructive  (sleeping on side helps reduce or eliminate obstructive)

My only concern is last night my median tidal volume went down to 400.  The range for my age is 426 to 500, and I have been averaging 500 the past month.  I had a number of flow limitations. I already had initiated UF1 of 20% 10s and UF2 of 50% 10s flow reductions which would not be scored as apneas as I understand.  So, with just one night with the foam removed and thinking the flow would be better, why the reduction in flow rate and tidal volume?  Could be other variables not associated with the foam removal.  The next couple weeks data should shed some light on this.

I hope this might be of some interest to those considering foam removal.  My personal "risk assessment" that to leave the foam in was slightly higher than my risk of
catching covid for my age, lifestyle, and amount of interactions with others.

AHIGuy's saying:  THE MORE I KNOW, THE MORE I KNOW I DON'T KNOW.  (I wish the "experts" would admit this concerning the corona virus and the vaccines)

[racprops]

Welcome.

I was on my own my first 3 months as my first Dr. was something else....and have been for 8 years.

And this and another site was, as you say lifesavers.

Top or side does not matter, and I agree you did it right.

I have used hot glue in Model making for over 40 years and I do not find it all that sticky, I find I can pull it off too easy.

Super Glue drys hard, glass-like so I feel it is better. I then back IT up with duct tape.

If you look at the chamber the foam is not a filter, it takes up 1/2 of the air chamber above the airflow (I believe I posted a picture showing that.) so I really do not think it can affect airflow.

In my case, I can hear a little more of a motor sound.

I agree with you about the new Dreamstation.

I can say no more so please look for my other threads.

Rich

[AHIGuy]

Hey, Thanks.

You helped confirm that it does not matter if on top or side.  And, the hot glue/CA method should work.

I now see my error looking at the pictures I took.   I did know it was not meant to be a filter.  So, looking
at my pictures again I can see how the foam sat in a chamber above the air route.  However, when I tried
the wire/hook method on the filter inlet side I could access the foam.  So, I guess I assumed the air could
be passing through the foam, which is now observed to be very unlikely, as the air has route under the foam
chamber.

So, it should not really matter with the foam removed.

My low tidal volume might have been just one of those "variables" that may never be accounted for.

Hummmm.........I look, but do not see  (?)

[Zalagar]

You should definitely be able to access the foam, like I said it can be some work, but I just watched some youtube videos while I was doing it, made it less frustrating. For the intake side foam, I went through the intake hole, for the other side I went through the hole in the blower chamber. It can be done Once I have enough posts to be able to, I will post some pictures.

[Zalagar]

I however haven't looked at my Oscar data yet to see if there was a difference, I will try to do that now.

[Zalagar]

Just checked my OSCAR data, the data looks pretty much identical to what it was before removing the foam, the only variances I saw was one night I forgot I turned my Humidifier to fixed at level 4 out of 5 and my room got down to 65°F and I had a major rainout event in the middle of the night, it was the first time it had happened to me, so it kind of freaked me out. I have since put it back on Variable and it fixed the problem. The only other night I had off data was when I rolled over and caused a huge leak. Other than those 2 events, everything else looks to be identical.

[racprops]

I removed the foam from my spare Dreamstation BiPAp Machine on June 14th, 2021. I slept with it that night, everything seemed normal.

So on June 15, 2021 I removed the Foam from my Dreamstation BiPAP AutoSV machine.

All functions and OSCAR reports seem to be normal.

It is now Aug. 1 2021 and I just slept 3 hours and will return to bed.

After much research and comparing the DS to ResMed's ASV, I plan on keeping my DS as long as it works, and then I hope to be able to repair/rebuild it.

I have a thread comparing ResMed VS Phillips here: http://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Thread-...S-Phillips

This is concerning ASV and BiPAP only.

Rich

[littlefatcat]

Please do post pictures. I want to take the foam out of my machine. I took the whole machine apart (not difficult) but wasn’t certain how to approach removing the foam, so I put it back together. I’ve watched all the YouTube videos I could find, but???? I’m just afraid I may make things worse

[qwerty42]

Hi all, removing the foam shouldn't affect the measured/reported flow volume unless you damage the little piece located where I've outlined in red below. There is a small flow restrictor in there (looks like a piece of white plastic with little horizontal vanes/slats across it). Any tiny deformation to it will very likely affect the calibration of the flow rate, because the way they're measuring flow rate requires the cross-sectional flow area there to be absolutely consistent through the life of the device.

Stay well away from it with whatever tool you use to remove the foam, especially if you're jamming coat hanger wire in there. One poke into that little plastic grating and all bets are off.

As long as you remove the foam without damaging the pressure ports and grating, and get the thing reassembled exactly as it was before with any cutouts used to remove the foam sealed shut, it shouldn't have any effect on the machine's operation, performance, or accuracy.

[racprops]

I agree, and also note the small hole to the right of the two outlined in red, another controlled sensor pickup, it too must not be messed with.

I go all over all of this in my personal Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100070928372170

Rich