Philips 15 mm Heated Tube for DreamStation and System One

The HT15 is Philips' 15 mm heated tube, and one part covers three generations of machine: the original DreamStation, the DreamStation 2, and the System One 60 Series. Philips prints the tubing code on the cuff, so the tube in your hand tells you which one it is.

It is a slim hose rather than a 22 mm one, so there is less weight pulling sideways on the mask. The machine end carries three pins that meet the humidifier outlet and a pair of tabs that click into slots on either side.

Key Features:

• Marked HT15: Philips prints the tubing code on the cuff, which is how you tell it from the 12 mm HT12.
• Three generations: One tube serves the DreamStation, the DreamStation 2 and the System One 60 Series machines.
• Slim 15 mm bore: Lighter and thinner than a 22 mm hose, which means less drag pulling at the mask seal.
• Three pin connector: Pins in the machine cuff carry the power, and side tabs lock it into the outlet port.
• Heat needs the humidifier: Power reaches the element through the humidifier outlet, so without one the tube never warms.
• Six feet long: The standard circuit length that Philips specifies for its DreamStation flexible tubing, heated or plain.

Order this if your machine is a DreamStation, a DreamStation 2, or a System One 60 Series fitted with the heated tubing humidifier. Order the HT12 Micro-Flex instead if the cuff on your current tube reads HT12 and you own a DreamStation 2.

Note: On a System One 60 Series this fits only the humidifier built for heated tubing, the one with three pins and locking slots. The plain System One humidifier has a smooth outlet and will not accept it.

HT15 against HT12

Philips sells two heated tubes and they are not interchangeable. The HT15 is 15 mm and is the one that spans all three machine generations. The HT12 is 12 mm, is Micro-Flex, and needs its own adapter at the mask end.

You never have to guess which you own. Philips marks the cuff with a tubing identifier, so the tube in front of you reads 12, 15, HT12 or HT15. A 22 mm hose carries no marking at all, which is itself the answer.

Why your humidifier decides

A heated tube needs somewhere to draw power from, and Philips takes it from the humidifier rather than the device body. That is why the outlet on a heated tubing humidifier looks different: three pins in the port and a slot each side for the tabs.

That generation shipped in both configurations, so two machines that look identical can differ here. If the outlet is a plain smooth cone, that humidifier was not built for a heated hose and no adapter converts it.

Connected but not heating

You can fit this to a machine with no heated humidifier and it will pass air normally. What it will not do is warm, because there is nothing supplying the element. Philips document this as expected behavior rather than a fault.

It matters because the symptom looks like failure. Before concluding the tube is dead, check that the humidifier is present, seated, and switched on, and that the pins at the cuff are meeting the port squarely.

Here's everything that comes in the box.

• Philips 15 mm heated tube marked HT15, 6 ft long
• Three pin machine cuff with locking side tabs