Getting rid of odors in a machine. (Smoke, Etc...)

AV Junkie · Post by **AV Junkie** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 5:54 am

Hi. I've been scouring craigslist for a good backup machine and found a great deal. I bought a lightly used (300 hours on it) system one 450P for $30.00 (Couldn't not buy it for that price. and it came with a new swift nose pillow mask. ) But it smells like an ashtray... My current machine had a little smoke smell and I took it completely apart and scrubbed it than soaked it in vinegar for 3 or 4 nights... Does anyone have any other ideas? Going to take the new to me one apart and do the same thing but just curious if anyone has had success in other ways. Thanks in advance!

AV Junkie · Post by **AV Junkie** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 5:56 am

Sorry, feel like an idiot.... Didn't see the same topic 10 posts later...

archangle · Post by **archangle** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 8:04 am

For smoke specifically, you might just set it to 4 cm pressure and let it run 10 minutes a day or so and see if it destenchifies over time.

Change the filters first, of course.

LSAT · Post by **LSAT** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 8:22 am

Try running it at an open window for a few days

SGearhart · Post by **SGearhart** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 8:40 am

Nicotine produces a sticky oily film on everything it contacts. I would recommend that you try and find a disassembly manual or video on YouTube and clean what you can with something like Simple Green or any butyl based cleaner. BTW: Butyl cleaners are good for soap scum removal in the bathroom. . . Not saying that you need it.

Good Luck!

palerider · Post by **palerider** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 8:47 am

AV Junkie wrote:Hi. I've been scouring craigslist for a good backup machine and found a great deal. I bought a lightly used (300 hours on it) system one 450P for $30.00 (Couldn't not buy it for that price. and it came with a new swift nose pillow mask. ) But it smells like an ashtray... My current machine had a little smoke smell and I took it completely apart and scrubbed it than soaked it in vinegar for 3 or 4 nights... Does anyone have any other ideas? Going to take the new to me one apart and do the same thing but just curious if anyone has had success in other ways. Thanks in advance!

the plastics in the machine likely won't pick up much smell, (at least they didn't in the s9 I cleaned up, quick wash/dry with dawn and they were good. there was sound absorbing foam in there too, and that cleaned up easy enough too.

the silicone bits were where the smell stayed, and that took me some time, nothing much worked, dawn, alcohol, simple green (made it smell like pine flavored ash tray ). what ended up working was an extended period of soaking in various things, vinegar, dishwasher soap, oxyclean (which is what took out the yellow staining) and then a few trips through the dishwasher. running it for several *days* didn't make any dent in that stink from the silicone parts, but the soaks finally did.

palerider · Post by **palerider** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 9:05 am

AV Junkie wrote:Sorry, feel like an idiot.... Didn't see the same topic 10 posts later...

don't, better to start your own thread than to piggyback on some rambling zombie dug up by some unregistered idgit rambling on about something.

archangle · Post by **archangle** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 12:07 am

The PRS1 machines have a large piece of foam on the top of the bottom case of the unit in the air path where it comes in just past the filters. It's about the size of the bottom of the unit.

On the very old PRS1 machine I disassembled, it had a lot of dust on it. I suspect that's going to be one of the biggest "sponges" for tobacco and other smells. If you could get a replacement, it would probably help to replace it. Maybe if you run a lot of clean air through the unit, it would outgas over time. It's not easy to get to where the foam is to replace it.

One thing that can help is to let the machine blow for a little while before you mask up to blow out any contaminated unit. You probably get a big whiff of stench when you first turn the machine on.

aytikvjo · Post by **aytikvjo** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 1:32 am

Ok so what palerider said was spot on: The hard plastics like the ABS and polycarbonate won't absorb much 'smoke smell' and they are the easiest to outgas. The silicone parts absorb it much more deeply and will be harder to clean.

The type of cleaning you need to do depends on the scope of contamination:

First you want to do as suggested, soak in hot soapy water for long lengths of time. I use Seventh Generation free and clear dish soap as it is totally scentless and leaves no residues.
If the machine internals have heavy tar deposits, you need to do very thorough scrubbing of every surface. A toothbrush works well for this. Likely the foam bits will need to be replaced as they are maybe 50% open-cell and difficulty to clean. If no tar deposits exist you are in luck as the contamination wasn't very bad and out gassing should be much faster.

After you have the particulate matter cleared you need to expedite the outgassing process of the plastics. This is accomplished through manipulation of three important quantities: heat, airflow, and time.
Basically, you create a flow of heated air over the contaminated parts. Hotter and more airflow will take less time. Of course there is a limit to how hot you want to go, so just don't' go above like 150F.
You want to maintain this setup for as long as is necessary that you can't detect any more smells in any individual parts. This will likely take 12-72 hours depending. Maybe longer.

Easiest way to do this is something like a space heater and a cardboard box. Find a safe place for the apparatus, load the box with the parts, put the space heater at one end, and partially close the other end (but enough to let hot air flow out, you want to raise the internal temperature). Put the heater on low and let it cook for a few days. It wont' get nearly hot enough inside to cause any hazards.

A heat-less way to do it is to grab some of those 120mm computer fans (about 5 bucks each) and simply direct their flow over the parts. Takes longer, but I've done this with masks before and it worked great.

Good luck.

princessbelle · Post by **princessbelle** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 1:51 am

archangle · Post by **archangle** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 4:25 am

Be really careful about anything that claims to eliminate odors. Many of these either mask the odor with some scent of its own or produce some sort of fume that sort of numbs your sense of smell. That might be OK when cleaning a bathroom, but you probably don't want it blowing up your nose full time with the CPAP machine.

Other than something that actually washes material off of or out of parts, there just isn't anything that "goes in and destroys odors." Odors come from gases coming out of the material. You need a washing process that removes the material from the surface, or an airing out process that lets the smells evaporate and get flushed away.

AV Junkie · Post by **AV Junkie** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 6:03 am

Thanks for all of the input! I think I'm going to disassemble the machine over the weekend and start the cleaning process... I think I may document how to disassemble the machine in a step by step fashion. They are not too hard to take apart. I'll update with progress on the de stinking process.

InsomniacGuy · Post by **InsomniacGuy** » Sat Jan 31, 2015 4:23 pm

Do you have disassembly pointers yet?

I just bought a 1.3 blower hours PR S1 Auto 560P via a Craigslist ad, where the ad said 'non-smoking' but it turned out there is a smoker in the house, or at least a frequent-visiting relative. At the seller's, I turned on the machine and thought the air smelled musty but not smoky. At home, however, I could smell smoke odor from the CPAP machine after removing the filters and wiping down the case with part-water-vinegar -- especially noticeable at the air inlet when the machine is off, and in the stream of air when the machine is on. It's a similar smell to walking into a motel room (back in the day) where someone had been smoking.

Must be the ambient air seeping into the machine, or maybe smoke is just that powerful.

Any source for replacement silicone or foam parts for the interior of the machine if the multi-day soaking doesn't succeed? Definitely let me know if there is a disassembly resource out there.

Thanks.

LSAT · Post by **LSAT** » Sat Jan 31, 2015 4:37 pm

InsomniacGuy wrote:Do you have disassembly pointers yet?

I just bought a 1.3 blower hours PR S1 Auto 560P via a Craigslist ad for $100, where the ad said 'non-smoking' but it turned out there is a smoker in the house, or at least a frequent-visiting relative. At the seller's, I turned on the machine and thought the air smelled musty but not smoky. At home, however, I could smell smoke odor from the CPAP machine after removing the filters and wiping down the case with part-water-vinegar -- especially noticeable at the air inlet when the machine is off, and in the stream of air when the machine is on. It's a similar smell to walking into a motel room (back in the day) where someone had been smoking.

Must be the ambient air seeping into the machine, or maybe smoke is just that powerful.

Any source for replacement silicone or foam parts for the interior of the machine if the multi-day soaking doesn't succeed? Definitely let me know if there is a disassembly resource out there.

Thanks.

Try running the unit next to an open window for an hour or two for a few days. Also, some have had success with having a dish with vinegar next to the air intake while the unit is running.

InsomniacGuy · Post by **InsomniacGuy** » Sat Jan 31, 2015 4:47 pm

LSAT wrote: Try running the unit next to an open window for an hour or two for a few days. Also, some have had success with having a dish with vinegar next to the air intake while the unit is running.

So, I'm assuming that I need to run it with the gray foam filter and the white filter installed? Thanks!

Getting rid of odors in a machine. (Smoke, Etc...)

Getting rid of odors in a machine. (Smoke, Etc...)

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Re: Getting rid of odors in a machine. (Smoke, Etc...)

Re: Getting rid of odors in a machine. (Smoke, Etc...)

Re: Getting rid of odors in a machine. (Smoke, Etc...)

Re: Getting rid of odors in a machine. (Smoke, Etc...)

Re: Getting rid of odors in a machine. (Smoke, Etc...)

Re: Getting rid of odors in a machine. (Smoke, Etc...)

Re: Getting rid of odors in a machine. (Smoke, Etc...)

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Re: Getting rid of odors in a machine. (Smoke, Etc...)

Re: Getting rid of odors in a machine. (Smoke, Etc...)

Re: Getting rid of odors in a machine. (Smoke, Etc...)

Re: Getting rid of odors in a machine. (Smoke, Etc...)

Re: Getting rid of odors in a machine. (Smoke, Etc...)