CPAP hose plugs/caps for cleaning purposes

[davecpap]

I'd like to DIY some tube caps/plugs similar to those pictured here:

https://www.cpap.com/productpage/tube-c ... -hose.html

This would make it easier to fill the tubes with a dilute vinegar solution for cleaning. The hose connection cuff has an inner diameter of 22mm but I haven't found any 22mm PVC pipe or anything I can use.

[Julie]

Seems like so much trouble to go to for something a lot of us never, ever bother with at all - decade to decade. Do you have reason to believe your hoses are dirty in any way?

[TASmart]

Head over to your local hardware store and buy some stoppers. Take your hose with you to get the right size.

[chunkyfrog]

I would be worried that soaking would leave a permanent vinegar smell that would irritate my eyes.

[LSAT]

Some people are just looking for something to entertain themselves. First they look for a something to wash the hose with, then something to hold the water in, then some way to dry the hose.......KISS

[davecpap]

OK, so how do people suggest I disinfect the hose then? I like to do so when I am sick (which I currently am), so that I don't reinfect myself.

I was trying to find the least messy way to go about this. My plan was to:

1) cap one end of hose
2) fill hose with diluted vinegar, recommended disinfectant by my doctor
3) cap other end of hose
4) let it sit 20-30 minutes
5) uncap ends of hose and rinse it out with distilled water

If I fill a container with diluted vinegar and try and submerge the hose, it doesn't actually clean everything since there are pockets of air in the hose. And I end up using a lot more vinegar/water than required to fill the hose.

[wardmiller]

OK, so how do people suggest I disinfect the hose then? I like to do so when I am sick (which I currently am), so that I don't reinfect myself.

I was trying to find the least messy way to go about this.

Dave, look at the hose. The only air that goes through it is ambient (room) air that has been filtered by the CPAP machine. None of the air you expel goes into the tube, a one-way valve prevents that.

It can be argued attempts to "clean" the hose may actually result in its eventually being less clean.

[davecpap]

Dave, look at the hose. The only air that goes through it is ambient (room) air that has been filtered by the CPAP machine. None of the air you expel goes into the tube, a one-way valve prevents that.

I'm more concerned about stuff growing in the water that occasionally gets in the tube from rainout/humidification issues. Similar to how stuff can grow inside water chamber if left alone for weeks at a time.

I'm not crazy about cleaning my stuff, but I've been using the same tube that came with my machine 2 years ago. Shouldn't I occasionally be cleaning it? It hasn't developed any tears or holes so I see no reason to replace what I can just clean.

[palerider]

so that I don't reinfect myself..

your body develops antibodies to fight off whatever you've got, becoming immune to the exact whatever thing you breathed in.

that's assuming that whatever you've got would be contagious from breathing.

it's practically impossible to 'reinfect' yourself.

[Pap-Daddy]

OK, so how do people suggest I disinfect the hose then? I like to do so when I am sick (which I currently am), so that I don't reinfect myself.

I agree with the others who just no longer bother to 'clean' the hose.

But... if you want to clean it you can take it into the shower with you - run some water, vinegar, or whatever thru the hose and rinse. I once ran some mouthwash thru it - what? You gargle with it for a sore throat right? I did it for the pleasant minty odor.

Avoid hanging it to dry anywhere but esp not in the bathroom. There is absolutely nothing wrong with using it with drops of moisture still in the hose. Even if you feel you MUST wash the hose does not mean you must dry it before use as you will very likely just add moisture for the humidifier anyway.

HTH

[Pugsy]

If the infection is viral your body will produce antibiodies and it's extremely unlikely that you will reinfect yourself from anything much less a hose that is far away from you and you would have to cough or sneeze pretty forcibly to contaminate the hose anyway against the air pressure coming towards you. Kinda like trying to spit or pee into the wind...it doesn't go very far.

Now a bacterial infection....well it's a stretch but a maybe reinfect yourself with something you have touched with your mouth.
Like we used to advise people who got strep throat to invest in a new toothbrush...especially if they seem to frequently get strep throat.
Strep throat is bacterial and we don't develop antibiodies to bacteria like we do to viruses (that's why we take flu shots...flu is a virus and the shot gives our body a chance to develop antibodies).

All that said if it really bugs you too much and you worry about it...disinfecting a hose doesn't take much to kill whatever might be hiding in it. A good anti bacterial soap and hot water will kill pretty much what you might want to be killed unless you are really OCD about germs and if you are then I wouldn't rely on vinegar anyway. I would get something like Control III.
https://www.cpap.com/productpage/Contro ... eaner.html
Personally I think it is overkill but if someone wants to use it and it eases their mind then it is probably worth doing.
Vinegar isn't that powerful of a disinfectant...if it was hospitals would use it instead of other products or sterilization procedures. It would save them a lot of money.
Generally if vinegar will kill something so will a good anti bacterial soap and/or hot water.

If I have been ill with something I just clean the mask more from the "yuck" factor than the "bug/germ" factor. I give it a good hot wash after I am over whatever I have and that's it. I can't see anything traveling up the hose against the wind to contaminate the hose so I don't do any special cleaning of the hose even after an illness.

Only exception I might make to having more lax cleaning routines if someone has a severely compromised immune system for some reason or other.
Like organ anti rejection drugs or chemo therapy or something like that.

If it REALLY, REALLY bugs you...get a new hose especially if you aren't using a heated hose. Regular non heated hoses are dirt cheap. You can probably get 3 of them for what the Controll III costs.

[Goofproof]

And when you get that new hose, it comes with a completely new set of germs from a 3rd world country free, you don't even need a airplane ticket, and you can't be put off or roughed up. Jim

[davecpap]

Any speculation why prescribing physician/manufacturer would suggest ever cleaning any components of CPAP system then?

The DME I picked up machine from gave me a pamphlet they printed with a schedule of when to clean each component, and mentions the proper ratio of water/vinegar to use for disinfecting.

Thanks for saving me a bunch of work cleaning mask/tubing/chamber

[Julie]

The instructions attached to ANYthing you buy are all about the mgfg's protecting their legal rights should you sue them for some real or spurious nonsense... it has nothing to do with taking care of the hose and most certainly not you, who they could care less about! By providing the overly righteous instructions they feel they've covered their behinds legally.

[phindq]

Avoid hanging it to dry anywhere but esp not in the bathroom.
HTH

I hang my hose to dry. I'm a very new newbie (about a week doing this), so is there conventional wisdom against hanging a hose to dry?