Virtuclean cpap cleaner

[Hawthorne]

Has anyone had any experience with this item? Is it useful?

[chunkyfrog]

It looks like a knock-off of the "other" ozone wafting scam, only a different price.
Either wash or do not wash.
I would rather spend my money on a hurricane dryer (sold by cpap.com),
and use recommended cleaning protocol, to avoid violating my warranty.

[Pugsy]

It's apparently fairly new to the market. I saw a review of it in the sleepreview magazine dated March of this year and just mentioning "being launched".
I didn't even know of it's presence in the market. It appears to be a smaller and portable (battery powered) version of the SoClean device which says it uses ozone but I didn't dig deeper.
I can see it maybe nuking germs/bacteria/whatever...that is of course assuming the amount of ozone it produces actually nukes anything
but what I don't see are the claims for no longer needing to clean/wash anything. For me it just means that any snot, slobber, dirt, grime, facial oils, etc just won't be able to survive on the nuked surfaces which still will have the yucky stuff that we normally would want to remove with soap and water.

When these devices will actually up and remove grime, facial oils, snot, slobber, etc and not just maybe nuke it...then maybe I might be interested
But since I don't wash my stuff very often...and I am lazy...they would have to be dirt cheap to get my attention.

But if a person has a severely compromised immune system issues or they are just plain old germophobes and they want the peace of mind that maybe nuking something will give them...hey....if they don't mind spending the money for that peach of mind then go for it. Peace of mind is worth a lot to some people.

The only time I, myself, would look more closely at one of these maybe nukers is if I had some serious immune issues for some sort of reason where any germ or bacteria could be potentially a huge problem.

[Hawthorne]

Thanks for all the replies, so far! I found this on Amazon, for around $160 (Canadian). I use wipes to clean my nasal pillows every day, but, I too, am lazy about further cleaning!!
My Rheumatoid Arthritis, and the meds I take for it, compromise my immune system, so will check it our further, but these things don't often live up to their claims!.
Anyone had any experience???

[Pugsy]

Here's the problem in a nutshell...how do we validate the nuking claims?
I don't know about you but I don't have a lab in my house so that I can actually swipe the stuff to see if anything grows on it and is killed by the nuking.

Yeah people can use this stuff and say "it smells clean" or whatever but how do we (as lay people) actually know for sure that the germs have been nuked?
Smelling clean doesn't equal a sterile product.

We have to rely on the manufacturers and I trust them about as far as I can throw them.

This is where the "peace of mind" value comes into play...with people like you who might have immune system issues and any germs could be a potential threat.

So if I used one of these devices I have no way to prove that it does what it says it does. I don't have a baseline of petri dishes in the fridge with gunk growing in them to compare before nuking vs after nuking.

[Okie bipap]

From what I have seen when researching this item, it has a rechargeable lithium ion battery in it. This kind of battery been know to catch on fire if they over heat or short out.

[Goofproof]

For piece of mind, get a new Shoebox, put a Kleenex in the bottom, put you stuff inside it, maybe those germs will jump onto the Kleenex. Change the Kleenex weekly. Jim

For your "Clean Smell", (Which "Clean" has no odor) substitute the Kleenex with a clean wipe with your favorite odor.

[chunkyfrog]

Germophobes are people too. I used to work with one.
Sometimes it was fun to mess with him--but that is cruel, so it is rarely done any more.
Although germophobia might be helped by a placebo,
genuine immunity problems require EFFECTIVE solutions.
If the purveyors of the OTC ozone generators were willing/able to PROVE effectiveness,
I would no longer think so unkindly towards them.

[Julie]

Don't waste your money.

[ChicagoGranny]

From what I have seen when researching this item, it has a rechargeable lithium ion battery in it. This kind of battery been know to catch on fire if they over heat or short out.

That would kill the germs.

[southerndoc]

I'm skiddish about the ozone/superoxide radicals. If they linger around and you breathe them, they could potentially damage your lungs. SoClean says that they disappear after 4 hours.

[liv2kite]

I was thinking to buy SoClean2 or Virtuclean. Then I noticed that Cpap.com does not sell it, which I thought strange. However Apria (consumer site) sells both (20% sale now). I came here to see what people were saying.

The beauty of reactive gases is their ability to diffuse everywhere and get to places that other methods would miss.

Interesting discussion. I agree that the activated oxygen (ozone and superoxide) will likely not do anything for the crud off and their anti-microbial action will also likely be impeded by microbes in an under crud (though these gases may be "soluble" in the crud and may get in).

There are more and more methods becoming available, even offered to consumers, for characterizing (and quantifying?) the microbes that live on us (and our peripheral equipment). We are < 10% human. Over 90% of the cells by number in a human body are microbial (though the constitute little by mass as they are miniscule). Check out the microbiome, which is increasingly being recognized as figuring into our health and disease.

Also, Wikipedia says ozone can last up to a day at ambient temperature which could be a concern for breathing back.

Here are links for ozone and superoxide:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozone
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superoxide

I am no a big CPAP hardware cleaner.... but I think I will not buy one of these for daily use at this time.

[chunkyfrog]

Seriously, if I had OCD, and money to burn, I would invest in the Hurricane Cpap dryer.
Less money, actually works, and DOES NOT STINK.

[Goofproof]

I count on my Alien DNA to protect me from those Pesty Earthling Microbes. Jim

[chunkyfrog]

You too?
Shhhhhhhhhh.