An idea for hose handling!

General Discussion on any topic relating to CPAP and/or Sleep Apnea.
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painterman
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An idea for hose handling!

Post by painterman » Sat Jun 16, 2007 12:48 pm

When I started my therapy about 6 weeks ago I was determined to make every aspect of using cpap as good as possible. The end result was a hose handling idea that works very well. It sort of evolved from basic over the headboard to a bungee holding it up to my latest incarnation.

http://s203.photobucket.com/albums/aa31 ... 017308.pbw

My wife and I had just finished fixing up our room (and getting rid of junk on the headboard, floors, walls, and everywhere else) and we were determined to have at least one room in our house be nice all the time instead of junked out like normal. Everyday we kept our headboard clean and orderly. Normally when we cleaned up stuff and got everything nice it would only take leaving one thing on the headboard and then it would multiply and within a week we would have a mess again. So we did well having our room be nice and organized for about three months.

Then I was diagnosed with sleep apnea!

I was disappointed to have to have our nice room disrupted by all the cpap stuff. I was determined to keep my room looking nice. So I cleaned out my top drawer, put power into the drawer with an extension cord and keep almost everything in the drawer. At night I close the drawer except for the hose coming out and it helps soften the sound of the machine and also I don't get bothered by the blue lights. During the day I disconnect the hose and put it in my closet. Works great.

The next step was to figure out the hose management situation. What I came up with is a swinging arm that is able to track my body as I roll around. I bought shelf support made out of metal. To that I screwed a piece of wood about three feet long. On that wood I drilled two holes, one at the end and one at the mid point. Through the holes I threaded some nylon cord and made a loop with the knot on the other side. This is where i hang a small bungee cord. One end is the hook and the other end is tied around the hose. Then I took the shelf support and bolted two hinges to it and then bolted the hinges to a piece of metal. This piece of metal was designed to be slide into a slot behind the headboard. So the end result is a hose holder that tracks or follows me when I am sleeping and then can be removed and put in the closet for the day, keeping my room looking nice. And it works well too. I do not hardly ever get bothered by my hose. I use the mid point loop for using over the head type of masks such as the aura twilight np. I use the front loop for my hybrid which has the hose going away from me. I took some pictures which will hopefully help you understand all the talkin!!

Maybe this will help somebody with a few ideas. My brother and I together dreamed up this apparatus. His is a little different in that he just mounted it to the wall permanently and doesn't take it down each day. Another idea would be to some how mount it to the wall like he does but also make it removable so you can avoid the cpap look (if you even care!).

Here are the pics, they are on photobucket in a slideshow (which you can pause). I hope it works.Just click on the picture and when you are watching the slideshow mouse over the image and a pause button will appear. First time doing this so please excuse my over explaining!!!
Image

Happy dreaming,
Jon

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CPAPopedia Keywords Contained In This Post (Click For Definition): hose, CPAP, Aura, Power, clean

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Last edited by painterman on Sat Jun 16, 2007 1:24 pm, edited 6 times in total.

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Goofproof
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Post by Goofproof » Sat Jun 16, 2007 1:11 pm

The explaining was long but the link was missing. Click URL, add address,click URL again to close. This adds a link. Jim
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DeltaSeeker
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Post by DeltaSeeker » Sat Jun 16, 2007 1:18 pm

Jim, click the picture - it links to the rest of them - full size.

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painterman
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Post by painterman » Sat Jun 16, 2007 1:23 pm

Goofproof wrote:The explaining was long but the link was missing. Click URL, add address,click URL again to close. This adds a link. Jim
Sorry Jim, I got a link in there also. Sorry it was so long!
Jon

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rested gal
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Post by rested gal » Sat Jun 16, 2007 1:41 pm

Jon, you just won a Lab Rat award! Cool idea and beautiful work!

Image


LINKS to Lab Rat Trophy awards
viewtopic.php?t=15104

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rested gal
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Post by rested gal » Sat Jun 16, 2007 1:51 pm

Here are some pictures of Jon's (painterman) neat hanger:

Image

Image

Image


Out of sight during the day:

Image

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Goofproof
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Post by Goofproof » Sat Jun 16, 2007 2:16 pm

I concur, a fine project and well done post. Jim
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SithLord
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Post by SithLord » Sat Jun 16, 2007 2:18 pm

My headboard is about even with pillow. I have machine on one end of headboard and the hose snakes along the middle. Everything (machine, hose, mask) are on roughly the same elevation.

I have seen references before to "hanging" the hose. Is this for any technical or therapeutic reason? Or just user preference to keep from being strangled by a white python?

FWIW, I don't have any rainout issues with hose or mask.

- Jeff

Only motorcycle riders understand why dogs ride with their heads out the window.

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jennmary
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Post by jennmary » Sat Jun 16, 2007 2:24 pm

I really like this project. I am actually considering buying a new headboard just so I could make it work.

I found myself strangled at least 3 times last night, and laying on the hose at least twice. At some point I took the mask off, dont remember doing it. But the whole headgear was off, lol all 4 corners.


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ddpelp
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Post by ddpelp » Sat Jun 16, 2007 2:43 pm

jennmary

I have done that and wondered how and why I did... weird isn't it.. Kinda like "I fought the mask and the mask won!!"

there are some creative hangers posted here on the forum a few use PVC pipes and slide under your mattress and hang over you head with the only support being the mattress might save you buying a new headboard?

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Goofproof
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Post by Goofproof » Sat Jun 16, 2007 2:48 pm

SithLord wrote:My headboard is about even with pillow. I have machine on one end of headboard and the hose snakes along the middle. Everything (machine, hose, mask) are on roughly the same elevation.

I have seen references before to "hanging" the hose. Is this for any technical or therapeutic reason? Or just user preference to keep from being strangled by a white python?

FWIW, I don't have any rainout issues with hose or mask.

As long as you don't have rainout issues, or others you are doing ok.

It's recomended, to have the machine lower than the bed so water can drain back to the HH, by gravity, by raising the hose higher and over the head area, you have less chanch of getting tangled up in the hose, and water drains back better too.

The best idea on rainout is keeping it from occuring in the first place. Jim

Use data to optimize your xPAP treatment!

"The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease." Voltaire

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ddpelp
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Post by ddpelp » Sat Jun 16, 2007 2:52 pm

painterman's idea is great.. made me start looking back at other suggestions here is the one I mentioned above to Jennmary

viewtopic.php?t=5006

here is the post bt rested gal with many other ideas.. creative gruop here I would say


viewtopic.php?t=10640&highlight=hanger

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Rabid1
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Post by Rabid1 » Sat Jun 16, 2007 2:56 pm

Jon,

That's awesome!!! Maybe you should market it under the "Rested GaL" product line

Rick
Wake me up when this is over...

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rested gal
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Post by rested gal » Sat Jun 16, 2007 3:03 pm

SithLord wrote:I have seen references before to "hanging" the hose. Is this for any technical or therapeutic reason? Or just user preference to keep from being strangled by a white python?
User preference.

Think of it as being like a fish on the end of a slack line. You can toss and turn freely underneath the main air hose without ever having the hose get wrapped around you or end up under you.

Also keeps the weight of the main air hose from tugging at a mask when you move your head or turn over. Air hose pulling at a mask, even slightly, can make some masks spring a leak very easily.

One might say that for some people it could have therapeutic implications. If getting tangled in the hose when you turn over in your sleep wakes you up -- or even doesn't wake you up enough to be aware of it but causes an arousal out of whatever stage of sleep you were in -- that can be a sleep disturbance that didn't have to have happened.

There are lots of pieces to the puzzle of getting "good sleep." In some ways when we start using "CPAP" we're trading off the more serious sleep disruptions of OSA for other sleep disturbances...equipment issues. The more comfortable and smooth we can make all the "stuff" work for us (the mask is the #1 key, imho) the better we can sleep using cpap.

I don't have a headboard. I have a swivel arm plant hanger attached permanently to the wall above the head of my bed. Swings right and left much like painterman's arrangement. To keep it out of sight in the daytime, I just lean a pillow or two on edge against the wall. Gives the effect of a throw pillow casually tossed there.

LINKS to Hose hangers and methods of managing the air hose
viewtopic.php?t=10640

Oops...I was clickety-click typing merrily along and didn't realize ddpelp had already posted that link until after I hit "submit." Thanks, ddpelp!
ResMed S9 VPAP Auto (ASV)
Humidifier: Integrated + Climate Control hose
Mask: Aeiomed Headrest (deconstructed, with homemade straps
3M painters tape over mouth
ALL LINKS by rested gal:
viewtopic.php?t=17435

inacpapfog
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drawer housing

Post by inacpapfog » Sat Jun 16, 2007 5:48 pm

Just wondering what others think about running pap machine all night inside a closed/partially closed drawer? Wouldn't this limit fresh air intake?

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