Visiting a Smoker with my CPAP

I'll be spending the night, tonight, at the home of a smoker. He only smokes in his bedroom/bathroom, but the rest of the house still smells like smoke. I'm debating on whether or not to bring my cpap with me. I'm worried about smelling smoke from it even after we return. I can wash my mask and hose, but what about the machine itself?

Am I worried about nothing? Or, is there a way to clear the smell from the inside of the machine (other than time)?

If you are that sensitive to second hand smoke, WHY spend the night at this house at all? Stay over at a motel.

Slinky wrote:If you are that sensitive to second hand smoke, WHY spend the night at this house at all? Stay over at a motel.

I'm not "sensitive" to it, I just can't stand smelling it in my clothes and hair the next day. That's why we wash everything when we get home. It's no big deal, we've been doing it for years, except I haven't had to consider my cpap before - hence the original question.

So... aside from advice on hotels and motels, does anyone have advice on the machine itself? Will it pick up the smell and "hang on to it" for a while?

I expect that the machine will pick up some smokey smell and hold on to it for a few days. If you were to stay at a motel you'd probably experience the same thing, only the smell would be whatever fragrance they spray the rooms with.

You might be able to minimize the amount of smell you come home with by having a window cracked open in the bedroom, and changing your CPAP filter when you get home. If you have PurSleep, that helps a lot for me when I'm traveling.

Oh, and keep it off the carpet. Make sure the machine is resting on something that hasn't been soaking up smoke for years!

Cpap will most likely soak up smoke smell. Several that have bought machines from a smoker household have had a heck of a time getting rid of the smell. From my information the only thing that helps is to set it ouside in a sunny area and let it run. The ozone seems to help. Washing and changing the filter helps a little.

Love your avatar! Looks like mine might be kin but a lot more laid back.



Jerry

From past posts I've read, the smell of cigarette smoke is next to impossible to get out of the machine once it's in -- something to do with the plastic and the particles in the smoke.....Filter changes etc. don't seem to work at getting the odor out...Check the archives and search on smoke, smokers, -- the usual "tags"......

I would never suggest going without for even one night, but I don't think I'd ever run mine in a smokers house -- but then, I'd not choose to stay in a smokers house -- to me, it's like sitting in a dirty ashtray......

Yes. I'm a former smoker I stopped in 1975.......

cheers
goose

eutychus wrote:I'll be spending the night, tonight, at the home of a smoker. He only smokes in his bedroom/bathroom, but the rest of the house still smells like smoke. I'm debating on whether or not to bring my cpap with me. I'm worried about smelling smoke from it even after we return. I can wash my mask and hose, but what about the machine itself?

Am I worried about nothing? Or, is there a way to clear the smell from the inside of the machine (other than time)?

I wouldn't take the chance, plastic has a way of holding on to the smoke odor. Even when we smoked, Hubby and I couldn't stand the second hand smoke indoors, so did not smoke in our house or stay in homes or rooms where people did. Now, I can't even be around it at all. We just stay in hotels when we travel....

That's all - I opted to leave my machine at home. I didn't want to take the chance of having it soak up the smell. Truth be told, I haven't been 100% compliant with cpap so far, so I figured that missing one night "on purpose" wouldn't be any different than missing a night because of a stuffed up nose. I'm getting my ffm on Tuesday, and I look forward to getting 100% compliant.

6PtStar wrote:Cpap will most likely soak up smoke smell. Several that have bought machines from a smoker household have had a heck of a time getting rid of the smell. From my information the only thing that helps is to set it ouside in a sunny area and let it run. The ozone seems to help. Washing and changing the filter helps a little.

Love your avatar! Looks like mine might be kin but a lot more laid back.



Jerry

How old is you Golden? Luke (my avatar) is 10 months old - he's a big boy.

eutychus wrote:So... aside from advice on hotels and motels, does anyone have advice on the machine itself? Will it pick up the smell and "hang on to it" for a while?

Answer: yes. Christmas Day, I went and took a nap while the turkey was roasting. Last night, I put on my Bipap Auto SV, and drifted off to sleep with the wonderful aromas of the previous day's turkey dinner!

Much better than cigarette smoke.... gee, I wonder if I could get SleepGuy to bottle it? The turkey, I mean, not the cigarette smoke.