Boiling Stuff Part 2

General Discussion on any topic relating to CPAP and/or Sleep Apnea.
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Muse-Inc
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Re: Boiling Stuff Part 2

Post by Muse-Inc » Sun Apr 07, 2013 11:12 pm

I boil my silicon parts when they get cloudy, but I have discovered a method that reduces how often I need to do that (now down to once a yr in distilled water with a tsp of baking soda 5-10 mins to get rid of all the film). I rotate 5 masks 'cause I hate cleaning masks at night.

My cleaning routine:
Take off silicon parts, wash with Method hand soap and rinse (I like the Sea Minerals scent).
Toss in 1-qt. Pyrex casserole dish, fill with water, a squirt of Method dishwashing liquid (also Sea Mineral scent). Let soak all day.
When I get home from work, re-wash if there's still oily-looking film, rinse.
Toss in clean water if I'm lazy OR spray with 5% white vinegar and let sit 3-6 mins or so.
Rinse well to get rid of the vinegar smell.
Air dry out of sunlight.

The ones sitting in water get re-washed and dried sometime during the wk. When I'm organized *G*, I get everything disinfected (vinegar) and dried during the weekend and start the wk with clean masks.

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archangle
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Re: Boiling Stuff Part 2

Post by archangle » Sun Apr 07, 2013 11:28 pm

MagsterMile wrote:I tried boiling the cushion once. Used distilled water and a little bit of baking soda. It was clear afterwards. But, I think a little bit of the stickiness went away. When I told the DME about it, she wasn't real happy.
If the DME doesn't like it, that sounds like a good reason to try it.

Especially if you have a set of pillows you're ready to throw away already. If you ruin them, you were already planning to throw them away, so no loss. Unless they become toxic or somehow do something harmful like reduce the airflow of leak in some way you won't notice, what harm can it do?

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Kenwood
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Re: Boiling Stuff Part 2

Post by Kenwood » Sat Apr 13, 2013 11:47 am

allen476 wrote: I used a small sauce pan that was just big enough to hold one FF mask seal and filled with distilled water. I then added 1 teaspoon baking soda and brought to a rapid boil then reducing to just a boil. Now I had to decide how long to boil. I decided that 5 minutes would be a good baseline. So I dropped the first one in with the part that goes against your face so that it was on the bottom. I turned it over after 2 minutes for 1 minute and then turned it over again to finish. I pulled it out and immediately rinsed with hot tap water.
This is a really great idea!!!!

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hiroto437
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Re: Boiling Stuff Part 2

Post by hiroto437 » Tue Mar 31, 2015 9:01 am

Hi,
Thank you. I will try to boil my Swift FX Nasal pillow.
Thank you

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archangle
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Re: Boiling Stuff Part 2

Post by archangle » Tue Mar 31, 2015 9:53 am

hiroto437 wrote:Hi,
Thank you. I will try to boil my Swift FX Nasal pillow.
Thank you
I have taken a large pot of water, brought it to a boil, turned off the heat, and dropped all the disassembled Swift FX parts into it and left it to cool. I haven't boiled the foam/fabric headgear.

Also, ComfortGel, ComfortGel Blue, Oracle Oral mask, ResMed legacy, M series, and PRS1 tanks.

The S9 CLEANABLE tanks survived OK. The newer S9 standard tanks were ruined. The older style S9 standard tanks that didn't open easily were OK.

Someone posted that P10 cushions melt if boiled.

Some hoses, especially clear plastic "short" hose as part of masks may be damaged. Normal hoses seem to get "crinkly," but don't completely melt.

Of course, don't do the boiling step on anything you can't stand to lose. Even if one person got away with "boiling" a particular CPAP part doesn't mean they haven't changed the design and your part may melt. Or that your part may crack or something.

There are some ResMed and Respironics sanitation guides in the Useful Links in my signature line at the bottom of this post.

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SGearhart
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Re: Boiling Stuff Part 2

Post by SGearhart » Tue Mar 31, 2015 11:31 am

Here is the P10 warning label. Notice the maximum 140°F/80°C on the temperature limit

Image

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archangle
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Re: Boiling Stuff Part 2

Post by archangle » Tue Mar 31, 2015 5:37 pm

SGearhart wrote:Here is the P10 warning label. Notice the maximum 140°F/80°C on the temperature limit
Resmed's sterilization guide. Intended for professional use only.

http://www.resmed.com/ap/dam/documents/ ... ow_eng.pdf

For the P10, specifies:

"High level thermal disinfection
EN ISO 15883-1
70°C-100 min; 75°C-30 min
80°C-10 min; 90°C-1 min
European regional requirements
93°C-10 min"

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Funkdoobiest

Re: Boiling Stuff Part 2

Post by Funkdoobiest » Tue Nov 10, 2015 11:21 pm

Many years later I yhank you for posting this I also tried boiling my headgear. Other than blue dye coming off and turning the water blue, boiling has rejuvenated my headgear quite a bit. It at least made it usable again. I will try to post when it is back to the worn out stage needing replacement. I noticed another post saying not to boil headgear. Can anyone give a legit reason not to boil headgear?

SewTired
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Re: Boiling Stuff Part 2

Post by SewTired » Wed Nov 11, 2015 1:52 pm

Funkdoobiest wrote:Many years later I yhank you for posting this I also tried boiling my headgear. Other than blue dye coming off and turning the water blue, boiling has rejuvenated my headgear quite a bit. It at least made it usable again. I will try to post when it is back to the worn out stage needing replacement. I noticed another post saying not to boil headgear. Can anyone give a legit reason not to boil headgear?
This is actually a good dead thread to revive because a lot of people don't know that they can attempt to revive their equipment and give it more life (saving them money). As to your specific question, some masks aren't intended for hospital use and contain OTHER plastics that aren't suitable for boiling. However, if you were just going to toss it, it's worth the effort to try it out. It may work. It may not. But you were going to throw it out anyway, right? With headgear, you know if it fits or not. With cushions, you will have far fewer leaks. However, if you see cracking or FEEL cracking, then it's time to throw because that will cause facial irritation and give rise to potential infection because of the wound.

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archangle
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Re: Boiling Stuff Part 2

Post by archangle » Wed Nov 11, 2015 7:51 pm

Funkdoobiest wrote:I noticed another post saying not to boil headgear. Can anyone give a legit reason not to boil headgear?
Some headgear has foam parts or stuff that appears to be glued together. I don't how well Velcro reacts to boiling water. If you have a set of headgear you are willing to sacrifice, you might try it and see what happens. Your results wouldn't necessarily apply to different models of headgear.

I have boiled the silicone parts of Swift FX headgear with no problem.

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Mask: Swift™ FX Nasal Pillow CPAP Mask with Headgear
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Click here for information on the most common alternative to CPAP.
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WindCpap
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Re: Boiling Stuff Part 2

Post by WindCpap » Wed Nov 11, 2015 8:49 pm

I just looked this up on resmed's website. They call it "High level thermal disinfection".

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allen476
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Re: Boiling Stuff Part 2

Post by allen476 » Thu Nov 12, 2015 6:02 pm

Holy cow, almost four years later this post is still kicking around. I should feel honored that anyone remembers it.

Anyways, I am glad that many have found it useful.

Now I need to make a post on how to get a DME to actually ship me my supplies. 3 months waiting for a simple PilairoQ cushion and chinstrap is becoming obscene. Good thing this boiling trick works.

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palerider
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Re: Boiling Stuff Part 2

Post by palerider » Thu Nov 12, 2015 7:02 pm

allen476 wrote:Holy cow, almost four years later this post is still kicking around. I should feel honored that anyone remembers it.

Anyways, I am glad that many have found it useful.
Froggy, I think... brought it to my attention a while back... good stuff.

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Funkdoobiest
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Re: Boiling Stuff Part 2

Post by Funkdoobiest » Mon Nov 16, 2015 9:00 am

archangle wrote:
Funkdoobiest wrote:I noticed another post saying not to boil headgear. Can anyone give a legit reason not to boil headgear?
Some headgear has foam parts or stuff that appears to be glued together. I don't how well Velcro reacts to boiling water. If you have a set of headgear you are willing to sacrifice, you might try it and see what happens. Your results wouldn't necessarily apply to different models of headgear.

I have boiled the silicone parts of Swift FX headgear with no problem.
I was about to throw out the mask cause I got a new one so destroying it didn't bother me. BTW it was a Quattro FX.

It seems like the foam in the headgear is some sort of neoprene which I did a little research on first and saw that it has a fairly high melting point so I figured what the heck. The problem was it stretched out to the point where I ran out of room to affix the velcro on the top straps. Now that I have boiled the headgear and cushion I have a good backup mask. I can secure the velcro with about a half inch remaining on either sude to tighten more. I noticed the cushion still does not seal like new for whatever reason even though it looks and feels brand new. I may just pick up a new cushion for comparison to see if its me or the mask.

Also, as far as the temperature limitation on the package, I wonder if that is the temp range for performane furing usage, not the temp that it will be damaged. Obviously many of the components can withstand extreme tempeeatures, they just may not perform to specifications if outside the range

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nanwilson
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Re: Boiling Stuff Part 2

Post by nanwilson » Mon Nov 16, 2015 10:23 am

archangle wrote:
hiroto437 wrote:Hi,
Thank you. I will try to boil my Swift FX Nasal pillow.
Thank you
I

Someone posted that P10 cushions melt if boiled.

Some hoses, especially clear plastic "short" hose as part of masks may be damaged. Normal hoses seem to get "crinkly," but don't completely melt.

Of course, don't do the boiling step on anything you can't stand to lose. Even if one person got away with "boiling" a particular CPAP part doesn't mean they haven't changed the design and your part may melt. Or that your part may crack or something.

There are some ResMed and Respironics sanitation guides in the Useful Links in my signature line at the bottom of this post.

Re P10 pillows.... they go into boiling water just fine... did one set on Friday, no problem. I put my 2 cups water in the micro until it boils, take it out add my teaspoon of baking soda, give it a stir and add the P10 pillow, left it for 5 or 10 minutes and took it out. Rinsed it with distilled water, let it dry and popped it back into my mask.
Easy peasy
Nan
Started cpap in 2010.. still at it with great results.