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I immerse my hose, mask cushion and shell, and humidifier reservoir in warm water with few drops of dish-washing soap. I wipe out the mask shell and the cushion. Then I rinse all with with warm water. I do this daily. Once or twice a week I add mask frame and headgear in the the soapy water. I have no idea if this is adequate. I see hose brushes available but am not sure ifn that is necessary to keep hose clean. I know some people use dilute vinegar instead of detergent. I have had not allergy problems with the detergent. I just don't hav a good sense of the dangers of bacterial growth and possibility of residual contamination inside the hose, reservoir, and machine. I be interested in hearing cleaning ideas from long term users.

PS I use a Fisher & Paykel Simplus mask.

whatever makes you happy.

I was hoping to get some knowledgeable input about frequency of washing and methods others have found helpful.

Here you go - very many of us have never, in actual decades, cleaned the hoses. Really. There is absolutely no justification or need because all that happens is that filtered room air (that you breath unfiltered all day) goes through the machine into the hose and then into you or out the vent. And never, ever goes backwards. Unless you pour something noxious into the hose, or you see wildlife inside, just don't bother. Mfgr's advice is there to keep their lawyers happy... nothing at all to do with the actual equipment. Swish your mask wkly, maybe use baby wipes daily or whenever, but otherwise relax! The humidifier should never have anything in it but distilled water and/or an occasional clean out with a 1/4 dilute mix of vinegar:water. That's all. Period. Enjoy!

it's been discussed ad nauseum here. doing a bit of searching will turn up hundreds, if not thousands of posts, ranging from obsessive compulsive washing of everything to the occasional wipedown of the mask, and maybe washing it now and then, with a quick rinse of the humidity chamber....

hoses? I washed a hose once, seven years ago, it lasts longer without the constant stress. I'm now on my second one.

so, like I said, whatever makes you comfortable.

That would require reading a few of the thousands of posts that have been made on the subject. I think I cleaned mine last year sometime. I keep the area clean and the filters clean. Any germs in my house are friends and they keep my immune system working up to snuff. Jim

When I started cpap, I washed my mask every morning, per mfr's directions.
When vacation rolled around, I decided to give myself a break, and took baby wipes to use every night.
The pillows on my Swift FX mask lasted twice as long as usual.
The daily cleaning was WEARING THEM OUT.
Resmed's directions were forcing me to replace my pillows way more often than otherwise.
Now, I use a baby wipe when I FEEL LIKE IT.
I clean my tank when it looks or smells like a good idea.
I never wash my hose. I just replace it when needed, in a year or so.
I have had a fraction of the colds that I had before cpap.

The easiest answer is ..minimal cleaning...or...follow the instructions that came with your machine and mask.

Thank you so much. Exactly what I was hoping for in information. I am new at this and did a search on cleaning and did not pull up much of help. I am sure as I get more acclimated it will easier to navigate and pull up information. Thank you all for being patient. This is a great site. Much more helpful than my Doctor and DME.

conasauga wrote:Thank you so much. Exactly what I was hoping for in information. I am new at this and did a search on cleaning and did not pull up much of help.

for future searching: use a search engine, and put "site:cpaptalk.com" in the search field, along with whatever else you're looking for. searching that and 'cleaning' on google comes up with 6,960 results.

I wash my mask and filter in vinager and water once a week on fridays and also change out my parts on the first friday of every month or as needed.

Never wash my hose, wash mask, liners, water tub once a week.

I just wipe my nasal cushion every after and before use. Sometimes I also wipe the frame of the mask. Baby wipes that are water based is what I use.

Sent from heaven

I wipe my mask cushion every morning with a Pampers Sensitive wipe. I wash it once a week or so with Ivory soap in warm water.

Other than that nothing so far. I only used distilled water in my humidifier so it's clean.

Your humidifier *may* not pick anything up from the distilled water that you use. How long does it take you to use up a container of distilled water? Is the air that goes through your humidifier germ and virus free and does it go through so fast that nothing is left behind?