bactaria in water tank?

I clean my resmed tank weekly with Ivory dish detergent, let it air dry and use only distilled water, BUT the tank still gets what looks like bactaria growing in the inside seams. It's a black growth, looks like mold, YUCK! It happened in my last tank too, so I bought a new one, but after a year it's happening again. I use a baby bottle brush in it, but it's very hard to reach the areas where the black is showing. I've done a vinegar and water soak all day, and it didn't make any differnece. I was thinking of putting it in my dishwasher on sterilize, but I'm afraid the dishwasher detergent would be too harsh - we are breathing in any residues all night! Any suggestions anyone? Or am I worrying for nothing, maybe the black stuff is harmless?

Which ResMed machine and humidifier?

There are dishwasher safe tanks.

https://www.cpap.com/productpage/resmed ... amber.html

https://www.cpap.com/productpage/resmed ... amber.html

The standard S9 H51 water chamber is not easily taken apart for cleaning and is not reported to be dishwasher safe. The one in the link above is dishwasher safe and easily opened for better cleaning.

Given your history of problems even using distilled water and investment in a dishwasher safe, easy to take apart and put back together tank might be worth the little bit of added expense.

If what you've already tried hasn't worked in getting rid of the black goop in your tank, how about trying some steriliser for baby bottles? If you don't want to spend the $$$ on that, you could try peroxide.

Cheers,
xena

Changing the humidifier tank every year is not unreasonable. Most insurance allows replacement every 3-6 months. Why don't you fill in your equipment in your profile.

Here is the video on how to get it apart to clean it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scg8Nc9LkRo

LSAT wrote:Changing the humidifier tank every year is not unreasonable. Most insurance allows replacement every 3-6 months. Why don't you fill in your equipment in your profile.

I agree, I swap mine out every 6 months, the DME sends them along with the semi-annual shipment (only had one so far, second is in 2 months).

I don't use any detergent at all on the tank.

I just soak the tank about every 4 or 5 weeks with 1 part vinegar, 2 parts water for about 3 or 4 hours. From what I've heard, vinegar kills the bacteria that detergent doesn't.

So far after 6-1/2 months I haven't had a problem with any mold or pink film (knocks on wood).

ameriken wrote:I don't use any detergent at all on the tank.

I just soak the tank about every 4 or 5 weeks with 1 part vinegar, 2 parts water for about 3 or 4 hours. From what I've heard, vinegar kills the bacteria that detergent doesn't.

So far after 6-1/2 months I haven't had a problem with any mold or pink film (knocks on wood).

I think the soap may be what is feeding the mildew.

For a washable tank, our old DME wanted more for the co-pay PLUS the upcharge than the entire cost from our sponsors.
BCBS apparently doesn't think cleaning is necessary. . .
Guess where I bought DH's tank.
For rinsing after cleaning, I'm thinking of borrowing hubby's beer keg sanitizer (the no-rinse type)

I got something similar by not washing often enough, but mine was a pink film (aspergillus?). Almost daily, I wash my tank with unscented dishwashing liquid -- just a little -- and air dry (NOT IN THE BATHROOM! TOO HUMID!) Once a week, I use a peracetic acid solution to disinfect.

Peracetic acid can be made by mixing store-bought hydrogen peroxide and distilled white vinegar. Do not premix as it begins to oxidize and breakdown. Mix that with a little water and soak. Rinse thoroughly.

Haven't had a problem since.

I haven't had a problem, but as a precaution, I've been adding a little bit of bleach to soapy mix that I swirl around in my tank when i clean it. I just have to rinse it out a few more times to get rid of the bleach smell.

Vinegar...not bleach, is recommended

I haven't had this problem. I use a little Listerine (mouth wash) once a month and soak it through out the day. Early evening, I rinse it and let it air dry before adding distilled water. Listerine is antibacterial and I also soak my hose and mask in it. Plus I get a little burst of minty freshness for a couple of nights. For the rest of the month, I use Dial antibacterial liquid soap weekly to wash and rinse.

LSAT wrote:Vinegar...not bleach, is recommended

I didn't think vinegar killed the cooties, but I just checked and read that vinegar kills bacteria, mold and germs. So I won't be using bleach anymore.
I also like the Listerine idea. It probably smells nice.

Be VERY mindful of what kind of cleaning agent you use. Most soaps contain sudsing agents, perfumes, stearates (to make your skin feel soft), etc. The residues left behind are difficult to remove as they are waxy or oily. The waxes and oils actually provide the medium for mold growth.

Want to get grossed out? Take apart a WASHING MACHINE. My wife has mold sensitivities so I had to research a lot of this...
In the washing machine, the biggest culprit is the fabric softener. Along with detergent residue, the fabric softener leaves deposits that grow a really slimy mold in rather astoundingly large quantities. I had to buy a new washer! Then I stopped using fabric softener and now I use white distilled vinegar instead of fabric softener. It neutralizes the alkalinity of the detergent allowing it to more completely rinse out of the clothes AND it cleans the innards of the washing machine and keeps it clean. The "sanitize" cycle on your washer does NOT remove the fabric softener/detergent buildup. (I partially dismantled my previous washer after running it through several sanitize cycles to check this).

So why a washing machine story when we're talking about CPAP humidifier tanks? Because the same principles apply albeit on a much smaller scale. Over the years I've learned that Baby Wash is probably one of the best of the readily available cleaning agents for my CPAP equipment. A quick rinse with a vinegar/water solution afterwards has become standard operating procedure. If you can't get it apart to thoroughly clean it, then by all means replace it.

We live with mold spores in various forms and concentrations all day long. For a whole LOT of people, the low-dose mold exposure, over an extended period of time eventually triggers a mold sensitivity issue. Once that happens, you're stuck. It doesn't go away and all you can do is keep your exposure levels so low that you don't trigger a reaction. Not as easy as it sounds because mold spores are EVERYWHERE. You even have to avoid certain foods because they are considered "moldy foods" for folks that are sensitive (strawberries, most grain products, etc).

Reader's Digest Condensed Version: If you can't take it apart to THOROUGHLY clean it..... replace it. If your insurance company balks at this, take a tank to your doctor and ask that it be broken down and checked for mold. Point out the deposits.