After Washing New AirFit F30 Mask Smells!

[Viraj3474]

How do I get a strong perfumey smell out of a brand new mask and headgear I washed for the first time!? I washed a second mask, two sets of headgear, and other cpap equipment, all in the same water, but only the AirFit F30 mask and headgear smells from the soap. The other equipment is Dreamwear headgear and semi-full mask that fits under the nose. It isn't made of the same material as the AirFit headgear. The Dreamwear mask and headgear is alright. After the equipment dried I rinsed the F30 mask again under running water for a long time, but it still smells too strong/bad to use. I’m using these two semi-full masks on a trial to see which works for me. I don’t have an extra F30 mask.

By the way, I’ve always used a half Dawn and half a Pure Palmolive liquid dish soap for my other nasal and pillow masks and never had silicon pick up any perfumey smell from the soap. I sure would appreciate any suggestions to get rid of the smell in the AirFit silicon cushion. Vinegar? And what water to vinegar ratio? Baking soda takes away odor, but I think it might leave residue. What do you think?

[tomkatt]

By the way, I’ve always used a half Dawn and half a Pure Palmolive liquid dish soap for my other nasal and pillow masks and never had any smelly silicon problem.

So HELP!!! I sure would appreciate your input!

Try adding a touch of vinegar to the cleaning solution; might neutralize the smell. How much Depends on how much water you're using. I tend to use 1-2 cups of vinegar per gallon of water as I fill up my cleaning bucket. It's helpful for the water tank too, can break down any buildup in it if you used something other than distilled water.

New silicone can have a bit of a smell to it (my new Brevida mask has a bit of smell to it) but should go away after a few uses and cleanings.

[chunkyfrog]

Baking soda might help.
I have used it in some pretty nasty places.
Please don't ask . . .

[Sheriff Buford]

As Tomkatt said add vinegar. I wash my mask in clear Dawn (unscented). Then I rinse well. I have a large plastic salad bowl that I soak my cushion in water for an hour or so. That's when I would introduce the vinegar. I then rinse well, dry off the cushion then I wipe down the mask with a baby wipe. This removes the scent and any film from the soap. Any scent of the soap upsets my tummy, so I have to get it off the mask.

Sheriff

Dang, now I'm gonna spend all day thinking of all the possible places Chunky has used baking soda!!

[Viraj3474]

Baking soda might help.
I have used it in some pretty nasty places.
Please don't ask . . .

I thought about that too. The idea would be to make sure the baking soda is THOROUGHLY dissolved. Using really hot water, first to dissolve it, say in one cup of hot water, and only after dissolving, adding the dissolved baking soda into a tub of clear water to soak offending cpac parts. I thought too about using this on the mask cushion and hard plastic parts only. Not hoses. Then rinse, rinse, rinse. Right now I’m using 3 parts water to 1 part vinegar to soak the perfumey cpac parts. If vinegar doesn’t do the job, will try the baking soda idea.

Speaking of off-the-wall ideas. My husband and I were coming up with ideas: whud about Borax?! Actually, Borateem borax. That stuff absolutely stops odor in clothing! We had a good laugh about that idea. But maybe that may work. I’ll report back here with our results. HAPPY FOURTH!!

[tomkatt]

As Tomkatt said add vinegar. I wash my mask in clear Dawn (unscented). Then I rinse well. I have a large plastic salad bowl that I soak my cushion in water for an hour or so. That's when I would introduce the vinegar. I then rinse well, dry off the cushion then I wipe down the mask with a baby wipe. This removes the scent and any film from the soap. Any scent of the soap upsets my tummy, so I have to get it off the mask.

Sheriff

Dang, now I'm gonna spend all day thinking of all the possible places Chunky has used baking soda!!

Be careful with the long soak. I used to soak my gear for an hour but I've got hard water and I get all kinds of white spots and build up if I leave it sit too long, even if I do a second soak and rinse.

Now I usually just soak it in soapy water for 10-15 minutes tops and rinse it out. No more spots.

[Sheriff Buford]

As Tomkatt said add vinegar. I wash my mask in clear Dawn (unscented). Then I rinse well. I have a large plastic salad bowl that I soak my cushion in water for an hour or so. That's when I would introduce the vinegar. I then rinse well, dry off the cushion then I wipe down the mask with a baby wipe. This removes the scent and any film from the soap. Any scent of the soap upsets my tummy, so I have to get it off the mask.

Sheriff

Dang, now I'm gonna spend all day thinking of all the possible places Chunky has used baking soda!!

Be careful with the long soak. I used to soak my gear for an hour but I've got hard water and I get all kinds of white spots and build up if I leave it sit too long, even if I do a second soak and rinse.

Now I usually just soak it in soapy water for 10-15 minutes tops and rinse it out. No more spots.

Point well taken. I've been soaking my mask/cushion for 10 years without any water hardness problems. But.... I can see where that would be a problem if we had hard water.

Sheriff

[chunkyfrog]

Hard water is bad for soaking--use distilled.

[Pugsy]

Hard water is bad for soaking--use distilled.

Also bad for doing the baking soda and boiling trick to clean. Been there and done that and learned my lesson.

[Viraj3474]

Hard water is bad for soaking--use distilled.

Also bad for doing the baking soda and boiling trick to clean. Been there and done that and learned my lesson.

OH, OH! I don’t know what the lesson-learned experience was that you had Pugsy, but will lay off the baking soda. Anyway, the problem with the F30 mask cushion that was perfumey has cleared up. The next day after the vinegar wash, I washed it again in a small amount of dish soap and a good rinse. After it dried the odor was almost gone so I went ahead and used the cushion last night. Problem seems to be resolved. In the future I will pay more attention and make sure I am not using too much soap. Husband read that Seventh Generation makes a dish soap without fragrances so will give that a try. Thanks to all here who wrote suggestions. They were most appreciated.

[Pugsy]

OH, OH! I don’t know what the lesson-learned experience was that you had Pugsy, but will lay off the baking soda.

Please folks....the baking soda is fine to use. Heck I would still use it if I was in a situation that needed it.
You all probably don't know the history behind what I did and why. It was the combination of baking soda and boiling trick COMBINED with using my tap water that created the problem. Actually my tap water was the big culprit. I am in SW Missoouri....I am on a well...our water here has a very high mineral content. I did an experiment using the boiling with baking soda trick to bring life back to some well used nasal pillows. First experiment was with tap water.....OMG the pillows looked white and cloudy after it was all done. Horrible looking. I repeated the experiment using distilled water and baking soda for both the boiling AND the rinsing afterwards.
The pillows ended up being brand new looking. Clear like they were supposed to.

Baking soda wasn't the problem...my tap water was the problem.

So folks...baking soda is fine to use but don't do the boiling trick with tap water if you live in an area where your water has a high mineral content. Now if you have some sort of water filtration system that removes the minerals (when I lived in Las Vegas I had such a system) then of course you won't have that same problem.

I just wanted to clear this up in case people were thinking the problem I had was the baking soda...it wasn't.
The problem was my tap water and why I mentioned the distilled water.

[chunkyfrog]

If you are in doubt as to the hardness of your tap water,
look inside the tank behind a toilet that is several years old.
If you see thick mineral deposits, your water is probably hard.
You can also check the screen on your kitchen faucet--little rocks tell the story .