Perma-Stench: M-series Auto CPAP

[Babette]

Yeah, change your filters regularly, folks.

BTW, googled "febreze + formaldehyde" and got some interesting hits:

http://ask.metafilter.com/84828/I-like- ... person-but

http://drbenkim.com/dangers-air-fresheners.html

http://www.aolhealth.com/healthy-living ... en-hazards

http://www.liparrotsociety.org/dangerous.htm

http://fgifford.blogspot.com/2008/01/fo ... fairy.html

Cheers,
B.

[Babette]

I wonder if Ozone would work to kill the smell. Its toxic to most bacteria (us too) but has a short life span. It works very well as a bleach too. I know one guy that uses it to get cigarette smoke smell from a car. Because its so reactive it doesn't just cover a smell, but actually destroys the molecules that cause odors.

Hot tub places sell machines that produce Ozone for use in hot tubs.

According to my ex-BF, the incredible geek about chemicals, ozone is very destructive to foam and plastics and rubber parts. He really did not like it being used anywhere. I mentioned getting an ozone machine, and he laughed about how quickly I'd be replacing things that fell apart. I had an ozone air freshener thing in my car, and he kept pointing out the things that were being destroyed by it.

I really think the answer here is to try to get a replacement piece of foam, rather than try to clean it anyway.

Cheers,
B.

[Slinky]

Yep, I've heard Ozone too for "descenting" an xPAP.

[Debjax]

I don't have the address for them, however one thing I've found in the past that generally gets a response from companies is to copy the Investor Relations department under separate cover,

How does one go about contacting an "Investor Relations department"??

When you send your letter, mark it to the ATTN: Investor Relations. I tried to find an email for you, but couldn't, so hardcopy it would have to be.

[Debjax]

I don't have the address for them, however one thing I've found in the past that generally gets a response from companies is to copy the Investor Relations department under separate cover, and let them know you will be publicizing this all over the place....making sure to let them know you are not happy about the expense you have incurred for a now worthless machine that is worthless due to their design flaw.

I'm not feeling that vindictive at the moment. It'd be nice if they talked to me but honestly, the reason I posted this was just to inform people of why this machine is such an odor-magnet, not to try and get anything fixed or resolved (already gave up on that).

True enough maybe, but someone with the problem should go on the offensive, or they don't change and it becomes a chronic problem.

[DigiSage]

So, DigiSage, is that big sponge-like foam piece revealed in any of Craig's pictures of the disassembled M Series? Is it surrounding what looks like the round "fan" on the right in picture 04.connections? (I'm not mechanically inclined).

No, it doesn't actually show up in any of the photos, but I can tell you roughly where it is. If you look at http://www.internetage.ws/cpapinfo/m-se ... ctions.jpg, it's underneath the motor, which the black circular piece of plastic is covering.If you take off the rectangular piece of plastic around it, underneath is a piece of filter-like foam (which you can see a little bit of around the black circle). Take off that piece of foam and underneath that is the gigantic sponge-like foam I spoke of, which thanks to DME Daddy, I now know exists for sound dampening and not any kind of leak sealing. The motor sits inside this piece of foam, in a cavity carved out of it so that the motor fits in it perfectly. My wife is demanding I clean up the mess I made taking this thing apart, so maybe I'll actually take a picture of it tonight

She also spent a good deal of time scrubbing it before we started soaking it and it didn't make any difference at all. I'm just going to put the whole thing back together and stuff it in my closet and maybe some day I'll be able to get new foam for it. I enjoyed taking it apart anyway, which I never would have done if I didn't have this problem.

If anyone has a broken M-series a-flex, that doesn't smell, I may be interested in buying it from you for the foam, though I couldn't afford to pay much.

[-SWS]

If you look at http://www.internetage.ws/cpapinfo/m-se ... ctions.jpg, it's underneath the motor, which the black circular piece of plastic is covering.If you take off the rectangular piece of plastic around it, underneath is a piece of filter-like foam (which you can see a little bit of around the black circle).

I wonder if you could substitute two pieces of weatherstrip foam as follows:

1) a thick circular sponge-foam disk placed on the bottom---beneath the motor, in conjunction with
2) a long, thin foam strip wrapped around the entire circumference (thus perpendicular to the foam disk below)

Should be able to slightly oversize the thicknesses so that compression holds everything nicely in place. Maybe? If the selected foam objectionably off-gases either toxins or odors, then not at all a good solution.

[SharkBait]

So, DigiSage, is that big sponge-like foam piece revealed in any of Craig's pictures of the disassembled M Series? Is it surrounding what looks like the round "fan" on the right in picture 04.connections? (I'm not mechanically inclined).

No, it doesn't actually show up in any of the photos, but I can tell you roughly where it is. If you look at http://www.internetage.ws/cpapinfo/m-se ... ctions.jpg, it's underneath the motor, which the black circular piece of plastic is covering.If you take off the rectangular piece of plastic around it, underneath is a piece of filter-like foam (which you can see a little bit of around the black circle). Take off that piece of foam and underneath that is the gigantic sponge-like foam I spoke of, which thanks to DME Daddy, I now know exists for sound dampening and not any kind of leak sealing. The motor sits inside this piece of foam, in a cavity carved out of it so that the motor fits in it perfectly. My wife is demanding I clean up the mess I made taking this thing apart, so maybe I'll actually take a picture of it tonight

She also spent a good deal of time scrubbing it before we started soaking it and it didn't make any difference at all. I'm just going to put the whole thing back together and stuff it in my closet and maybe some day I'll be able to get new foam for it. I enjoyed taking it apart anyway, which I never would have done if I didn't have this problem.

If anyone has a broken M-series a-flex, that doesn't smell, I may be interested in buying it from you for the foam, though I couldn't afford to pay much.

Since the foam in question is just for sound dampening, perhaps you can find an alternative...

[-SWS]

Since the foam in question is just for sound dampening, perhaps you can find an alternative...

Good idea... Why didn't I think of that?

Just kidding.

[carbonman]

Moisture is a killer for electronics.

....it is also the necessary ingredient for "stuff" to grow....

I have always made it a habit in the am to,
disconnect the hose from my machine,
open the HH door and pull the tank half way out.
Let an accumulated moisture from the night evaporate
and let everything "breath", throughout the day.

Just a thought. After reading this, can't hurt.

[SharkBait]

Since the foam in question is just for sound dampening, perhaps you can find an alternative...

Good idea... Why didn't I think of that?

Just kidding.

[KarenP]

I use plain, white vinegar to remove odors from laundry and for household cleaning. It works well for removing fish odors on plates.

Soaking the foam piece in a vinegar solution might help remove the odor. After soaking, rinse well and dry the foam outside in direct sun until it is dry and odor-free.

I've used the vinegar soak followed by drying in the sun on mildewed towels with great results!

[Debjax]

Yeah, change your filters regularly, folks.

BTW, googled "febreze + formaldehyde" and got some interesting hits:

B.

Interesting articles. A year or so ago, a couple of folks in one of the hallways at work went "over the top" with air fresheners. It smelled like a french....well...you know. It was bad, the two of them were up and down the hall several times a day spraying the crap in the halls. Then on top of that they had the plugins all over the place, they were sticking them in most of the offices all over the building....I walked into my office and found one of the ladies plugging one into the outlet in my office. I pretty much went off on her, and stayed the he** out of that side of the building. They tried to hold meetings over there and were "annoyed" that I would not attend if it was in that hall.

After a few days, the entire building was "rich" with the crap, and it was getting more and more difficult for me, approaching the asthma attack level. Went in and spoke to the boss and had a "heart to heart". Within the hour, the plugins were gone and the sprays were banned. I simply cannot be around the phenols, or I can't breath.

[dsm]

I once tried to get the smell out of a PB318 cpap. My guess it was in a house fire & it had a rich smell of burnt wood no matter what you sniffed. Using it was just out of the question. But, I did try to clean it out in vain.

I pulled it to bits, washed the case & blower inside in detergent left the case in direct sunlight.

Nothing I did could diminish the burnt smell. 4 years later it still smalls as bad.

What I can say though is that the air circuit through a cpap is adequately isolated from the insides of the machine - in fact it is air tight between the motherboard area & the airflow area. If it weren't we would all be smelling hot chips (ic) & sweating capacitors & warmed up resistors etc:.

If a smell is coming from the air hose then the cause is in the air circuit somewhere i.e. air hose, h/h, or blower, or filter or coming into the machine through the filter.

If the machine itself smells that is most likely inside the case & not the air circuit. These machines run warm so there really is no good reason why moisture should get in the case and cause odd growths unless we get sloppy & slop water, drinks, coffee, coke etc: onto them & that then gets into the inside & foam. That 'might' allow bacteria to grow in there.

If I really wanted to get this machine I have to be smell free, my guess is I would need to replace every part & then keep my fingers crossed that I didn't contaminate the entire new machine with anything from the old one. Put another way, I doubt that a really contaminated case can be effectively fixed. It would be a real touch n go effort.

Good luck

DSM

[hummer3d]

I wonder if Ozone would work to kill the smell. Its toxic to most bacteria (us too) but has a short life span. It works very well as a bleach too. I know one guy that uses it to get cigarette smoke smell from a car. Because its so reactive it doesn't just cover a smell, but actually destroys the molecules that cause odors.

Hot tub places sell machines that produce Ozone for use in hot tubs.

I have an Ecoquest ozone air purifier, I bet you could put a cpap in front of it and it would get rid of the smell Maybe. I can tell you you can check into a hotel and plug it in and after just 30 minute you wont smell any more foul smells at the hotel. Theese macines are great but expensive in the $800.00 price range.