Rejuvenation Swift Fx Nasal piece – Boiling

[greg-g]

I’ve been experimenting for the past 5 weeks with trying to rejuvenate my Swift Fx Nasal piece. After 6 months I started having trouble maintaining a good seal on my nares, I couldn’t really feel any difference compared to a new one, but there was a slight distortion in the nasal cones.

My first attempt was to boil it for about 10 minutes, this didn’t make much difference. I then boiled it for an hour and there was a significant improvement that lasted about a week. In my last experiment I boiled it for about 30 minutes with a teaspoon of Sodium Bicarbonate (Baking Soda). That was three weeks ago and it’s still perfect.

Boil the nasal piece at a slow rolling boil in enough water so it’s free to move about for 20 to 30 minutes in a stainless steel saucepan with a teaspoon of sodium bicarbonate. Tip out and rinse in cold water while hot. (Don’t use aluminium as the sodium bicarbonate may damage the coating)

Daily I wipe the cones with a wet cloth, this seems to be adequate.

Medically sodium bicarbonate is used as an antacid and hence should be safe.

I would be very interested to hear of anyone’s experiments with old nasal pieces.

[Uncle_Bob]

with the costs of all that boiling you probably could have just bought some new pillows.

and i thought people in Arizona were frugal

i'd love to get 6 months out of any pillows

lets see if you can boil your pillows much longer

[jbn3boys]

I'm really interested in this thread. I was thinking of starting one asking if anyone had any luck with boiling their pillows. I'm only able to get abut two weeks out of most of my pillows before they start not sealing well. I'd love to hear what others are doing to extend the life of their nasal pillows. I just might have to try your method!

If anyone else is boiling, how long are you boiling for?

Anyone else know if baking soda is safe to use? (sounds like it, but maybe someone else knows more about it)

[JDS74]

Anyone else know if baking soda is safe to use? (sounds like it, but maybe someone else knows more about it)

Look at the MSDS for Arm & Hammer Baking Sodal here.

http://www.ahprofessional.com/MSDS/MSDS-960-sbc.pdf

Looks like no hazard at all.

[DocWeezy]

The baking soda sounds like a neat trick! I'm going to try it.

I'll be doing several pillows at once because I don't even get two weeks out of one; I'm letting some accumulate before attempting to restore again.

HOWEVER, my newest trick was to try baking the pillow. Did it with one so far and it worked fabulously so I'm planning on doing more. That makes it even easier--just wrap it well in foil (not wrapped tightly around it, but well sealed so the pillow doesn't look and smell like roast beef) and pop it into the oven when other things are baking.

Weezy

[jbn3boys]

How long at what temp have you tried, Weezy?? How much longer did you get out of them?

[DocWeezy]

How long at what temp have you tried, Weezy?? How much longer did you get out of them?

I think it was about 375 or 400 for a couple of hours. So far, I've gotten another weeks out of this one--it looks awful and smelled weird at first (kinda like roast beef! I didn't wrap it so it absorbed oven stuff) but the inner cones came out firm and those are what goes first on my pillows--the inner cones become soft and mushy after a week or so. I'm going to try baking it again in a couple of days to see if it can handle another round.

Theory behind baking: hubby is an engineer by education and worked in materials engineering for several years. He started researching the microscopic makeup of the silicone and discovered that it looks like a plate of spaghetti. So he theorized that moisture was able to penetrate the silicone strands causing it to soften. Hence, baking should dry it out again.

I haven't tested this extensively, but it seems to have worked pretty well with one. YMMV.

Weezy

[pitrow]

Anyone else know if baking soda is safe to use? (sounds like it, but maybe someone else knows more about it)

For my post-surgery treatment after having extensive sinus surgery I was told to do a nasal rinse with a solution of salt and baking soda, so as far as inhaling it, you should be perfectly fine. Now as to what it does to the plastic of the nasal pillows... no idea.

[jdm2857]

Some plastic materials have a memory and heat will allow them to be restored to their original shape. I have no idea if this applies to silicone.

As for the baking soda, I can't imagine it affecting the silicone directly. However, dissolving anything into water increases it's boiling point (and decreases it's freezing point -- that's why salt helps on icy roads), so the pillows will be exposed to higher temperature water.

[jbn3boys]

So if it is the heat that is effecting the pillows in a positive way, then it would seem that "baking" may provide better results, since it seems that would be a higher level of heat. I have one "baking" right now.

[Robespierre]

How long at what temp have you tried, Weezy?? How much longer did you get out of them?

I think it was about 375 or 400 for a couple of hours. So far, I've gotten another weeks out of this one--it looks awful and smelled weird at first (kinda like roast beef! I didn't wrap it so it absorbed oven stuff) but the inner cones came out firm and those are what goes first on my pillows--the inner cones become soft and mushy after a week or so. I'm going to try baking it again in a couple of days to see if it can handle another round.

Theory behind baking: hubby is an engineer by education and worked in materials engineering for several years. He started researching the microscopic makeup of the silicone and discovered that it looks like a plate of spaghetti. So he theorized that moisture was able to penetrate the silicone strands causing it to soften. Hence, baking should dry it out again.

I haven't tested this extensively, but it seems to have worked pretty well with one. YMMV.

Weezy

Many years ago I was involved in some research work with silicone elastomers. In doing so I learned that silicone is permeable to water vapor (not liquid water). Heated humidifiers put water vapor into the airstream, so it may very well be that some of that water vapor becomes embedded in the silicone strands. Heating would dry it out. A vacuum oven would be more efficient, but who has a vacuum pump and vacuum oven at their disposal?

[sleepydawn]

Very interesting ideas, thanks! I love the FX but the pillows really do seem to lose their shape more quickly than any other mask I've tried.

[DocWeezy]

In doing so I learned that silicone is permeable to water vapor (not liquid water). Heated humidifiers put water vapor into the airstream, so it may very well be that some of that water vapor becomes embedded in the silicone strands. Heating would dry it out. A vacuum oven would be more efficient, but who has a vacuum pump and vacuum oven at their disposal?

That rings a bell and sounds a lot like what hubby said. I've got to admit all that I remembered was "looks like plate of spaghetti" and "absorbs" and I got that only after I insisted he put it into language I could understand. My eyes glazed over and my brain didn't retain anything else.

Weezy

[ladyhen]

So if it is the heat that is effecting the pillows in a positive way, then it would seem that "baking" may provide better results, since it seems that would be a higher level of heat. I have one "baking" right now.

How did it turn out?

[jbn3boys]

I have one "baking" right now.

How did it turn out?

Not so good. I did it in a toaster oven, and I guess the heat was a little too close. I baked it for just over a half hour, and when I checked on it, it was starting to turn tan/brown. It was still perfectly shaped. I tried it one night, but didn't really see/notice any difference. Might be that the toaster oven is just not the right method of heating.