How to disinfect a cpap machine?

[Woody]

I have an old Devilbiss autoadjust 2 that I am scared to use again for just this reason.
The one time I did use it I had some respiratory problems for about 2 weeks. It may
have been from mold, bacteria or the fact that this was from a house with cats and
I have a cat allergy. By the way this cpap may belong in a musium it's realy old!

[jlmoorekcmo]

I too have been using the SoClean for about a year. I love the convenience. Just wipe it down then stick the mask in the machine, at night take mask out of machine let machine run for 20 seconds the put on mask. Sanitized mask & machine every night.

[chunkyfrog]

A little filth is a good thing; otherwise your immune system would be useless.
Too much clean makes us weak.

[Todzo]

I suppose it all comes down to what you are comfortable with. Some of us don't do much cleaning, while others will scrub and disinfect to the nth degree. As long as the user of the equipment is happy thats all that matters

Hi mgaggie!

Excellent point!

I did the ozone treatment in Seattle because the mold smell was bothering me and stuffing me up!

I let the machine run for an hour or so after the ozone treatment in the open air to drastically reduce the ozone residue.

I have not had to do it here in my new city yet.

Have a great week!

Todzo

[RogerSC]

I did the ozone treatment in Seattle because the mold smell was bothering me and stuffing me up!

I let the machine run for an hour or so after the ozone treatment in the open air to drastically reduce the ozone residue.

I have not had to do it here in my new city yet.

Have a great week!

Todzo

Makes sense to me, if you're smelling mold, there's mold there. I'd be finding a way to clean my machine until the mold smell was gone, too. Moist environments can promote mold, not good for you.

[Todzo]

A little filth is a good thing; otherwise your immune system would be useless.
Too much clean makes us weak.

Hi chunkyfrog!

I absolutely agree!

Basic cleaning yes. Disinfectants no. Learning to promote a healthy microbiome – essential!

Have a great week!

Todzo

[Sleepy in Idaho]

I'm actually really glad to see this line of posts as I had a similar question. Am dealing with a very strange and currently inexplicable pain on the bridge of my nose which is evading diagnosis. Today I had a scope done, still nothing specific to pinpoint and the doctor asked how I clean my CPAP machine. I felt very stupid saying that I rinse out the water container every day and add fresh distilled water, and I clean the mask and cushion daily - as well as change the filter every week....beyond that, not much. He asked about the hose - which I have never cleaned and so I thought I would come on and visit with all you smart people who've been doing this longer than I have to see what kinds of things you do.

I don't think I'm interested in the ozone machine and I seem to remember reading on here when I first joined about avoiding vinegar because the smell lingers and lingers and lingers...it sounds like many of you are saying you don't have to do much because the way the air moves pretty much guarantees nothing really hangs out.

Any other suggestions? This thing with my nose is worrisome and could be a number of really scary things (which I hope it is not) but wouldn't it be just wonderful if I could fix it by cleaning my machine really well and letting the antibiotics kill whatever is in side me - hopefully!

Thanks in advance for your comments - I have read the posts here and didn't see lots of other ideas, but I'm willing to try a number of things.

Happy Sleeping to everyone,

Sleepy

[TangledHose]

I'm actually really glad to see this line of posts as I had a similar question. Am dealing with a very strange and currently inexplicable pain on the bridge of my nose which is evading diagnosis. Today I had a scope done, still nothing specific to pinpoint and the doctor asked how I clean my CPAP machine. I felt very stupid saying that I rinse out the water container every day and add fresh distilled water, and I clean the mask and cushion daily - as well as change the filter every week....beyond that, not much. He asked about the hose - which I have never cleaned and so I thought I would come on and visit with all you smart people who've been doing this longer than I have to see what kinds of things you do.

I don't think I'm interested in the ozone machine and I seem to remember reading on here when I first joined about avoiding vinegar because the smell lingers and lingers and lingers...it sounds like many of you are saying you don't have to do much because the way the air moves pretty much guarantees nothing really hangs out.

Any other suggestions? This thing with my nose is worrisome and could be a number of really scary things (which I hope it is not) but wouldn't it be just wonderful if I could fix it by cleaning my machine really well and letting the antibiotics kill whatever is in side me - hopefully!

Thanks in advance for your comments - I have read the posts here and didn't see lots of other ideas, but I'm willing to try a number of things.

Happy Sleeping to everyone,

Sleepy

I have had excelent results with Control III to disinfect hose , humidifier tub, and mask. Just mix one ounce to gallon of water and soak for ten minutes.....I fill the hose with the solution and hang the hose with ends up so the solution stays in the hose for ten miuntes and then rinse well...........you can get Control III at cpap dot com - stuff works great and smells good and clean.

[jdm2857]

The humidifier chamber only holds water (whether distilled or high-quality tap water, which I use), so disinfecting it
daily is really overkill. And since only air and water vapor pass through the hose (anything else that may or may not be
in the water is left behind in the chamber), cleaning it daily is also a bit excessive.

I've used straight vinegar in my humidifier chamber occasionally to remove small amounts of mineral build up. A few
good rinses with water and the smell is gone. And I've never cleaned a hose or saw anything in one that needed to
be cleaned up.

The mask is another story. Wash it, certainly. But disinfecting daily from your own germs seems like overkill to me.

[archangle]

The SoClean does not disinfect the inside of the blower unit at all. If you read their literature, the ozone only goes to the mask, hose, and humidifier chamber.

Hospitals and sleep labs do not disinfect the inside of CPAP blower units. It's not needed. They only clean hoses, masks, and water tanks. Or they dispose of them. They sometimes use a bacteria filter between the water tank and hose to prevent one patient from breathing germs back into the machine.

I think hospitals rarely if ever use ozone for sterilization. They use some other things such as ethelyne oxide, various liquids, hydrogen peroxide plasma, and some other things. I don't think they use these things on CPAP blower units.

The manufacturers have sanitization processes for all these parts, but not for the inside of the blower unit.

Many of the ozone devices are pure quackery. Any concentration of ozone high enough to reliably kill germs is likely to damage plastics and rubber. Any home brew ozone generator is likely to either do nothing to germs or damage plastics. Also, if the ozone is high enough concentration, it may generate toxic chemicals as it reacts with various components.

Modern CPAP machines have some sensitive sensors like humidity, temperature, and airflow sensors in the airflow path. Water can ruin these sensors. Ozone and other disinfectants are a lot more reactive than water and probably pose a greater risk.

The FDA and EPA have low opinions on ozone generators as use for air cleaners, although there are some legitimate uses for sterilization. http://www.epa.gov/iaq/pubs/ozonegen.html

[patrick_a]

I'm actually really glad to see this line of posts as I had a similar question. Am dealing with a very strange and currently inexplicable pain on the bridge of my nose which is evading diagnosis. Today I had a scope done, still nothing specific to pinpoint and the doctor asked how I clean my CPAP machine. I felt very stupid saying that I rinse out the water container every day and add fresh distilled water, and I clean the mask and cushion daily - as well as change the filter every week....beyond that, not much. He asked about the hose - which I have never cleaned and so I thought I would come on and visit with all you smart people who've been doing this longer than I have to see what kinds of things you do.

I don't think I'm interested in the ozone machine and I seem to remember reading on here when I first joined about avoiding vinegar because the smell lingers and lingers and lingers...it sounds like many of you are saying you don't have to do much because the way the air moves pretty much guarantees nothing really hangs out.

Any other suggestions? This thing with my nose is worrisome and could be a number of really scary things (which I hope it is not) but wouldn't it be just wonderful if I could fix it by cleaning my machine really well and letting the antibiotics kill whatever is in side me - hopefully!

Thanks in advance for your comments - I have read the posts here and didn't see lots of other ideas, but I'm willing to try a number of things.

Happy Sleeping to everyone,

Sleepy

I have had excelent results with Control III to disinfect hose , humidifier tub, and mask. Just mix one ounce to gallon of water and soak for ten minutes.....I fill the hose with the solution and hang the hose with ends up so the solution stays in the hose for ten miuntes and then rinse well...........you can get Control III at cpap dot com - stuff works great and smells good and clean.

+1 for Control III

Btw, a little more info on ozone treatment http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00632 ... ttom_links read through the description section. I don't own one, nor am I planning to buy one.

[Kate M]

He asked about the hose - which I have never cleaned and so I thought I would come on and visit with all you smart people who've been doing this longer than I have to see what kinds of things you do.

I was told to clean the tubing once a week. The RT suggested I disconnect the hose from the machine and leave the mask attached. Put a few drops of soap in the mask and take the whole thing into the shower and rinse it all through the mask and tubing, then hang it over the shower head to dry. Although I was not instructed to sue it, they do sell a CPAP tube brush which I thought was overkill when I saw it. Our host sells one here:

https://www.cpap.com/productpage/monaco ... brush.html

Blessings,

Kate

[chunkyfrog]

If you have used vinegar, and cannot remove the trace of fragrance that remains, just eat a pickle before bed.
It will desensitize your nose to the vinegar. My hubby loves pickled herring, so when he starts,
I have one too, then I can kiss him without feeling like I'm smooching a fish.

[Kate M]

If you have used vinegar, and cannot remove the trace of fragrance that remains, just eat a pickle before bed.
It will desensitize your nose to the vinegar. My hubby loves pickled herring, so when he starts,
I have one too, then I can kiss him without feeling like I'm smooching a fish.

You crack me up! MY husband and I have a "garlic rule." If one eats it, we both eat it (for reasons you mentioned above )

[-tim]

I did the ozone treatment in Seattle because the mold smell was bothering me and stuffing me up!

I let the machine run for an hour or so after the ozone treatment in the open air to drastically reduce the ozone residue.

I have not had to do it here in my new city yet.

Have a great week!

Todzo

Makes sense to me, if you're smelling mold, there's mold there. I'd be finding a way to clean my machine until the mold smell was gone, too. Moist environments can promote mold, not good for you.

If you can smell mold, it may be above the toxic levels even after you clean it.

You can find out how bad it is. Get some gelatin and mix in a plastic container with boiled water and put it in a two containers. Let the hose blow over the one for a few minutes and then put both containers under a clean cloth for a day. If one has much more stuff on it than the other, you might have a toxic mold problem. Dispose of the samples after filling them with rubbing alcohol, any petroleum or pure white vinegar.