Cleaning Help

[Cjsimmons0]

Hey Guys

I just wanted was wondering how often you guys clean ur hose, and water chamber.... (And how you guys go about cleaning the water chamber?)

And I have a Mirage Liberty, do you guys know a good way to properly clean it?

[archangle]

I disassemble my PRS1 water tank and wash it in the dishwasher once a week.

I hook the hose to the kitchen faucet and run hot water through it at the same time. I rinse the outside with the same water. I hook it to my old CPAP machine and dry the inside of the hose.

I have a spare of each, and let the just cleaned ones sit in a clean and dry spot until the next cleaning cycle.

I disassemble my ComfortGel Blue mask and give it the same treatment, except the headgear. Experiment with your Mirage mask at your own risk.

[Otter]

I've been at this a little over four months, and I haven't cleaned my hose or water chamber yet. I just use distilled water, dump it when I get up, and run my machine for about 3 minutes to dry everything out. Having the "hypoallergenic" filters on my S9 probably helps.

One of these days, I think I'll probably put some diluted vinegar or soap or something in the hose, join the ends with an adapter I got for this purpose, and swish it around a bit. Might give the tank a soak too. But there is no urgency. Everything looks like new, and the equipment smells better than it did when I got it.

For the mask, I use Citrus II mask wipes daily. I usually don't even bother to take the cushion out. I've cleaned my mask once in warm tap water with a little ivory dish detergent. My mask liners keep most of the oils off the silicone, and so far this minimal regimen seems to be working.

[TalonNYC]

I wipe down the mask daily with a CPAP wipe (there are a few to choose from, I like the Citrus II brand wipes myself).

Weekly, I take the mask apart, and soak it in the Control Home Kit. Basically it's just a disinfectant soak in really hot water after I hand-wash all the parts in castille soap. You can use dish soap too, I like the castille for the peppermint smell =)

The tank gets emptied and left to dry every day, and goes in the same soak as the mask once per week.

The hose gets flushed with water once per week, and I also dump the remaining soak water into it, hold it for a couple of minutes and flush it again. I attach it to the machine, put a paper towel folded up under the other end, and let the machine air-dry the tube for about 30 min.

The disinfectant soak doesn't natively remove scaling/buildup, but I find that using only distilled water and letting it dry each day has kept the stuff from building up on the tank.

Edited to fix the name of the brand of wipes I use.

[Sheriff Buford]

I am truly blessed, so I haven't had to use my humidifier yet. As far as your mask... I started out with the mirage liberty, but I had too many leaks. I use Pampers Thick wipes for sensitive skin. I wipe down the mask every morning. If you use wipes, be sure you use wipes that do not contain alcohol (it will break down the mask-plastic) or aloe (it will leave an unwanted film). On Saturday, I scrub the mask (minus the headgear) with a toothbrush and baby shampoo and soak the mask in water and shampoo suds for a couple of hours. Then I rinse the mask real well, because I don't like the shampoo scent in my mask.

Happy Papin"

Sheriff

[nanwilson]

Sunday morning I take my mask and headgear to the sink, give them all a good wash in Johnsons unscented baby shampoo, rinse and allow to air dry on a clean face cloth on my dresser until bedtime. I use distilled water ONLY, so no need to weekly wash my hose and humidifier....maybe monthly.

[robysue]

Mask: I use a nasal pillows mask. I use two pairs of pillows at a time. Each morning I take the used pillow off and soak it in a clean cup containing vinegar-water. (I eyeball it---usually it's around a 1:5 ratio of vinegar to water). And I remove the soaking pillow around bedtime or the following morning and air dry until reassembling the mask at bedtime. So there's always one dry, clean pillow at bedtime and one that's either still soaking or just taken out to dry.

Humidifier tank: I typically fill the humidifier tank about 1/2 --3/4 full with distilled water. This typically gives me two or three days worth of water in the tank. When the tank is almost dry, I take the tank out and rinse it with an eyeballed 1:5 vinegar:water ratio. Sometimes I let it soak for a while, sometimes I don't. Depends on how rushed I am in the morning. And then air dry (open) until evening when I put everything back together.

Hose: I also have two hoses and two small hoses that connect the Swift FX to the main hose. One set of hoses is in use and one set is hung to dry from the last cleaning cycle. Once a week I wash the hose that's currently in use and swap to the clean, dry hose. I wash the hoses by making a sink full of 1:4 or 1:5 vinegar:water. Then I submerge the hoses and use a small measuring cup to pour water into the hoses and use a clean plate to weight them down. And let them soak anywhere from 30 minutes to several hours. I'll add that day's pillows and the humidifier tank to the soak water too. (I tend to put the hoses into their bath right before we're going out for the day.) When the soaking is done, I hook the hoses up to the faucet and run hot water at full blast through them. I also attach the pillows unit at the end of the hose and that forces lots of water through the exhaust holes for the mask. And the water has enough pressure for me to easily identify any leaks in the hoses.

[Bobby269]

This should help with the mask. http://www.resmed.com/us/products/mirag ... c=patients

[Amanda RCP]

Hello. I am a homecare RCP. Our recommended cleaning is...
daily - wipe down mask with a wet warm cloth
weekly - wash humidifier cup, tubing, mask in warm soapy water (whatever soap u use in the sink, original version)
monthly - after washing in soap/water, use 1 part white vinegar & 4 parts water to soak all above items for 30 minutes.

never use any harsh chemicals ( bleach, lysol, clorox, etc...) remember you are breathing in these particles.

Good luck. Amanda RT

PS. you dont have to disassemble ur mask to clean it but if u want to, pull the seal outta the frame and wash seperatly.

[mebeingme]

****do not put climateline tubings in vinegar water solution.

[Tsubs]

I alternate the Resmed Mirage Quattro full face mask and the Philips Respironics ComfortGel nasal mask. I have extremely oily skin so I take apart whichever mask I just used and wash only the cushions and the forehead pad since those are the only parts that touch my face. I do this after every use and wash it with Neutrogena soap since it removes facial oils better than most, and leaves no residue. This is very evident in the clear cushion of the Mirage Quattro since its clear material will quickly show any residue left by the soap used. I used another soap before and the residue it left was almost alarming. This was easily removed by Neutrogena when i washed it after. The other mask parts I just wash when I feel that they, too, have become oily.

My concern however is with regard to their respective headgear. I once washed an old Philips Respironics headgear and it immediately began to disintegrate. In a matter of a week or so, it was virtually unuseable. Will anyone please tell me how to take care of my headgear, please? I already washed the Resmed headgear I am using and it seems to have no problems with me handwashing it with diluted dishwashing liquid. Am very wary of the Philips Respironics Premium headgear though. An added concern for me is that in the manual of the Philips Respironics, it particularly warned to make sure not to get the headgear wet.

[Otter]

weekly - wash humidifier cup, tubing, mask in warm soapy water (whatever soap u use in the sink,

Which sink? Do you mean dish detergent or hand soap?

original version)

Does this means that when the manufacturer puts "new and improved" on the label, I should stop using the product clean my CPAP equipment? That would eliminate almost anything that's been on the market for more than three years.