Foul smell when I put on my mask

[julesduckie]

Every night when I put on my mask, there is a foul smell. I clean my mask, hose, and humidifier regularly with dish soap and warm water, but even then, the smell persists. Is there a safe deodorizer that I can use? Any other suggestions?

[Wulfman...]

Every night when I put on my mask, there is a foul smell. I clean my mask, hose, and humidifier regularly with dish soap and warm water, but even then, the smell persists. Is there a safe deodorizer that I can use? Any other suggestions?

Can you define "foul smell"? That encompasses a pretty broad spectrum of mental images.......

Do you clean/change your machine air intake filters on a somewhat regular basis?

Maybe you're cleaning things TOO often.

What specific soap do you clean it with?

Do you use distilled water in your HH tank?


Den

.

[PoolQ]

Welcome! mine does also, sometimes, I have found that it depends on what I had for dinner. Truly it took me a while to figure this out, not even saying that this is the same as you.

Aroma therapy scents on a cotton ball or Q-tip in front of the intake to the CPAP machine should provide what ever you want. They even make little paper disks with a stand that you put drops on just for this. Suggest that you don not put anything scented in the water tank as that may put too much into your lungs when heated.

[julesduckie]

I clean my mask, hose, and humidifier with gain dish soap and let them soak in the sink in the soapy water once a week. I change my filter once a month. The odor is kind of a musty smell. I use distilled water.

[Wulfman...]

I clean my mask, hose, and humidifier with gain dish soap and let them soak in the sink in the soapy water once a week. I change my filter once a month. The odor is kind of a musty smell. I use distilled water.

Are you using a (relatively) higher heated humidifier setting?


Den

.

[julesduckie]

my humidifier is set on 2

[PoolQ]

I suggest you clean the mask cushion every day, betting the smell will go away.

[kteague]

Even though I use distilled water and periodically thoroughly clean my humidifier tank, I find it will have a mildew type smell if I don't empty and rinse it at least every 3 to 4 nights. When it gets that smell and I empty it and wipe it with a paper towel it is already starting to feel slimy and leaves a pink residue on the towel. Maybe once a week is not often enough for your purposes.

[Cardsfan]

On days that you don't wash your equipment with soap and water, at least wipe the mask down with a baby wipe. Dump out the water and replace it daily in the humidifier tank. Also, if you wash your face before using the mask, that helps remove the oils.
Another tip is to swish some white vinegar around in the humidifier tank and rinse. It kills bacteria. I use about 1/3 vinegar and 2/3 water.
I also use Johnson's Baby shampoo on my mask, it smells so much better than Dawn. Actually, I use a squirt of Dawn and a squirt of Johnson's Baby Shampoo mixed together.
An easy way to clean the mask is by using a gallon size ziplock baggie. Squirt the soap and Baby Shampoo in it, add hot water and the mask. Zip it up and swish it around. I let it set for about 10 minutes to soak.

[garagelogician]

I bet its your humidifier tank, it is dark, damp and warm...weekly cleaning for it is not enough. I clean my mask and my humidifier tank every day, hose gets cleaned weekly.

I use this with great results:
http://www.amazon.com/Mask-Bright-Ounce ... B013CF63SC

Just spray it on, let it sit 2-3 minutes, then rinse and dry everything with a clean microfiber cloth. I rotate my cloths out weekly, you can get a big pack of them from Amazon for really cheap.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmeB4h1497A

[Pugsy]

I would start a process of experiments eliminating various items to see if the smell went away with the elimination of an item.
Like...try a brand new hose...try a brand new mask...try unhooking the humidifier from the blower and eliminating the humidifier...try a brand new water chamber...you get the idea.

My first elimination experiment if it were me....new hose.

[Cardsfan]

I reread the post where you said you use Gain dish soap. So I went to Gain's main website and was trying to see the ingredients. I started reading the reviews and the first 5 or 6 of them were negative. They almost all said "They could not get the smell of gain out of the dishes and pots and pans" even after rinsing thoroughly. and that it did not cut the grease".
I'd stop using the Gain for sure. The Gain could be leaving a residue of something behind.

[Cardsfan]

Well this is interesting. Gain's website http://www.ilovegain.com says that plastic and metal can absorb the smell of Gain. To get the smell out, it says to wipe the item in vinegar and dry, or put it in the freezer. I was reading the reviews, and this was a response to a negative review.
My sleep Dr also told me to use Vinegar for cleaning my supplies.
I think I'd go buy a big jug of vinegar and soak everything. Which would be the cheapest way to start. Then wash everything with Johnson Baby shampoo- smells so good. If that doesn't work, start buying new equipment.

[Pugsy]

I think I'd go buy a big jug of vinegar and soak everything.

Don't do it unless you like the smell of vinegar.
I recently soaked just a water chamber in a vinegar solution just to get a tiny spot of mineral build up off of a water chamber that went with a machine that I was selling.
Now I hate the smell of vinegar myself so I thought I cleaned the water chamber sufficiently to remove the odor...lots of hot, hot water washing and rinsing. I thought I got all the smell.
The new owner happened to mention that sometimes the machine smelled like "pickles" when she first turns it on. I guess I didn't get all the vinegar smell after all.

If the hard plastic of a water chamber will absorb odors...just think what a hose or mask will do when soaking in something that might produce unpleasant odors.

[Cardsfan]

I use a vinegar wash weekly. I have never had a vinegar smell. I just swish the vinegar mixture (diluted with water) in the humidifier for a minute, then rinse, then wash with baby shampoo. I think if you smell vinegar, you did not dilute it enough. I use around 4 parts water, 1 part vinegar. All I ever smell is the baby shampoo.
If whatever the foul smell is, I'm hoping the vinegar would help since it is an antibacterial. I wouldn't want to be breathing in something harmful.