Cleaning habits

Hornnumb2 · Post by **Hornnumb2** » Wed Dec 23, 2015 9:59 am

New to this but was wondering do people clean the mask and hose everyday or how often?

nlt6mor · Post by **nlt6mor** » Wed Dec 23, 2015 10:05 am

Did when new, now once a week on the mask and once month on the hose.

HoseCrusher · Post by **HoseCrusher** » Wed Dec 23, 2015 10:11 am

Clean according to your immune system...

If you have never been sick, you may be able to just use your equipment for a period of time and then replace it.

If you drive by a school where children are playing and start to feel a tightness in your throat, your eyes start watering, and your nose starts sniffling, and you end up with a "cold" weekly, you want to clean more frequently.

WindCpap · Post by **WindCpap** » Wed Dec 23, 2015 10:14 am

My schedule:

Daily: Clean Nasal Pillows, and empty humidifier water. Allow humidifier tank to dry on a towel. If I didn't have such an easy humidifier tank, I might not empty the water since I clean the tank once a week anyway.

Weekly: Clean Entire Mask, Headgear, Humidifier Tank, and Hose. Takes about 20 minutes, and I use the opportunity to thoroughly clean the kitchen sink and counter, change the kitchen washcloth, and change my humidifier drying towel. Clean CPAP with a damp cloth. Flick the dust off the filter.

Monthly: Change the filter.

WindCpap · Post by **WindCpap** » Wed Dec 23, 2015 10:15 am

HoseCrusher wrote: If you drive by a school where children are playing and start to feel a tightness in your throat, your eyes start watering, and your nose starts sniffling, and you end up with a "cold" weekly, you want to clean more frequently.

It's not the cold virus your body has already fought off that you are concerned with.

Sir NoddinOff · Post by **Sir NoddinOff** » Wed Dec 23, 2015 10:17 am

This is a good place to start:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=89348&hilit=+CPAP+Basics+re%3A

Here's some phrases to type into the search engine space in the upper left corner. Hundreds of hits.
CPAP clean
CPAP mask clean

I clean my hose once a month, mask daily, headgear etc once a week. Probably about average for most users.

Robespierre · Post by **Robespierre** » Wed Dec 23, 2015 12:13 pm

Clean the nasal pillows and change the filter about once a month. Clean the short hose maybe once a year. Never clean the long hose. I would clean more often if I got sick.

englandsf · Post by **englandsf** » Wed Dec 23, 2015 12:20 pm

I clean more to have a fresh smelling system than for infection reduction. Pillows daily, mask and tank weekly, hose monthly. Replace all every 6 months.

Okie bipap · Post by **Okie bipap** » Wed Dec 23, 2015 1:12 pm

When I first started treatment, my DME recommended I clean everything weekly. She said that is the schedule she uses for her equipment and her husband's. I maintained that schedule for a while, then slacked off. Now tht cold season is here, I have gone back to that schedule and will keep it at least through the winter.

Sir NoddinOff · Post by **Sir NoddinOff** » Wed Dec 23, 2015 4:43 pm

Just a little post-note: CPAP machine filters (the white fiber ones) tend to get grungy after 2 to 6 weeks, depending on the environment you use them in. Change your filter when it is noticeably the first shade of gray. Medium or dark gray, too late!

ChicagoGranny · Post by **ChicagoGranny** » Wed Dec 23, 2015 5:50 pm

HoseCrusher wrote:you end up with a "cold" weekly, you want to clean more frequently.

If you are getting a cold weekly anyway, why bother to clean?

chunkyfrog · Post by **chunkyfrog** » Wed Dec 23, 2015 6:03 pm

I remember cleaning stuff every day, week, then month.
Now I change the filter and nasal pillows every 3 weeks,
and wipe the dust off the top of my machine. I clean the tank when it looks "iffy".
My immunity is working quite well. {{{knock on wood}}}

Wulfman... · Post by **Wulfman...** » Wed Dec 23, 2015 6:11 pm

Hornnumb2 wrote:New to this but was wondering do people clean the mask and hose everyday or how often?

EVERY DAY??????
Not hardly. Never have, never will. Have never "cleaned" a hose in 10 1/2 years and am still using my original ones.

Read everything in this link and you'll get an idea of the spectrum of what the users do:

viewtopic.php?p=567264#p567264

Den

.

stepyou · Post by **stepyou** » Wed Dec 23, 2015 7:22 pm

So far I have been cleaning my face mask every morning and then each Sunday I clean the mask, hose, humidifier tank and headgear straps using a CPAP parts dedicated sponge.

Journey to Sleep · Post by **Journey to Sleep** » Wed Dec 23, 2015 7:49 pm

I was cleaning it every other day when I first got a CPAP.

I got lazy and started cleaning it once every 2-4 weeks for a while.

For hygiene purposes, I think once or more per week is solid.

Basically, if you have mold and weird stuff growing, you need to be doing a better job. I've never had anything like that grow in my humidifier tank despite my less than satisfactory cleaning habits in the past.

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