Ants in my Cpap!

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SleepyTexasGirl
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Ants in my Cpap!

Post by SleepyTexasGirl » Sun Mar 14, 2021 9:54 pm

My nightstand is right in front of a window. I’ve had an ant problem in the past. It went away for a while, prior to me getting my CPAP (Resmed airsense 10) a little over a year ago.

The ants are back. I killed one the other day on the outside of my water tank. Today I woke up and found that the machine had been running with a ton of ants both on the inside and outside of the water tank. There was a small piece of chocolate stuck to the bottom of the CPAP. Yes, I have bad eating habits at night.

I yanked out the water tank, then rinsed it off to get out the ants, then found that there were a lot of ants in the cavity opening where the tank had been. I wiped them off, then for the next several hours kept seeing an additional ant or two running along it that I tried to wipe off. I moved it someplace further from the window, so there shouldn’t be new ants, just ones coming out.

Tomorrow I am going to go to a family members house that has a 5 year old machine replaced by a new one. I will have to change the settings, but I know how to get into the service menu.

If I want to make sure all the ants are out of the inside, what would you recommend doing? I have hex wrenches or torx bits that should be able to open the bottom. I had thought about trying to vacuum it either one the outside or once opening it up. Any thoughts?

I could always call Resmed.

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JLROhio
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Re: Ants in my Cpap!

Post by JLROhio » Sun Mar 14, 2021 10:32 pm

Get one of those large gallon size ziplocks...put just the machine (no tank or hoses) in the bag...and place the whole thing in the freezer for a day or two.

At least there will be no "live ants"...
* This is the internet - what I write will probably NOT come across as it would in person; where one can read a person's face.
My posts are sometimes tongue & cheek w/some snarky sarcasm mixed in.
I leave it up to you to figure it out!
:wink:

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chunkyfrog
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Re: Ants in my Cpap!

Post by chunkyfrog » Sun Mar 14, 2021 10:35 pm

Thank you for reminding me it's about time to put out new bait traps.
Our very old house has "ant doors" everywhere.
I like the non-spillable gel bait.
Those miserable pests carry it home and wipe out their whole rotten family.
Worth it.

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Megs78
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Re: Ants in my Cpap!

Post by Megs78 » Mon Mar 15, 2021 5:10 am

I didn’t even know this was possible…ants in the machine, ew! I can only hope the mossies don’t get in. 😳

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chunkyfrog
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Re: Ants in my Cpap!

Post by chunkyfrog » Mon Mar 15, 2021 8:34 am

Megs78 wrote:
Mon Mar 15, 2021 5:10 am
I didn’t even know this was possible…ants in the machine, ew! I can only hope the mossies don’t get in. 😳
Skeeters don't care about your cpap.
They are attracted to CO2, (the vents on your mask);
and from there they zero in on warm, sweaty skin--and the all she can eat buffet.

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khauser
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Re: Ants in my Cpap!

Post by khauser » Mon Mar 15, 2021 11:29 am

OK, I'll share a little story. Warning, the stuff of nightmares appears below!

Decades (too many of them) ago, I lived in NYC, in an old building that, as it turns out, was infested with cockroaches. (You only think you can see where this is going.) This was pre-cpap days (probably shouldn't have been though). That's a good thing...

One day my turntable (told you it was long ago) stopped working. I am not the kind of person to look the other way when an opportunity to take something apart appears. So I got my turntable, sat cross-legged on the floor and proceeded to disassembly said turntable. I got the screws off the bottom, pulled the bottom off AND THERE ARE HUNDRES OF COCKROACHES PACKED IN IT!!!!

Did you know that humans can levitate when the proper motivation exists? Instinct took over and I was out of the area before the reasoning part of my brain re-engaged. I shudder to this day. Best part of not living in NYC anymore is no cockroaches!

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chunkyfrog
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Re: Ants in my Cpap!

Post by chunkyfrog » Mon Mar 15, 2021 12:54 pm

We had renters who apparently RAISED them.
When they finally left, we called in the experts.
Ten years later, still nary a roach.
That guy was totally worth it!

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RNeil
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Re: Ants in my Cpap!

Post by RNeil » Tue Mar 16, 2021 8:59 am

My exterminator told me that ants were attracted to moisture. I remove the humidifier reservoir first thing in the morning and dump the water. I then rinse it out and dry it with a cloth. I store it open and upside-down until the evening.

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chunkyfrog
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Re: Ants in my Cpap!

Post by chunkyfrog » Tue Mar 16, 2021 9:28 am

Ants in the tank--totally possible if the hose is detached or the mask is lying on a pillow or end table.
The port from the humidifier is the ONLY route into the tank.
My hose and mask always stay hooked up, with the mask hung high away from the wall.
Ants would have to climb up the hose or crawl on the fishing pole and strings to get inside.
I make it hard enough to eliminate most chances of invasion.
An easier way would be to put a fine mesh bag tightly around the opening.

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rdfry
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Re: Ants in my Cpap!

Post by rdfry » Tue Mar 16, 2021 9:10 pm

The Ops chocolate addiction seems to be the start of the problem.
Mask: bleep and F30i
Machine: Resmed S10 Autoset

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chunkyfrog
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Re: Ants in my Cpap!

Post by chunkyfrog » Tue Mar 16, 2021 10:04 pm

rdfry wrote:
Tue Mar 16, 2021 9:10 pm
The Ops chocolate addiction seems to be the start of the problem.
I'm not the only one?
Well, I already knew that--we frogs both keep our chocolate in airtight containers.
Just so we don't have to share with non-humans. (And sometimes humans, too.)

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Michaelm129
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Re: Ants in my Cpap!

Post by Michaelm129 » Tue May 10, 2022 9:16 am

I had this same problem this past weekend. I had a swarm of ants inside the machine. I removed the reservoir to fill up with water and in a heartbeat my hand was covered in ants. I took the resevoir and rinsed away the ants but when i looked in the machine it had a swarm of more ants and some nesting. I don't how long this has been going on but I did not have a problem two days earlier. I used water to flush em out...then left it outside for a few days to let any remaining to go somewhere else. It ridded me of the ants but the machine was kaput. I had to order a new one ants still coming out.

MsAmyLynn
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Re: Ants in my Cpap!

Post by MsAmyLynn » Tue May 10, 2022 9:38 am

Do you have an in-line filter? If not, get one!! If you already have one, change it. Also, be sure to rinse your mask every am, esp while you have the ant problem. &,rinse the hose regularly- once a week or so. Ants arent just attracted to the water reservoir... they LoVe mucous. So it's important to keep mask super clean, esp if you use the nasal pillows