Best Practice for Washing and Drying CPAP Hose/Tube

[MikeekiM]

When I wash my CPAP tube/hose, I found that I could not get it to dry even if I wash it early in the morning and re-attach it late the same evening... Even with me swinging it around a few times during the day to try and use centrifugal force to push the water drops through the tube/hose...

So I decided to go to a swapping strategy... I kept my old hose and now I just swap them out when I wash them...

However, what I am finding is that my hoses are still not dry, even after 5 days dropped around a door knob...

What am I doing wrong? Is there a better way to dry the hose? I have heard that I could run my CPAP machine to use air to dry it out for 20 minutes or so... But I don't want to screw up the machine's metrics by running it just to dry the hose... What do you folks do here?

[Pugsy]

What do you folks do here?

Me... I simply don't have a need to wash the hose. So I can't remember the last time I washed the hose. It's been years and years.
But that's me..and you did ask.

How often are you washing the hose and why?

[lynninnj]

When I wash my CPAP tube/hose, I found that I could not get it to dry even if I wash it early in the morning and re-attach it late the same evening... Even with me swinging it around a few times during the day to try and use centrifugal force to push the water drops through the tube/hose...

So I decided to go to a swapping strategy... I kept my old hose and now I just swap them out when I wash them...

However, what I am finding is that my hoses are still not dry, even after 5 days dropped around a door knob...

What am I doing wrong? Is there a better way to dry the hose? I have heard that I could run my CPAP machine to use air to dry it out for 20 minutes or so... But I don't want to screw up the machine's metrics by running it just to dry the hose... What do you folks do here?

Run time is run time on a motor but these things are designed to run 5 years or so.

Grand scheme:15-20 won’t make or break.

if it is a heated hose that is turn on, it will dry faster. I’ve actually put mine on with a slightly wet hose about a week ago and after the hose heated up, the warm, dry air just sucked moisture off the inside of the house.

but if it makes you feel better, I probably only takes about 10 or 15 minutes to dry completely

[MikeekiM]

What do you folks do here?

Me... I simply don't have a need to wash the hose. So I can't remember the last time I washed the hose. It's been years and years.
But that's me..and you did ask.

How often are you washing the hose and why?

LOL... Got it... I am a bit of a "rule follower"... And the recommendation from everything that I have read is weekly cleaning of everything that can be cleaned (e.g., tube/hose, water chamber, mask, mask frame, etc, etc...)

So I've been doing exactly that... Weekly cleaning with dish soap (which was also the recommended cleaning method that I have read)...

[JimmyStewart]

I went through the follow-the-rules cleaning phase when I started cpap years ago. I always dried my hose by gripping in the middle and swinging it around

According to my DME (and the resmed climateline manual), clean weekly. DME also says to replace every 6 months.

I think that phase lasted 3-4 months, then my practical side kicked in. Couldn't see cleaning and/or replacing when it looked fine and worked. Now it's clean/replace all my coap stuff "as-needed".

Like Pugsy, I can't remember when I cleaned my tubing.

[lazarus]

dish soap

Maybe not the best choice for mask:

soap and warm, drinking-quality water. Avoid using stronger cleaning products, including dish detergents, as they may damage the mask or leave harmful residue.
https://www.resmed.com/en-us/sleep-apne ... equipment/

As for me, I run some soapy water through my CPAP hose once a year, whether it needs it or not. Now if someone is just starting out, has specialized immune-system status, or sleeps in a dirt-floor barn shared with livestock, I fully understand a more frequent cleaning routine. I'm usually a bit of a clean freak, but for the life of me I can't figure out how the inside of a hose would get dirty or unsanitary. My ResMed blows a slight breeze of air for a while after mask-off every morning which helps keep things dry, I reckon.

Hats off to the rule followers, though. To each his/her own comfort with cleaning routines for personal medical equipment.

[Pugsy]

Ahhh....rule follower. I understand. I was that way for about 6 months when I first started therapy back in 2009.
Once a week cleaning of everything....that got old real fast. I just didn't see it getting dirty.

Next question. What happens if you used the hose without it being 100% dry that bugs you?
If you are using the humidifier you are pretty much adding moisture back in immediately as soon as you turn it on.
Why does it HAVE TO BE totally dry????

You will find that most of the forum members here fall into "I don't wash the hose" category.

[MikeekiM]

You will find that most of the forum members here fall into "I don't wash the hose" category.

I like that answer...

[Dog Slobber]

Why are you concerned about drying it. You said yourself after 5 days they are still damp. Is there any mold? No, there isn't. Mold needs moisture, and nutrients (which won't be there), it also needs to already be present?

You say you're a stickler for following the rules? Fine, wash your hose weekly. Now point out in the instructions where it says that it must be dried thoroughly on the inside. It doesn't. You're the one that decided it needed to be dry.

But given you've decided it needs to be dry, then swing it around a few times, put your device back together again and run mask fit once or twice. Your machine runs 7 x 8 hours a week, 10 more minutes of motor run time is nothing.

[robysue1]

What do you folks do here?

Me... I simply don't have a need to wash the hose. So I can't remember the last time I washed the hose. It's been years and years.
But that's me..and you did ask.

How often are you washing the hose and why?

LOL... Got it... I am a bit of a "rule follower"... And the recommendation from everything that I have read is weekly cleaning of everything that can be cleaned (e.g., tube/hose, water chamber, mask, mask frame, etc, etc...)

So I've been doing exactly that... Weekly cleaning with dish soap (which was also the recommended cleaning method that I have read)...

Once upon a time (i.e. back in 2010-2011 when I was a newbie), I too was a "rule follower".

When I first got my equipment I was told to use vinegar to rinse the hose once a week. And like you, the hose didn't really dry out on the day I washed it. As soon as my insurance paid for a second hose, I started swapping it out. Still didn't dry out even with a week of hanging. Eventually I accumulated something like 5 or 6 hoses and I'd wait until several of them were dirty to maximize the drying time. Maybe they'd be dry in a couple of weeks or so.

But I also learned to not really worry about a bit of residual moisture in the hose: It never seemed to cause any real problems. And since it was "clean" water, I didn't worry about it.

As I got busier and as I relaxed into therapy, I got a lot lazier about cleaning stuff. By the end of my second year of PAPing, I wasn't being anywhere near as fastidious about the cleaning of the hoses.

I do clean hoses, but not that often. Between my husband and myself, we've got about 8 hoses (I think). I typically swap them out when I think I might be smelling something in my hose. (Hubby never complains about anything smelling.) When I run out of hoses, I wash a bunch and the process starts over.

Realistically? That means I probably clean our hoses somewhere around every 3-6 months or so unless (like right now), my nose is sensitive to weird smells. Then the swapping frequency can go to once every week or two and I find that I have to wash a bunch of hoses about once every month or so.

And before folks jump on me about the smell of vinegar: That's not the funky odor that makes me "wash" a hose. I may be weird, but I don't mind the smell of vinegar in the first place and I also find it rinses much more completely than any kind of dishwashing liquid does. And I really don't want deal with trying to rinse the hoses until I'm sure there's no dishwashing liquid left in them.

[lynninnj]

I use johnson and johnson baby shampoo. Just a drop for the cushion with hot soapy water . once a month the mask in same solution. Hose on occasion. I did it about 6 or eight weeks ago because it was high pollen from pine trees and was as much for outside of the hose as inside.

ymmv

[zonker]

Hats off to the rule followers, though. To each his/her own comfort with cleaning routines for personal medical equipment.

thank you for saying this. i fall into the category of not washing anything on schedule. but i've decided to keep my trap shut about it as i used to deride people who DID stick to a schedule.

nowadays, it makes no difference to me. i do like to point out that it isn't necessary is all. but your way of putting it is much more gentle.

good job.

[lazarus]

good job.

Thank you for the kind words, Mr. Zonker. I've been trying to make improvements with my posting style, especially when my odd humor might be taken the wrong way.

Personally, I think the forum has come a long way.

[palerider]

When I wash my CPAP tube/hose, I found that I could not get it to dry even if I wash it early in the morning and re-attach it late the same evening... Even with me swinging it around a few times during the day to try and use centrifugal force to push the water drops through the tube/hose...

So I decided to go to a swapping strategy... I kept my old hose and now I just swap them out when I wash them...

However, what I am finding is that my hoses are still not dry, even after 5 days dropped around a door knob...

What am I doing wrong? Is there a better way to dry the hose? I have heard that I could run my CPAP machine to use air to dry it out for 20 minutes or so... But I don't want to screw up the machine's metrics by running it just to dry the hose... What do you folks do here?

I haven't washed a hose in 13 years, I washed my first one, because it was used... (used machine, used mask, used hose, I was just starting)...

Since then, I haven't felt any need to wash a hose, they're not 'dirty', all that blows through them is filtered air.

[palerider]

dish soap

Maybe not the best choice for mask:

soap and warm, drinking-quality water. Avoid using stronger cleaning products, including dish detergents, as they may damage the mask or leave harmful residue.
https://www.resmed.com/en-us/sleep-apne ... equipment/

I used dawn unscented on my first mask and it's cushion. I had a spare cushion, but that first mask cushion lasted me 5 years, until the mask frame finally failed and I bought a whole replacement mask.

The standard definition between "mild" and "stronger" detergents are "are they safe for your skin, ie, do you have to put on rubber gloves before using that cleaning product. Home dish soap is, by definition, "mild".