Mold is Resevior/Humidifier....

[bworthey]

I think I may have developed mold in my resevior of my CPAP machine. I'll admit that I hadn't been the most consistent with cleaning it. I had noticed a horrible odor one night, so I decided to clean it and noticed little black spots in it. I cleaned everything with soap and vinegar like I was told by my doc. I'm just not sure that took care of it. Anyone have any suggestions? Or do I just need to chunk it all and start over??

Thanks,

B-Worthey

[elader]

seriously, vinegar? I would hit it with bleach and then wash the heck out of it. Vinegar is not a potent bactericide.

[fuzzy96]

seriously, vinegar? I would hit it with bleach and then wash the heck out of it. Vinegar is not a potent bactericide

the why do they use it for douche???? think of that next time you put vinegar on your fries or salad

seriously trash the humidifier and get a replacement. if you have insurance you should be able to get one every 6 months.

[bworthey]

Ok, yeah I'll need to check into that. And yeah, vinegar. Almost every thing I've ever searched for in cleaning that parts included vinegar. I thought it was strange too, but it seems to be effective.

[Julie]

Vinegar is a great cleaner of many things, but it's not a fungicide, and you need an antifungal to clean that thing.

[plr66]

My own bias is that throwing away everything that needs cleaning or fixing is wasteful, incredibly counter-productive to the healthcare and insurance insanity, and detrimental to our planet as well. In no way am I a zealot about these things....though I often believe I could become one as I read this forum.

Your tank does not need to be tossed and replaced, just as you don't throw away the sheets on your bed or the towels in your bathroom, or your toothbrush every week when they need to be washed. Clean the humidifier with bleach, as elader recommended. Then wash with a good basic soap or baby shampoo. Do this routinely every couple of weeks if needed. It's just a simple routine.

[yardbird]

tea tree oil is antifungal
You may be able to clean it out with that.

And actually, vinegar IS an anti fungal. Apple cider vinegar is anti fungal due to the malic acid and acetic acid it contains.

[JoyD.]

From Medscape:

Recent scientific investigations clearly demonstrate the antimicrobial properties of vinegar, but mainly in the context of food preparation.[9-12] Experts advise against using vinegar preparations for treating wounds.[13] At concentrations nontoxic to fibroblasts and keratinocytes (≤ 0.0025%), acetic acid solutions were ineffective at inhibiting the growth of Escherichia coli, group D Enterococcus, or Bacteroides fragilis bacteria, and only slightly effective at inhibiting the growth of Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria.[13] Similarly, experts caution against using vinegar as a household disinfectant against human pathogens because chemical disinfectants are more effective.[14,15] However, undiluted vinegar may be used effectively for cleaning dentures, and, unlike bleach solutions, vinegar residues left on dentures were not associated with mucosal damage.[16]

Although investigations have demonstrated the effectiveness of diluted vinegar (2% acetic acid solution at pH 2) for the treatment of ear infections (otitis externa, otitis media, and granular myringitis),[17,18] the low pH of these solutions may irritate inflamed skin and damage cochlear outer hair cells.[19] Immediate vinegar application at the site of jellyfish stings is practiced at various coastal locations around the world[20,21] because vinegar deactivates the nematocysts. However, hot-water immersion is considered the most efficacious initial treatment for jellyfish envenomation because the venom is deactivated by heat.[22,23]

In the popular media, vinegar is commonly recommended for treating nail fungus, head lice, and warts, yet scientific support for these treatment strategies is lacking. Takano-Lee and colleagues[24] demonstrated that, of 7 home remedies tested, vinegar was the least effective for eliminating lice or inhibiting the hatching of eggs. Scattered reports suggest that the successive topical application of highly concentrated acetic acid solutions (up to 99%) alleviated warts,[25,26] presumably due to the mechanical destruction of wart tissue. One treatment protocol, however, required local anesthesia, excision, and rapid neutralization at the site of application, thus limiting its use by the lay public.

[DyannaK]

Adding my .02 worth.... I agree with elader, I would put some diluted bleach (1part water, 1 part bleach) into it and let it sit for awhile and then wash it out with soap and rinse it really well.

[timbalionguy]

One of the reasons why vinegar may be recommended is if you have been using hard water, it is an excellent solvent for the calcium deposits that can build up in a humidifier device. Works in your room humidifer, too. Citric acid, I think, also works for this purpose and does not have the strong odor of vinegar. Citric acid is generally safe for plastics, and like vinegar, is a common food ingredient.

When you clean the mold off, carefully inspect the underlying plastic. If it looks to be undamaged, you are probably OK. If you see any etching, discoloration, etc. of the plastic, it is a sign the mold has damaged the plastic. I would replace a humidifier with this kind of damage.

For sterilizing, I am using control III due to its virucidal properties (do not want upper respiratory infection!). But for many things, alcohol might be worth a try. However, it is flammable, and you do want to make sure every trace evaporates. That said, I would not routinely use either bleach or alcohol in a CPAP humidifier.

[Wulfman]

If a person uses only DISTILLED water in their humidifiers, they should NOT have problems with "stuff" growing in there.


Den

[bworthey]

Thanks for all the replies. Maybe I will clean it out with some bleach then. I'm just not sure how to be sure I've got it all out of the hose. I actually think I may have taken care of it with the last cleaning, but I'm just not sure.

And I didn't mean to start a debate with the whole vinegar thing, that's just what i've used. And as far as DISTILLED water....DISTILLED water IS all I've used.

B-Worthey

[elader]

Thanks for all the replies. Maybe I will clean it out with some bleach then. I'm just not sure how to be sure I've got it all out of the hose. I actually think I may have taken care of it with the last cleaning, but I'm just not sure.

And I didn't mean to start a debate with the whole vinegar thing, that's just what i've used. And as far as DISTILLED water....DISTILLED water IS all I've used.

B-Worthey

I bought 3 respironics hoses on ebay for $20 total. i would be weirded out about the hose too. Mold in a respiratory hose? Yuck.

and vinegar in a douche is for the pH, not the fungicide