What is your take on daily emptying of your humidifier?

[Judy R]

Call me crazy, or call me a stickler, but with a very low immune system, I clean my tank every other day with warm soapy water and a splash of white vinegar. I do dump the water out of my tank daily and add fresh distilled water back in. I take no risks where my health is concerned, as I tend to get sick very easily. But it's like everyone has said, it's really up to you. That's what I love about this board, so many wonderful people and such helpful advice.

[Rebecca R]

I used to empty and wash the tank every day when I first started.

I did it for two reasons 1. because of the instructions from the DME, and 2. the story I heard about a friend of a friend's husband who had a CPAP. I never actually met the person, but my friend said "You're getting a CPAP? YUCK! Friend's husband has one and she says he never cleans it and it STINKS. She almost barfs when she breaks down and cleans it.

Then after a few months I became low on distilled water, and it was either top up or not use the humidifier. I remembered RestedGal's method and topped up. I started topping up and cleaning once a week--mostly because I still can't get the image of Friend of Friend's Husband's stinky CPAP out of my mind.

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[deadhead77]

I clean the whole thing every day, I dismantle the whole mask and clean with baby shampoo, the hose gets flushed and allowed to dry,the tank gets flushed and dried.
Takes about three minutes, I bash all the silicon parts on a towel and wipe dry everything else with paper towel.

In my view,that is doing the best you can and once you are in the routine its not a chore. Mind you I am paranoid about germs and bacteria and they seem to love water so...

Incidentally I can now wear my quattro without any plasters or pads and put this down to a clean mask and using TCP (a antiseptic in the uk) to clean my nose bridge before and after wearing the mask. I think the skin has got used to the silicon now plus got toughened up by the TCP. Maybe a lot of the sore nose thing is due to bacteria and the oily delicate skin of the nose bridge.

[Wulfman]

Since I live in an area of low humidity and use only "passover" (cold) humidification, I can go about three nights before having to top off the tank (it drops about 1/4" per night). In nearly 5 years, I've never seen anything floating, growing or otherwise "inhabiting" my HH tank. I probably "dump and rinse" my tank about three times a year. I've never taken my original one apart to "clean" it.......just dump, rinse with hot tap water, shake the remainder out and refill with distilled. It still looks like new.

It all comes down to......do what you feel comfortable with.

Here's some additional reading about: "Is it possible for a patient to catch an infection from a humidifier?"

http://www.talkaboutsleep.com/sleep-dis ... humid9.htm


Den

[Uncle_Bob]

I normally empty and clean mine after i get a cold or any kind of infection which given my luck is currently running at about 4 times a year

[Catnap]

I've dumped mine four times in about 7 months -- once to move the machine, once to take it on vacation and then back home, and once because I overfilled it and got to find out what REAL rainout was like! Who knew that machine blew hard enough to shoot water right up the hose and into my face?!

[potholerepairman]

Come to think of it if mine didn't get emptied a lizard might have a blow dryed look in the morning.

[Jaylee]

I use about half a tank per night (at least in the winter when the humidity is low). I top it off each night before going to bed. Is your Dad's DME SELLING him DW? Why else would he pour perfectly good water down the drain?

We agree! That is exactly what I said, why waste that much distilled water? And no we get it at the grocery store

[Linus]

I dump the water in the mornings into a cup and use it to chase my vitamins. Usually I do not have much water in the tank in the morning. Also I have my own distiller, so the supply is not an issue. My $0.02 woth of advice...clean it when you think it needs it.

[drubin007]

I am sort of in the middle of everyone here....

mid week (Wednesday) I drain the tank and allow to air dry all day...
Sundays I drain it, and soak in baby shampoo/water (15 minutes) and then vinegar/water for 15 minutes
and allow to air dry all day.

I use filtered water from my fridge to fill it every night...Tank would probably last about 2 nights but I keep it full to be safe.

I have yet to see any kind of slime or buildup, nor do I really want to. Using the original tubing (hose) for about 8 months now 9think thats when I started cpap?) but changed masks from the Optilife to the Opus 360. everythings cleaned once a week.

[SleepyStarfish]

I am in the club that just tops it off with more fresh distilled water when the tank gets low. The only time I empty it out is if I am going on a road trip or when I get a wild hair and wash it out.

[PhilinOK]

I rinde my mask daily and let it air dry. Once a week, I clean in soapy water - masks, humidifier, and hose. It's worked great for me for five years. In one of my extra travel machines I had to use bottled (not distilled) water. After just a couple days in my travel trailer using my top-off method with bottled water I noticed some red algae beginning to form. So, my approach only works if you use ONLY distilled water all the time. Otherwise dump and clean daily.

PS I know I am not supposed to use regular H20, but out in the woods I don't always remember distilled H2O.

[SleepGuy]

I'm way too lazy to do this... I use RO water from my kitchen and top it off nightly.

[kteague]

I am quite lax about it. I use distilled water but still sometimes find a slight 'slime' when I do clean it, so I'm trying to do better. At both my recent sleep doctor visits (one was with PA) I was asked if I was following instructions for cleaning the humidifier and mask. Told the doc I clean the mask more if I've been sick. Her response, "Why not do it preventatively?" What could I say?
Kathy
Who defends her habits even tho struggling with interstitial lung disease - what's wrong with this picture?!

[ozij]

The therapist in me want to say you clean your equipment as instructed, the realist and xpap user in me says nope. I really think its an individual thing, depends on the environment the machine is in. I instruct my patients per the manufacturers instructions, then I tell them how I do it. I let them decide based on there environment.

Well said.

The environment the therapists are trained for is the hospital - seriously, the most dangerous environment for healthy people - hospitals are where you find the most dangerous bugs of any kind. As with all other formal instructions, ("do not use in clothes a person is wearing") RT's and DME's have to think o the worst case in order to protect their patients, and themselves for the worst case scenarios. - These, however, are not the scenarios most of us live in most of the time. We don't scrub like surgeons (or OR nurses) before putting a bandaid on a scraped knee.

It is up to each one to get to know their home environment, their water quality and their health, and find the right way of handling this water issue in those conditions.

I have do firm convictions about wiping out the humidifier to dry it: in a word: Don't. Small fibers can be left in the equipment after you wipe it out -- and things can grow on them.

When I travel, I empty my humidifier, use glad wrap on the openings to keep the leftover water from leaking, and put it in a ziplock bag. I then rinse it out in the evening before the next use - not sure how objectively necessary that is, but it feels right subjectively, so that's what I do.
O.