Pressure Valve with all in one?

[Jason2483]

This might seem like a strange request, but can you put a pressure valve on the hose elbow coming out of the machine to the mask? My cpap is an all in one unit with a built in humidifier. I want to be able to pull my hose off and dry it out without leaving the elbow to the cpap/humidifier wide open. I'd like to be able to seal it and the water inside so I don't have to worry about growing things inside. I looked for a simple hose plug, but I guess they don't exist. Link below.


https://www.cpap.com/productpage/respir ... chine.html

[yrnkrn]

You can seal it placing a small nylon bag on the elbow with and a rubber around it but this won't stop the growth as the humidifier and CPAP aren't sterile.

[archangle]

You're blowing room air through the humidifier all night long every night. Even though there are filters on the CPAP machine, some of whatever is in the air is going to end up in the water anyway.

If it makes you feel better, you could put one of these on the outlet of the machine.

https://www.cpap.com/productpage/In-lin ... bipap.html

Or simply get a spare hose and put it on the machine when you clean your hose. That way, you can clean the hose and let it sit empty and dry until you swap it out and clean the other hose. Or cut the end off of a hose, tape over the hole or plug it with something and you now have a homemade hose plug.

[Jason2483]

I just didn't want to leave it wide open all day. We grow lots of mold around here and I was hoping that the filter it draws through was catching enough to help.

[archangle]

I don't think the air coming through the filters is a particular problem, either. I'm just pointing out that the many gallons of room air going through the humidifier is going to outweigh any small amount of air that drifts in through the open hose connector.

Do clean your humidifier tank as part of your regular cleaning schedule. Does the tank on your machine come out and open up for cleaning?

[archangle]

By the way, if you use distilled water and clean the tank reasonably often, there shouldn't be anything to feed on in the tank, so there really shouldn't be much growth of microorganisms in the tank water. There's very little light to support photosynthesis. Yes, there is some bacteria, mold, etc. in the air, but you inhale that when you breathe, too.

You could also just cover the whole CPAP machine with something when you have the hose off. With the machine off, it's not like it will be "breathing" air into the hole.

[TalonNYC]

I just didn't want to leave it wide open all day. We grow lots of mold around here and I was hoping that the filter it draws through was catching enough to help.

In that case, you want to empty out the tank every day and let it dry. I'm in a basement apartment (so mold is an issue here too) and have had a lot of success with emptying the water daily.

[Jason2483]

The Icon also has a quirk that keeps the water warm all day. I think I may just suck it up and let it dry everyday.

[TalonNYC]

The Icon also has a quirk that keeps the water warm all day. I think I may just suck it up and let it dry everyday.

The zzz-PAP I use while traveling does that too, I have to turn the master power switch off in order to stop it from heating =(