Fisher & Paykel HC604

I am a newbie with 5 days under my belt. I read in one of the posts a lady stated that the water in her reservoir lasted all week. Is that a good idea? The instructions I received from my RT/DME at delivery were to clean the reservoir every day with soap, rinse thoroughly and air dry it before the next use. "You know mold and bacteria grow in standing water," he said. Weeell, this is a little time consuming, especially the air drying part. Also I only use about a quarter of an inch per night of distilled water, so far. I am using the disposable reservoir and two were delivered with the machine so I could rotate them, but I think it would not dry out in one day. The reservoirs cannot be opened to manually dry them with a paper towel. This seems to be a design flaw, as well as the fact that there is no handle or tabs to grip when extracting the reservoir from the machine. Filling the reservoir is messy too if you don't have a very steady hand. Also the reservoir retaining bar does not stay down evenly when depressed. My initial impression is I personally don't see any need for this retaining bar since the receiving ports on the machine have little o-rings that seal the reservoir into the machine tight enough to hold it in position, as well as the metal heater contact plate which wedges in pretty tight. I know there is a reusable reservoir available for this machine. Question is, can it be opened for manual, or faster air drying? If it can, this might be the best way to go. Does anyone know if it can be? Yes I know they want to sell those disposables at a clip of two every three months whereas only one reusable is necessary every six months according to the literature I received with my machine. Can anyone give me some advice?
PS: I haven't had any other problems so far and tolerate the mask. My first night I kept waking up but that seems to have passed now. My diagnosis was moderate to severe and the machine is set on 7 which is supposed to be quite low and the humidity is at default 2.5. I feel better and hope I continue to improve. Thanks for any help you can give

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CPAPopedia Keywords Contained In This Post (Click For Definition): newbie, seal, clean

I use a HC150 h/h and clean the chamber completly each week - been using this H/H for well over a year.

The problem with cleaning the F&P chambers daily is that it is easy to damage the base of the h/h chamber inside. I have done that twice thus am happy with weekly cleaning.

Cheers

DSM

I think that the prevailing sentiment here is that cleaning the reservoir is more cosmetic than functional. The prevailing sentiment holds that distilled water doesn't come with bacteria, and the filters prevent most air-borne bacteria from entering the reservoir. Beyond that, the prevailing sentiment here is that bacteria won't be transported in the micron-sized droplets of water that are picked up in the humidification process, and so, stay in the reservoir anyway. I'm NOT a biologist so I don't know.

But, I started xPAP treatment with an HC608 and NEVER cleaned the reservoir for the month that I used it before I switched to a ResMed S8 Vantage, because my DME's RT who delivered the CPAP to me was a jerk who was in and out in under 10 minutes and never told me to.

The guy who delivered my S8 Vantage did tell me to clean the reservoir weekly, which I did, which just made it look used.

I've since switched to a Respironics Auto and I just celebrated 50 days with it. I've never cleaned its reservoir. I simply top it off every night . And no, I've had NO respiratory ailments, no Legionaire's Disease, no pneumonia, no cough, no colds, no SARS, no avian flu, NOTHING. AND, my reservoir looks brand new.

So, do what you're instructed to, because your RT is a PROFESSIONAL who knows better than you do what's good for you. But, I wanted to give you my experiences for your consideration.

(BTW, I really liked the design of the HC60x integrated humidifer AND its nifty retainer bar. Saved my butt the first night that I was on xPAP and pulled my HC608 off the night table in my sleep. It landed straight up on the floor, still running without a hitch in the morning when I woke up to find it there.)

Cheers!

Chuck

I am with Chuck (of course we all set our personal standards for cleanliness)

I don't clean it at all. If bacteria is growing in my humidifier why isn't it growing in the jug of distilled water sitting in my bedroom that I use to fill the humidifier. The jug lasts a month at least as I use very little. Same reason. It is clean water what is going to grow? And even if it did grow (well Chuck already explained that).

I am 5 months into and have just had my first cold since starting CPAP. A record for me in recent years since I was getting sick all the time when sleep deprived.

I attribute the 4 day cold (it is quite gone now, with no cleaning of humidifiers) to the fact that I was sitting in a high school with students breathing on me for two solid days. My kids (high school age) also have the cold as do their friends. I really doubt it was the little crawly things in the humidifier. It was the shock of getting up too early in the morning and too many germs in close proximity with the start of school.

Daily cleaning IMO is CYA for the manufacturer.

Now if I had strep or some other infection requiring antibiotics, yes, I would definately make sure my mask was cleaned as well as any equipment I thought might have come in contact with my exhaled air that might become contaminated. And as someone so kindly pointed out in a previous thread months ago, if I had an open wound on my face (which I don't) I would clean my mask so I didn't infect that, but I don't so I won't, other than for adhesion to the face or nostrils. IMO clean parts that come in contact with your face seal better.

Thanks to all for the advice. I am wondering in what time frame did you use the three machines that you mentioned in your reply, and why did you change? My RT/DME spent about 1 hour with me and it wasn't because I was asking a whole lot of questions. Maybe it was CYA, as snoregirl intimated! I am a skeptic also and fervently believe in informing oneself before taking a decision. Nevertheless, I was impressed and thought he did a great job. In my experience, many health professionals are rather pressed for time! LOL! But not all thank goodness.

I started with and spent one month with the F&P HC608, and though in retrospect I should have given it a longer trial, I switched because of the stuffiness of the air that I felt that the 608's heated hose produced. Plus, I was reading this forum a lot, and got bitten by the data-download/APAP bug from so many people who posted about that here.

My sleep doc readily agreed to an APAP trial, and wrote a certificate of medical necessity for a change to an "auto-titrating CPAP" and my DME filled that order with a new ResMed S8 AutoSet Vantage/H3i combo. I stayed with that machine for nearly ninety days, but I didn't sleep well with it. I cdouldn't figure out why, and asked for a lt of help here. There were all sorts of speculations ranging from Complex Sleep Disordered Breathing (CSDB) made worse by the irritability I must have been experiencing through APAP titrations, to mask problems. I tried sleep-aids (Ambien CR, melatonin) and a number of mask changes, but I continued to sleep poorly during that entire period.

I was able to acquire a REMstar Auto w/ C-flex and REMstar humidifier through a fluke, and have been using it since, about 50 days now. I began sleeping better immediately upon switching to the REMstar, and that has continued since. I consistently get 8 hours of uninterupted sleep now (no nighttime awakenings or trips to the bathroom). I do take 0.5mg of alprazolam at hour of sleep, though, which I didn't when using the S8 Vantage.

I am convinced however, that Respironic's more temperate algorithm is a better match for me, and that my difficulties with sleep when I was using the ResMed arose from its aggressive and sharp attack algorithm, which I believe would cause arousals that would waken me. Just my opinion though. And, this relates ONLY to my experiences. You shouldn't draw ANY conclusions about whether these experiences would have ANY relevance for you.

Hope this helps.

Chuck