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I have a similar problem after taking my machine on travel - the hotel air can leave a rather "unique" smell in the machine.

I simply took apart and cleaned everything that normally can come apart (per the cleaning instructions), did one pass with dye/perfume free dish detergent then a pass with Control-III disinfectant. I also took off the filter and used some Dust-Off spray air to (carefully) blow away accumulated dust around the edges of the filter mount. As is pointed out above, you don't want to spray into the machine but by spraying at an oblique angle and with care I avoided that.

I think the crucial points were cleaning the dust from around the filter, replacing the filter, and a good cleaning of the hose.

Regarding air fresheners: may or may not be interesting depending on how you feel about this stuff.

http://www.chetday.com/dangersairfreshener.htm

I sleep with aromatherapy sitting at the back of my machine. It takes care of a plastic or disinfectant smell left from cleaning. Use only aromatherapy approved for cpap. I get mine at cpap.com. The vanilla, lavender and bubblegum are great!

I put my update at the top of the thread.
Lee

Are you using this machine currently? Do you have another CPAP machine?

In terms of "airing" it out, you don't necessarily have to do it all at once. If you're not using it, you could do something like just run it a minute or two every day or a few times a day. Any smells that have seeped into the plastic will slowly diffuse out of the plastic over time. Even if you're blowing air through it 24./7, only a certain amount of the soaked in chemicals will come out each day.

If you're using it, just turning it on for half a minute before you start using it every night will flush out much of the immediate smell, and will have a big airing out effect long term.

Think of the plastic parts of the machine as being like a wet sponge soaked with some sort of smelly liquid like alcohol. However, it evaporates much more slowly than alcohol. You can't get inside to wash or squeeze the liquid out. The smelly liquid will slowly evaporate from the sponge and get washed away by the airflow. There's not any kind of air cleaner you can spray into the air vents that's going to get the smell out from deep inside of the sponge or make it evaporate quicker. Blowing fresh air across the surface of the sponge evaporates the liquid off the surface of the sponge, but the soaked in liquid in the center will only come out over time.

I haven't started using it yet. I am still airing it out. I am using a rental. I know the plastic absorbed odors. I am trying to get it to dissipate the quickest. I was hoping agitating it would knock them free quicker. I got some Ozium and it helped a bit.

Leea wrote:I bought a used machine to save money (AirSense 10 auto, less than 100 hours). It has a smell to it. I am hyper sensitive to smells. I can't tell what it is but it reminds me of pipe tobacco.

The last few days I've been down to the beach on vacation and experience something new with my cpap machine. It smelled like burned cigarette ashes. I couldn't figure out where it came from.

I wonder if the machine got hot in the car trunk or if it was sucking in the odor from the night table.

Thoughts anyone?

JimP wrote:The last few days I've been down to the beach on vacation and experience something new with my cpap machine. It smelled like burned cigarette ashes. I couldn't figure out where it came from.

Thoughts anyone?

Your wife's boyfriend smokes while you are out surfing?

ChicagoGranny wrote:

JimP wrote:The last few days I've been down to the beach on vacation and experience something new with my cpap machine. It smelled like burned cigarette ashes. I couldn't figure out where it came from.

Thoughts anyone?

Your wife's boyfriend smokes while you are out surfing?

I am my wife's boyfriend and don't smoke. Ta da !!!!

Washed everything up last night and let it run a while. Didn't smell it when I went to bed.

ChicagoGranny wrote:Your wife's boyfriend smokes while you are out surfing?

Glad someone still has a sense of humor with all the conflict going on in other threads.

I got a machine whose previous owner was a smoker and it's foul. The funny thing is the smell only started happening after a few days of using it. Anyone have success airing out smoker-breath?

Please read the previous posts.
Other threads have addressed the issue; extensively.
If you cannot get it clean enough to your satisfaction,
get an estimate from accurate.

I wonder if opening the top portion of the machine would be good to get the stuff out with some disenfectant spray?

There is a spray that dries to saline and promises to clean germs. I suppose the filters do their best but some stuff goes through and ends in the motor.

I'm more worried about mold/fungus.