CPAPtalk.com

jcp1957@yahoo.com wrote:Is MrGrumpy serious or is he being sarcastic.? If he is serious than he definitely is the biggest moron on this forum. If he is sarcastic than he is slightlyless of a moron.

Please don't get on Mr. Grumpys case; he has been trying to wean himself off his meds and it appears he is going too quickly.

flightco wrote:

jcp1957@yahoo.com wrote:Is MrGrumpy serious or is he being sarcastic.? If he is serious than he definitely is the biggest moron on this forum. If he is sarcastic than he is slightlyless of a moron.

Please don't get on Mr. Grumpys case; he has been trying to wean himself off his meds and it appears he is going too quickly.

mebbe he's self medicating with stuff he found growing in the back yard???

Nine years on cpap; use every night with humidifier.
Always use distilled water.
Never any gunky buildup in the chamber.
Clean about once every two to three weeks.
Never change the water unless I'm cleaning the chamber; just top it off each night.

In those nine years:
Never have had a sinus infection.
Rarely have a cold.

During the winter there is never any water left. It is a bitch because If I want to sleep in I end up smelling the overheated metal - 8 hours and no more - blech!

I am still waiting to hear how those bacteria can fly up stream against the wind down 6 feet of heated hose!

BlackSpinner wrote:During the winter there is never any water left. It is a bitch because If I want to sleep in I end up smelling the overheated metal - 8 hours and no more - blech!

the overheated metal That smell is what wakes me up many mornings.

OkyDoky wrote:

BlackSpinner wrote:During the winter there is never any water left. It is a bitch because If I want to sleep in I end up smelling the overheated metal - 8 hours and no more - blech!

the overheated metal That smell is what wakes me up many mornings.

When my asthma is bothering me I put on the steamer in my bed room (for a few hours before) and I can get another hour out of the tank.

I was toying with the notion of adding an external filler hole to one of my tanks.
Realizing that I should not sleep longer than 8 hours, and my tank holds enough for that time,
I concluded that the dry smell works nicely as motivation to get my green butt out of bed.

chunkyfrog wrote:I was toying with the notion of adding an external filler hole to one of my tanks.
Realizing that I should not sleep longer than 8 hours, and my tank holds enough for that time,
I concluded that the dry smell works nicely as motivation to get my green butt out of bed.

+1 It's my alarm smell!

chunkyfrog wrote:Exhaled air does NOT go down the tube;
it is VENTED out through the mask.

Unfortunately not quite true. When the mask is under pressure, a fixed flow rate comes out of the vent. During part of the exhale cycle, you may exhale more air than that. The excess air flow goes back up the tube. On cold nights, with my ComfortGel mask I used to use, I could see condensation in the elbow.

However, your exhaled air is "swimming upstream" against the air current, and probably doesn't make it far up the hose.

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As to dangerous germs in the humidifier water

Cleanliness is a good thing.

Stop and think about this for a while. If you're exhaling germs, you're already infected. If you're exhaling bacteria strain B23, you've already got it in your body. Every time you inhale, you're sucking B23 back into your lungs, even without CPAP. Even if you do get B23 into your water tank, it's not like you're not already breathing it.

Ebola or any other germ isn't going to appear in your CPAP equipment unless you already have it, or it's in the air in your house, or someone with Ebola handles your equipment.

Now, if you're sharing a CPAP machine, hose, mask, or water tank with someone else, that IS a problem. Duhhh..... You really should thoroughly clean and disinfect a used CPAP mask, hose, and water tank if someone else has used them.

It could be a problem if the germs multiplied greatly in the water tank and you're suddenly getting large doses of the bacteria you've already got. However, as long as you're using distilled water, germs can't grow very well in the water. Germs need some sort of food, and if it's just water and air in the tank, there's nothing to feed on to allow the germs to make more germs. The plastic used shouldn't be something that germs can feed on.

Even if germs are in your CPAP water, in theory, the germs will mostly stay behind in the water. Unless the humidifier creates droplets, it's only gasses that leave the tank. As the water evaporates, germs will be left behind.

Your mask itself is a little different because it's got sweat, oil, mucous, and other human goo on it. Still probably not really that good a place for germs to grow.

LankyLefty (youtube) thinks bacteria could get in the water because it's warm, dark and exposed to air (via the tube) ala Pasteur's experiment. Seems logical. That said, just dumped it out yesterday. Wasn't the slightest bit gunky or whatever you'd think bacteria in water would be.

Got to agree with LL.
Eventually, the microbes will find a way.
Upstream is slow, and somewhat iffy.
El cheapo DW is a lot quicker!
Letting your dog lick out the tank would probably do it even faster.

archangle wrote: Unfortunately not quite true. When the mask is under pressure, a fixed flow rate comes out of the vent.

If you compare the flow rate for your mask vent at the pressure you use to your respiratory flow rate, you will see that it is highly unlikely you are pushing air up the hose all the way to the CPAP unless your vent is blocked.

That being said, I dump my water daily, and let the tank dry. I have an Airsense 10, so this is really easy for me. I might feel differently if this particular maintenance task was more of inconvenience. I would think that regular cleaning of the tank combined with using only distilled water would keep the tank free enough of any food for the bacteria that bacterial growth shouldn't be a concern.

I clean my nasal pillows daily (haven't had problems with damaging them yet), and everything weekly (the machine itself only gets a wipe down). I don't use a brush for the inside of the hose as I would be concerned about scratching otherwise anti-microbial surfaces. I just soak it.

I change the filter once a month.