What happens if I don't clean my humidifier water chamber?

I had been changing out the water daily, then I got lazy and decide just to add distilled water to the existing water daily in the humidifer chamber. I probably went a few weeks without cleaning the water chamber. Then I started having respiratory problems: coughing, "cold" symptoms, feeling sick, and it dawned on me that perhaps my symptoms were related to not cleaning the water chamber. I opened the water chamber, and I was shocked to find green slime coating the interior of the water chamber. Gross! So I cleaned it with antibacterial Dawn soap, and have been cleaning it every week or so ever since. I figured this same slime might also be in the tube, so got a new tube and clean it regularly now. And then my respiratory problems went away. Don't fool around with it, keep your equipment clean.

What happens if I don't clean my humidifier water chamber?

pick one:

• you'll create new emergent civilizations and then thoughtlessly commit mass genocide when you notice.
• the cpap police will break down your door at 4am and beat you with used hoses until you wash the damn thing.
• you'll eventually pay attention and notice that it looks a bit like that chunk of cheese that's been in the back of the drawer in the fridge for the last 8 months.
• it'll get grody
• some or all of the above.

All of the above is perfectly normal--not necessarily ideal, but preferable to impulsively scrubbing,
sterilizing, and sanitizing everything possible, as often as every day--which has happened.
Your illness was most likely pure coincidence, but anything is possible.
Continue to follow whatever regimen keeps you comfortable and happy.

I've been using the same water chamber since I got my last machine 2.5 years ago. It has never seen soap of any kind. It has been topped off with distilled water every 2 nights and rinsed out about 8-10 times during that 30 months. It's as clear as it was the day I started using it.

LSAT wrote:I've been using the same water chamber since I got my last machine 2.5 years ago. It has never seen soap of any kind. It has been topped off with distilled water every 2 nights and rinsed out about 8-10 times during that 30 months. It's as clear as it was the day I started using it.

Distilled water is the key. But when traveling a I have to use tap. That leaves traces of calcium build-up inside the tank. The instructions with my humidifier explicitly says use distilled.

Johann wrote:

LSAT wrote:I've been using the same water chamber since I got my last machine 2.5 years ago. It has never seen soap of any kind. It has been topped off with distilled water every 2 nights and rinsed out about 8-10 times during that 30 months. It's as clear as it was the day I started using it.

Distilled water is the key. But when traveling a I have to use tap. That leaves traces of calcium build-up inside the tank. The instructions with my humidifier explicitly says use distilled.

Yes, by all means use only distilled water, even then trouble can happen. Not all distilled water is created equal, a product costing under one dollar a gallon, it.s possibly corners were cut in processing or storage, nothing is added to distilled water to insure it stays safe, like chlorine is in our drinking water. Over cleaning is a waste of effort, but we still need to be aware of everything around us. Nature makes many traps for us to fall into, we must be aware of them, and plan accordingly. Jim

I probably need to wash the receiving vessel in my distiller.
Otherwise, I use hot water and Dawn in the tank when the morning remnants are not perfectly clear,
which maybe happens once every 2-3 months, if not longer.

chunkyfrog wrote:I probably need to wash the receiving vessel in my distiller.
Otherwise, I use hot water and Dawn in the tank when the morning remnants are not perfectly clear,
which maybe happens once every 2-3 months, if not longer.

At least by making your own, your product is fresh and you have control of sterile storage, maybe take canning jars, treat in pressure cooker to store. More work but safer than buying in store, should have longer shelf life. Jim

Things can grow inside. In addition to cleaning, I suggest dumping the water every morning and leave the CPAP running for about an hour to make sure it's 100% dry.

DH, please stop posting about stuff you're not up on... there's no need to dump perfectly good distilled water and no need at all to run your machine to dry things out!

+1, Julie.
We need to remind people that DH is NOT an authority, and habitually repeats DME speak.
(((I often wonder why))
Do they go to a "special" school--and what, exactly, do they DO there?
The possibilities are hysterical!

If your water is clear, it is mostly a non-problem. In the summer, a lot of us get that pink slime despite using distilled water. Cleaning is necessary with that. But in the winter, once you close up the windows, that problem seems to go away. I top off all week and then dump, rinse and refill now. I wash my humidifier in dishwashing soap about once a month. Then let it dry and pop it back in with fresh distilled water. Unless you get a crack or the seals go bad, I read in a manual that the humidifer bins for are designed to last about 2.5 years (current designs).

Now, if you use well water or tap water, you may make different choices. The minerals build up on the bottom and interfere with the humidity function, so you do need to soak that with vinegar regularly even if you don't care how it looks. At my brother's, I did the same thing - cleaned once a month, but had to soak with vinegar first due to the mineralization in his water (too much to do to remember to buy water).

Hi all,

I live in a hard water area in the UK. Every morning when I get out of bed I remove the water container from the machine and empty it. I also remove the pillows and silicone tube from the main tube and give them a rinse with hot soapy washing up liquid, and hang them up to dry.

In the evening I refill the water container and replace in in the machine.

Every Sunday morning I remove the main heated tube and clean it out with hot soapy washing up liquid before rinsing and hanging it up to dry. The water container is dismantled and left to steep in a vinegar and water solution for a few hours. I also clean the air filter in the CPAP machine itself if required.

"Touch wood" I have never had any problems with slime or a build up of calcium by using tap water.

When air drying tank and other parts, avoid doing so in the bathroom.
FECAL COLIFORM is in the air, unless you use a dedicated powder room where no one uses the "throne".