CPAP hose plugs/caps for cleaning purposes

lego wrote:

Pap-Daddy wrote:Conventional wisdom says when you don't clean the hose there is no reason to hang it anywhere.

No, that's not the conventional wisdom. Some people choose not to clean the hose, but this is a risk. Perhaps it's not a huge risk, but just from a practical standpoint, the risk is non-zero. That hose is constantly humid, sometimes to the point of rainout, this creates the potential for mold. Some will say that the hose can't be contaminated because the airflow is one way, from the machine to the mask, but this ignores the fact that most of us open up the machine every day to fill the humidifier. Also, that little flapper on the end of the mask isn't designed to keep the hose airtight or sterile, it's just to keep us from suffocating if the machine turns off.

The conventional wisdom is: once a week wash the tubing in warm water with a mild detergent and let it hang to dry.
Source: http://www.resmed.com/au/dam/documents/ ... ac_eng.pdf

I don't think stoppers would make cleaning any easier or more efficient. It seems enough to fill 1/4 of the hose with hot, soapy water and then raise and lower the ends to swish it around. Also, because these non-heated hoses are so cheap, I replace it every couple of months.

Welcome to the Landfill, the view from the top is amazing. Jim

lego wrote:All this talk of choosing to not clean hoses sounds just like the anti-vax arguments.

more like the opposite.

To Tas... Sorry, I did get the timing wrong, but I hope people get the idea... this one's from the Guardian (Manchester) but there are many more -

More plastic than fish in the sea by 2050, says Ellen MacArthur

One refuse truck’s-worth of plastic is dumped into the sea every minute, and the situation is getting worse
A girl recycles plastic bottles in Indonesia. Just 5% of waste plastic is effectively recycled, at plants like this one in Indonesia.

Graeme Wearden
Tuesday 19 January 2016 14.23 GMT Last modified on Monday 4 April 2016 12.20 BST

As a record-breaking sailor, Dame Ellen MacArthur has seen more of the world’s oceans than almost anyone else. Now she is warning that there will be more waste plastic in the sea than fish by 2050, unless the industry cleans up its act.

According to a new Ellen MacArthur Foundation report launched at the World Economic Forum on Tuesday, new plastics will consume 20% of all oil production within 35 years, up from an estimated 5% today.

Plastics production has increased twentyfold since 1964, reaching 311m tonnes in 2014, the report says. It is expected to double again in the next 20 years and almost quadruple by 2050.

Despite the growing demand, just 5% of plastics are recycled effectively, while 40% end up in landfill and a third in fragile ecosystems such as the world’s oceans.

Much of the remainder is burned, generating energy, but causing more fossil fuels to be consumed in order to make new plastic bags, cups, tubs and consumer devices demanded by the economy.

The oil cycle
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Illustration: Ellen MacArthur Foundation
Decades of plastic production have already caused environmental problems.

The report says that every year “at least 8m tonnes of plastics leak into the ocean – which is equivalent to dumping the contents of one garbage truck into the ocean every minute. If no action is taken, this is expected to increase to two per minute by 2030 and four per minute by 2050

“In a business-as-usual scenario, the ocean is expected to contain one tonne of plastic for every three tonnes of fish by 2025, and by 2050, more plastics than fish [by weight].”


A carelessly discarded plastic bag can break down in the sea, especially in warmer waters, but the process releases toxic chemicals that may be digested by fish and end up in the human food chain.

Research released a year ago found there were more than 5tn pieces of plastic floating in the seas, many just 5mm across. Larger items can be a threat to sea life such as turtles and seals, which swallow them.

Scientists have also found that countless tiny fragments drift to the bottom of the oceans, carpeting the sea bed. The environmental and health impact of this is unknown.

The report concludes that the plastics industry is comprehensively failing to address these issues.

Dr Martin R Stuchtey of the McKinsey Center for Business and Environment, who helped produce the report, said a wave of innovation could be transformative.

“Plastics are the workhorse material of the modern economy, with unbeaten properties,” he said. “However they are also the ultimate single-use material. Growing volumes of end-of-use plastics are generating costs and destroying value to the industry. After-use plastics could, with circular economy thinking, be turned into valuable feedstock.”

The plastics recycling industry is also reeling from the recent plunge in the price of oil. At $30 (£21) a barrel, it is more expensive to recover plastics and process their hydrocarbons to recycle them than to use virgin crude.

Solving the problem will not be easy, especially as the industry is under pressure to produce more to meet growing demand from emerging markets. Bioplastics are currently more expensive to make than the petro-alternative, and recycling systems are inefficient.

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http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/new ... 863627.cms

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Julie wrote:More plastic than fish in the sea by 2050

I, for one, dump all my used CPAP hoses in the ocean as a sacrifice to the gods of sleep.

lego wrote:

Julie wrote:More plastic than fish in the sea by 2050

I, for one, dump all my used CPAP hoses in the ocean as a sacrifice to the gods of sleep.

Now isn't that special.

What happened to taz?
What happened to this thread?

Could those posts have slipped out of another thread?
HOW?

Or have we been boarded, mateys?
Quick, hide the parrot!

NO, NO, not there, you perv!

chunkyfrog wrote:What happened to taz?
What happened to this thread?

Could those posts have slipped out of another thread?
HOW?

Or have we been boarded, mateys?
Quick, hide the parrot!

NO, NO, not there, you perv!

Dr. Suess ?

lego wrote:

Julie wrote:More plastic than fish in the sea by 2050

I, for one, dump all my used CPAP hoses in the ocean as a sacrifice to the gods of sleep.

Octopussi, use the old hoses as covers to protect their arms from getting cut on reefs, mainly the rusty ones we keep sinking as fish houses. Jim

lego wrote:
The conventional wisdom is: once a week wash the tubing in warm water with a mild detergent and let it hang to dry.
Source: http://www.resmed.com/au/dam/documents/ ... ac_eng.pdf

That's not conventional wisdom. It's corporate wisdom, heavily influenced by corporate lawyers who are paid to help prevent lawsuits by money-grubbing idiots.

lego wrote:let it hang to dry

You not worried about mold spores entering the wet hose while it is hanging all day?

ChicagoGranny wrote: That's not conventional wisdom. It's corporate wisdom, heavily influenced by corporate lawyers who are paid to help prevent lawsuits by money-grubbing idiots.

Apparently some of the tinfoil hat types here have trouble with the term "conventional wisdom". Fine, call it common sense then. Even without an advanced degree (either MD or JD), it ought to be obvious that if you breathe through a tube for 8 hours a day, every day, you might want to occasionally clean that tube. Common sense also tells me that if you leave something moist all the time, it gets nasty. Just imagine a bath towel that's been used for 2 weeks. How does it smell?

ChicagoGranny wrote: You not worried about mold spores entering the wet hose while it is hanging all day?

Yes, that is a minor concern. And if I was still renting my machine, I'd hook the freshly rinsed hose back up and let the machine run for 15 mins to dry it. Instead, I let in hang to dry because I don't want to add hours to the machine or influence my stats. Also, I'm not looking for sterile, just clean, so air drying is enough. After a couple hours of air drying, the hose is mostly dry, so mold is much less of a concern.

Look, I'm not saying "Alert the media! We've got an epidemic!". But, I also think it's irresponsible to tell a CPAP newbie not to clean their hose. It's simple, costs almost nothing, and prevents some ugly illnesses.

However, frequent cleaning is the major cause of equipment failure.
Some cleaning is harmless, and somewhat beneficial.
Excessive, compulsive cleaning exposes delicate parts to physical damage.
This is the only way I have ever managed to DAMAGE a hose or cushion!
Sorry, folks, I prefer NOT to enrich the DME coffers.

chunkyfrog wrote: This is the only way I have ever managed to DAMAGE a hose or cushion!
Sorry, folks, I prefer NOT to enrich the DME coffers.

So now we're not supposed to clean the cushion either?

lego wrote:I, for one, dump all my used CPAP hoses in the ocean as a sacrifice to the gods of sleep.

lego wrote:All this talk of choosing to not clean hoses sounds just like the anti-vax arguments.

lego wrote:

chunkyfrog wrote: This is the only way I have ever managed to DAMAGE a hose or cushion!
Sorry, folks, I prefer NOT to enrich the DME coffers.

So now we're not supposed to clean the cushion either?

You asked...
and so the plot thickens.