How often do I really need to clean tube and water chamber?

bwexler and I have the same cleaning routine with the exception of the dishwasher. I would never subject my water chamber to the dirty water and germs in my dishwasher.

I wash my mask nightly with Dawn, rinse, toss in a 50:50 mix of water & vinegar for 3-5 mins, rinse well, let air dry. I wash my face at the same time. If there is any oil, my mask won't seal well. I try to wash my headgear's microfleese wraps (covers the cheek straps & top of head strap) every other month or so, probably need to do this more often.

I only use distilled water in humidifier & top up nightly. Weekly (every other week in cold weather), I empty the chamber, take it apart, spray with straight vinegar, let sit for several mins, rinse, let air dry. If there is any residue left, I wash with Dawn, rinse, quick spray with vinegar to remove soap residue, rinse, let air dry.

I change the filter every month.

After a cold with coughing (rare), the hose get washed with Dawn, rinse well. Next, I spray vinegar inside, add some water (likely 30:70 mix), connect ends with a spiral connector, and just curl it up on the bottom of a cleaned sink moving it around every few mins so all surfaces get soaked, rinse well. I connect to my old Escape (dataless CPAP) with pressure set to 19 and let it blow for 15 min/until dry. Then, cover one end with Press and Seal and thread it thru my microfleece cover.

Every 6-9 mos, I buy extra distilled water, clean my Corningware clear pot, fill half way with the distilled water and 1-2 measuring teaspoons of baking soda (bicarbonate of soda), bring to a boil, toss in my silicone pillows and mouth cushions and let them softly boil for 3-5 mins. This cleans off the haze and seems to restore the original stickiness. Doing this means I only need to replace the 2 silicone parts maybe once a year.

I just got 'CleanSmart Daily Surface Cleaner, Home Use and CPAPs. Kills 99.9% of Bacteria, Viruses, Germs, Mold, Fungus. Leaves No Chemical Residue!!! Great CPAP cleaner, CPAP sanitizer. 23oz, 2PK'. Love it in the kitchen! Thinking about seeing how well it gets rid of oils, if it does a good job, I might switch to spraying this, letting it sit a min (all it takes to kill pathogens), then rinsing well. It does have a scent of a swimming pool when wet, seems to disappear when dry.

UPDATE: the CleanSmart left scent on the silicone that took several washings with Dawn to remove. Still like it as cleanser just not on silicone!

CRMW wrote:bwexler and I have the same cleaning routine with the exception of the dishwasher. I would never subject my water chamber to the dirty water and germs in my dishwasher.

Hopefully, you don't put your dishes in there with that filth either... after all, you *EAT OFF DISHES* like, as in, you put something in your mouth that's been in direct contact....

Unlike being six (or more) feet away by hose from the humidifier chamber.

My headgear gets washed when it gets too loose (leak rate jumps)
My frame gets blasted with the water pik when I can see gunk in the mesh.
I replace my pillows every 3 weeks--no washing, ever.
The tank gets washed with hot water and Dawn when I detect slime by touch.
If I SEE any ickiness, it also gets a splash of vodka (one for the tank, one for me.)
The hose gets replaced at about 18 months to a couple of years--also never washed.

AMK wrote:I got some unscented cpap wipes from Amazon and I am finding that my pillows seem to stay put better if I wipe them off every day. I empty my humidifier chamber almost every day and let it dry out. I never clean the big hose.

I also noticed that wiping the pillows daily with unscented wipes helps them to last much longer than if I wash them daily with baby shampoo.
The beauty of nasal pillows is that you have no drool to deal with and a very small area to wipe.
I tried the citrus wipes, but they left a residue, so I went back to the unscented wipes that come in the 62 count canister.