Dreamwear Stretch or Loosen for you?

Hi Guys:

I have to buy everything out of pocket (even with insurance it is cheaper to buy on Amazon) so I try to make everything last. I have been using the Dreamwear Silicone Nasal Pillows mask for a couple months now. It seems lately every 3 days or so I have to tighten the straps slightly as they loosen up. I don't think the silicone is changing but the strap (the lower neck strap with the plastic sides, not the original all fabric one.) is stretching out.

Has anyone seen the same thing happen to them?

Also it seems the mask is starting to get cloudy inside despite cleaning. I don't think that is an issue as there are no bad smells or anything. Maybe just getting old. Was hoping to get 6 months out of it. How long do you guys find these will last?

Thanks for the real world advice.

Yes, my strap stretched as well.

I solved it by cutting a second slot on each of the plastic arms.

FYI: I use the DreamWear with Arms on the ResMed P30i frame.



About the frame darkening, mine has as well, not a problem.

Dog Slobber wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 27, 2022 6:51 am

Yes, my strap stretched as well.

I solved it by cutting a second slot on each of the plastic arms.

FYI: I use the DreamWear with Arms on the ResMed P30i frame.

About the frame darkening, mine has as well, not a problem.

Thanks Dog Slobber. The Res Med P30i is such a close copy even the straps are interchangeable. I wanted to give that a try but that is still too expensive online. For some reason the Dreamwear parts online are well below MAP but P30i still sells at the manufacturer set prices.

Maybe the prices will go down next year.

The clouding effect on any of the silicone items is fairly common.
It's been around for years for everything from simply the cushions (big or small) to the nasal pillows.
Partly probably simply due to aging of the silicone after exposure to the air to even maybe a small bit of residue from the water during the rinse process. I call it the "yuck" factor because, apart from looking a bit yucky when compared to brand new nice and clear silicone, it doesn't seem to affect performance.

There is a potential way to help reduce the clouding if you want to go down that road after the clouding simply becomes too annoying and you plan to replace the pillow cushion anyway. I don't recommend doing the boil and backing soda trick UNLESS you already have a back up cushion in hand though.

I have some examples of the results if you are interested along with instructions. It's been discussed on the forum.
I do strongly urge anyone trying the boil and baking soda trick to use distilled water and not tap water if their tap water is the least little bit "hard". My initial experiments with the boil and baking soda trick were done with tap water and it didn't produce good results which is why I tend to think that just washing and rinsing in tap water can potentially make the clouding worse.

As for the straps stretching....it's just something that is going to happen when we have something that the product needs to stretch a bit for comfort. There are ways to help reduce the stretching but nothing can really stop it in its tracks.
There are ways to just work around the stretching like DogSlobber's extra holes. People do what works best for them.

SJ-Paddler wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 27, 2022 6:44 am

Maybe just getting old. Was hoping to get 6 months out of it. How long do you guys find these will last?

I went and looked up how long my P30i lasted. Not directly relatable to your DreamWear, but they are similar in design.

My first P30i lasted from:
July 2019 to Feb 2022 - 2 years 7 months

The glue joint that holds the inner plastic part that the cushion snaps into to the frame failed. For what it's worth, I don't wash my mak all that often. The cushion/pillows bout once every 2-3 weeks. Frame even less, every few months???

Just before it failed, I knew something was up. I could feel a slight stream of air coming from the connection. This went on for a couple days. Then when I put the mask on, it popped off.

Got my spare out, put it on. Next day ordered a replacement spare.

You do have a spare?

The boil and baking soda experiment was most recently tried here in this thread
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=182734&p=1392631&hi ... a#p1392631

based off the years ago experiment shown here in this thread
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=74686&st=0&sk=t&sd= ... il+cushion
which is also linked to in the most recent thread above.

Again a major caution...don't try this unless you have a back up handy and the cushion was destined for the trash can anyway.
And be sure to use distilled water for the boiling and the rinsing if your local tap water has much mineral content to it.
Otherwise if you don't the minerals clouding things just cause more clouding due to concentration.

Pugsy wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 27, 2022 7:14 am

The boil and baking soda experiment was most recently tried here in this thread
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=182734&p=1392631&hi ... a#p1392631

based off the years ago experiment shown here in this thread
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=74686&st=0&sk=t&sd= ... il+cushion
which is also linked to in the most recent thread above.

Again a major caution...don't try this unless you have a back up handy and the cushion was destined for the trash can anyway.
And be sure to use distilled water for the boiling and the rinsing if your local tap water has much mineral content to it.
Otherwise if you don't the minerals clouding things just cause more clouding due to concentration.

Thanks. I got backups of everything knowing they would have to be replaced eventually. 2 frames, 2 elbows, 1 strap, 4 pillows, 1 CL Tube, 1 AS10 Water Tank, and a huge bag of filters. Will give the boil & soda treatment a try once it goes from cloudy to slightly brown.

Dreamwear parts are really cheap on Amazon. They must not enforce MAP (Minimum Advertised Price) for parts.

SJ-Paddler wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 27, 2022 7:23 am

Dreamwear parts are really cheap on Amazon. They must not enforce MAP (Minimum Advertised Price) for parts.

Amazon is a conglomeration of independent sellers or in the case of when amazon itself is the seller it probably doesn't have a source for the cpap products directly via a specific contract with a specific manufacturer like ResMed and independent sellers who haven't signed any contract with ResMed (or whomever) won't be bound by the contract to only sell at the MSRP.
So there's nothing to enforce. No contract directly with ResMed usually means no requirement to do the MSRP thing.

How ResMed enforces the MSRP advertised sale price is the wholesale contract that places have to sign to buy directly from ResMed. Places like cpap.com have to sign that contract and abide by it or lose the ability to buy from ResMed at the wholesale level. That's why you see so many online sellers sticking to the MSRP in their advertising....they don't want to lose that contract.

Independent sellers aren't going to have to worry about wholesale contracts. Obviously a lot of the cpap equipment stuff that is offered on Amazon by people who probably don't have a contract directly with ResMed won't have that restriction and they price things more along the supply and demand sales price. Items with more of a demand will command higher prices. We have no way of knowing what goes on behind the scenes but we have always said that ResMed would sue their mother over a dollar....so I don't know if ResMed is going after the sellers on Amazon or not. I did hear that they were threatening independent sellers on EBay in the past.

Though all that said I have noticed some Amazon sellers pricing items pretty much right at the MSRP so I assume those sellers probably have no choice or maybe they just want a bigger profit margin.

Amazon pricing can change daily. Lost count of the number of notices I got for items that I was holding in my cart and hadn't purchased yet when the prices changed.