Best Practice for Washing and Drying CPAP Hose/Tube

palerider wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 03, 2022 7:37 pm

Home dish soap is, by definition, "mild".

I seem to recall Madge, my manicurist, telling me that about Palmolive some years ago.

Personally, for anything that will touch my skin for prolonged times, I only use a product that I would also use directly on my skin. But I have had allergic reactions that make me especially careful about double-rinsing my clothes, too. So I know it's just one more way I ain't quite "normal."

The WP dudes back in the 90s wrote:Dishwashing liquids are all relatively mild detergents, but, in a lab test for mildness that uses synthetic human skin, testers found some differences. By a small margin, Seventh Generation was the mildest liquid tested. Dawn Original, Sunlight Fresh Lemon Scent, and Amway Dish Drops were the least mild; you might want to avoid those three if your skin is easily irritated.--https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/ ... a89032b92/

Underlining mine.

Dog Slobber wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 03, 2022 4:00 pm

Why are you concerned about drying it. You said yourself after 5 days they are still damp. Is there any mold? No, there isn't. Mold needs moisture, and nutrients (which won't be there), it also needs to already be present?

You say you're a stickler for following the rules? Fine, wash your hose weekly. Now point out in the instructions where it says that it must be dried thoroughly on the inside. It doesn't. You're the one that decided it needed to be dry.

But given you've decided it needs to be dry, then swing it around a few times, put your device back together again and run mask fit once or twice. Your machine runs 7 x 8 hours a week, 10 more minutes of motor run time is nothing.

You’re correct, I interpreted the guidance to hang dry to mean that I had to hang it until it was dry…. And I used my own definition of “dry”.

Hung to a partial dry is probably good enough…

But quite frankly, with all the non-washers here, I may just go that route…

As a noob to all of this, I can only read the directions as my first steps out the gate, and learn from experience and through talking to others…. Never would I have thought right out of the gate to ignore cleaning instructions…. As a new user, that would be counter intuitive…

But with all this experience saying they don’t wash anything ever…. I’m good with that…

It's the age-old story of another perfectly respectable, rule-following model citizen becoming corrupted and debased by the influence of having fallen in with the wrong crowd of dirty pappers on the Internet.

lazarus wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 04, 2022 1:43 am

It's the age-old story of another perfectly respectable, rule-following model citizen becoming corrupted and debased by the influence of having fallen in with the wrong crowd of dirty pappers on the Internet.

Another convert to the dark side.

I always tell people to adopt whatever cleaning routine happens to suit the person and they are comfortable with. Don't do or not do something just because someone else does or doesn't do something.

I got comfortable with doing as little as possible very early on in my therapy and I am still alive and kicking and rarely have any sort of upper respiratory illness and certainly not something I caught from not washing the hose. Any germs, bacteria or whatever that might be on our equipment we put them there handling the equipment. I always looked at those things as "my germs" to put back on my equipment.
"My germs" are everywhere in my house and on me. I might wash something but as soon as I go handling my equipment then I put my germs right back on my equipment.

Now there are some exceptions to my lack of cleaning routine but they usually pertain to what I do after I have had some sort of illness.
Like if I had a cold and a snotty nose then I would wash the nasal pillow just to get the snot off.

Common sense goes a long way.

MikeekiM wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 03, 2022 3:21 pm

When I wash my CPAP tube/hose, I found that I could not get it to dry even if I wash it early in the morning and re-attach it late the same evening... Even with me swinging it around a few times during the day to try and use centrifugal force to push the water drops through the tube/hose...

So I decided to go to a swapping strategy... I kept my old hose and now I just swap them out when I wash them...

However, what I am finding is that my hoses are still not dry, even after 5 days dropped around a door knob...

What am I doing wrong? Is there a better way to dry the hose? I have heard that I could run my CPAP machine to use air to dry it out for 20 minutes or so... But I don't want to screw up the machine's metrics by running it just to dry the hose... What do you folks do here?

I clean my equipment once per week. I soak the hoses, tank, and mask in a gallon of warm water with a cup of white vinegar added. After a couple of hours, I rinse everything and hang it to dry. By the time bedtime rolls around the hose still has water droplets inside of it. No big deal, I go to bed with it that way. By the time morning comes all the water droplets are gone. Again, no problem.

I soak in baby shampoo for 15 minutes, let it hang for 20 minutes to help to air try a little. next I use my hurricane dryer for 15 minutes. the dryer will dry it out nicely. when done, let everything stay there till its time to use it. the dryer is a little expensive but worth it. theres other ways to dry your hose, but this is the way I like to dry out my equipment. you buy from amazon for 180 dollars.

MikeekiM wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 03, 2022 11:24 pm

Dog Slobber wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 03, 2022 4:00 pm

Why are you concerned about drying it. You said yourself after 5 days they are still damp. Is there any mold? No, there isn't. Mold needs moisture, and nutrients (which won't be there), it also needs to already be present?

You say you're a stickler for following the rules? Fine, wash your hose weekly. Now point out in the instructions where it says that it must be dried thoroughly on the inside. It doesn't. You're the one that decided it needed to be dry.

But given you've decided it needs to be dry, then swing it around a few times, put your device back together again and run mask fit once or twice. Your machine runs 7 x 8 hours a week, 10 more minutes of motor run time is nothing.

You’re correct, I interpreted the guidance to hang dry to mean that I had to hang it until it was dry…. And I used my own definition of “dry”.

Hung to a partial dry is probably good enough…

But quite frankly, with all the non-washers here, I may just go that route…

As a noob to all of this, I can only read the directions as my first steps out the gate, and learn from experience and through talking to others…. Never would I have thought right out of the gate to ignore cleaning instructions…. As a new user, that would be counter intuitive…

But with all this experience saying they don’t wash anything ever…. I’m good with that…

You might try this.

https://www.amazon.com/Hanger-Snugell-U ... pons&psc=1

I feel like tho unlikely, if I have had some rainout in the hose or whatever, hanging the hose every morning like this allows air to pass through. There is a nifty hanger for the mask as well. It also works well for drying if you choose to wash now and again. I follow that wash with a run thru with maskfit to complete the drying process and it makes me feel better about it.

I'm a rule breaker...I very seldom rinse my hose, maybe every 2 months or so. Why worry about using a wet hose? It gets wet again as soon as you start running the machine. It's like drying your car before going out in the rain.

Ray4852 wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 04, 2022 7:48 am

I soak in baby shampoo for 15 minutes, let it hang for 20 minutes to help to air try a little. next I use my hurricane dryer for 15 minutes. the dryer will dry it out nicely. when done, let everything stay there till its time to use it. the dryer is a little expensive but worth it. theres other ways to dry your hose, but this is the way I like to dry out my equipment. you buy from amazon for 180 dollars.

Baby shampoo is great for babies, but it does nothing to stop, or retard, the growth of unwanted microorganisms in your cpap system.

I just bought a hurricane dryer. Any tips on how to use it anyone (including RAY)!

Do whatever makes you happy.
I was planning to do some cleaning while I was on chemo.
Somehow, I never seemed to get a "round tuit".
I'm still here, which only says . . . nothing at all.
Just do what makes you happy--or "do not", if that makes you happy.
It is a very individual thing.
Bear in mind that my experience was the more I handled/cleaned those things,
the quicker they got damaged, and had to be replaced.

lazarus wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 03, 2022 3:48 pm

MikeekiM wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 03, 2022 3:33 pm

dish soap

Maybe not the best choice for mask:

The ResMed Dudes wrote:soap and warm, drinking-quality water. Avoid using stronger cleaning products, including dish detergents, as they may damage the mask or leave harmful residue.
https://www.resmed.com/en-us/sleep-apne ... equipment/

As for me, I run some soapy water through my CPAP hose once a year, whether it needs it or not. Now if someone is just starting out, has specialized immune-system status, or sleeps in a dirt-floor barn shared with livestock, I fully understand a more frequent cleaning routine. I'm usually a bit of a clean freak, but for the life of me I can't figure out how the inside of a hose would get dirty or unsanitary. My ResMed blows a slight breeze of air for a while after mask-off every morning which helps keep things dry, I reckon.

Hats off to the rule followers, though. To each his/her own comfort with cleaning routines for personal medical equipment.

The ResMed video online actually recommends mild dish soap. ‍♀️ What else would you use? Maybe vinegar?

tyrinryan wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 05, 2022 5:27 pm

I just bought a hurricane dryer. Any tips on how to use it anyone (including RAY)!

How I use my dryer. connect hose to the round plug on the bottom of dryer. curl the hose up in the dryer basket. connect your mask frame to your hose. put cushion in basket too. if you use your water tank for humidity. put that in there too. before I use my dryer. let hose drip dry, along with your frame and cushion for up to 2 hours. on dryer you will see 3 heating setting. I use the 15 minute one. you have 30 and 60 minutes also. I never had to use higher than 15 minutes to dry. when dryer shuts off. let everything stay in basket till you are ready to use it again. once a month clean filter from dryer. I think this is the best way to go if you want dry cpap equipment.

Conrad wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 05, 2022 5:27 am

Ray4852 wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 04, 2022 7:48 am

I soak in baby shampoo for 15 minutes, let it hang for 20 minutes to help to air try a little. next I use my hurricane dryer for 15 minutes. the dryer will dry it out nicely. when done, let everything stay there till its time to use it. the dryer is a little expensive but worth it. theres other ways to dry your hose, but this is the way I like to dry out my equipment. you buy from amazon for 180 dollars.

Baby shampoo is great for babies, but it does nothing to stop, or retard, the growth of unwanted microorganisms in your cpap system.

baby shampoo is very easy on your equipment. if you are worried about germs. clean your equipment everyday. you won't have to worry about microorganisms. that's why I like to clean.

KittyMom22 wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 11, 2022 6:58 am

The ResMed video online actually recommends mild dish soap. ‍♀️ What else would you use? Maybe vinegar?

When I do clean the hoses, masks, and/or humidifier tanks, I use about 3/4 of a mug of vinegar added to a bathroom sink full of water and I typically soak stuff for an hour (or two if I forget what I'm doing).

Why do I use vinegar?

Well back when I started PAPing (2010), the DME told me to use vinegar (about 1/2 to 3/4 cup in a bathroom sink full of water) to wash the hose, the mask/pillows cushion, and the humidifier tank once a week. When I do clean any of my equipment, I still use white distilled vinegar in the water. Partly because vinegar does act as a mild antiseptic and partly because it rinses cleaner than dishwashing liquid does. (And dishwashing liquid always has an added scent and I'm sensitive to perfume-type odors.). Hubby's face is much oilier than mine and he does have a full beard. So when his mask cushion gets "gross", I'll first wash it with dishwashing liquid and then add it into the vinegar bath with whatever else I've decided to wash that week.

Back when I started, the DME also told me to dump the unused water from the humidifier tank and rinse with tap water and air dry, hang the hose and wipe the cushion/pillows off every morning. I do try to remember to hang my hose every morning, but I don't dump the unused distilled water and I don't wipe my pillows down---if they're "yucky", I swap the pillows out for a different pair and throw the old pair on the "to be washed later" pile on my dresser top. Hubby? He never hangs his hose and he never wipes the mask. Because I started PAPing first, cleaning & swapping out the CPAP stuff (on my schedule) has become my job. (Hubby does lots and lots of other things in terms of household chores and he also makes me coffee every morning when I get up.)

I was told to use dishwashing liquid to wash out the reusable filter in my PR System One BiPAP when I was switched over to it from the Resmed S9 AutoSet which only had a disposable filter. So I do use dishwashing liquid to wash out the foam filters on the PR machines we use.