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tomjax wrote:Farewell Al berto Gonzales. M Chertoff next- maybe?

Unfortunately, this cleansing took a lot more than 20 minutes.

Get up 5.15 for an early shift, don't want to wake hubby with fiddlefarting around.

Disconnect hose if I remember, and hang it with mask attached so it drains/dries.

at bedtime, check the swift nozzles before use, wipe them down with ky and a tissue if they look a bit gungy.

Wash the mask properly every 3 weeks or so, wash the hose the same time.
wash the humidifier thoroughly every week or so.

[quote="tomjax"]
It is nice to clean anything we have. Sometimes for esthetic reasons, sometimes for health reasons.

For some reason pepple confuse these.

I rarely clean mine- maybe every 3 to 4 months. Maybe rinse my pillows with soap every couple of months.

How often do we sterilize our toothbrushes?
How often do we sterilize our nasal passages and oral cavity?
Imagine the pillows or mask as an extension of out nose.
For cleanliness it may be helpful the same as our underwwear.

Just do not think it is all that necessary for health reasons.
Our bodies do a sufficient job of that.
Evolution helps a lot here.
Anyone ever hear of the hygeine hypothesis?
We may be doing more harm than good with our obsessive cleaning.

Nightly, I wipe down my face and mask (UMFF) with a baby wipe. Then, about every month or so, I'll take the mask and swish it in hot soapy water (nope, don't take it apart.....too much risk!), then rinse with cool water and let air dry. My tank gets a 50:50 hot water:vinegar soak whenever I notice buildup, about every 3 months or so. I use water from a Pur water filter on our kitchen tap at home, distilled water when travelling except for first night out, when I'm at a hotel for one night before catching a flight out next morning....then, I just use hotel water.

As far as hose, about never! All it gets through it is air (filtered, no less by my little filter on the back of me PB420E). I don't have a rainout problem, so I figure, what the heck??

Kajun

I voted for 10 minutes as I included the time it takes for me to do everything related to APAP.

Take into bathroom for cleaning (5 minutes):
Humidifier chamber - empty, rinse with hot water, air dry.
Mask - Mirage Vista VERY easy to clean. I don't take apart, put Dr Bronners on it, rub seal gently, rinse with very warm water - air dry.

Take card to laptop to download data (5 minutes): At some point I may not do this daily, but for now I want to see how my mask (nasal or full), humidity setting, new essential oil (Pur-Sleep), and bed incline affects my AHI and other numbers.

(10 minutes every two weeks) I didn't include the time it takes to clean the hose or the part of the humidity port on the machine that attaches to the hose. I clean them once every two weeks. I have two hoses and swap them back and forth. This gives adequate time for the hose to completely dry. I then toss the oldest hose when I get a new one.