Please Help a B&M DME with a smokey problem.

RonS · Post by **RonS** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 5:41 pm

I purchased a machine used that smelled of smoke.

I cleaned (with soap and water) the filter. I disposed of the hoses.

I ran it for 10 hours on 20cm, and that reduced the smell somewhat.

It took about 100 hours running over 2 weeks before it started to not smell of smoke. I don't know if it was "horrible" or "just a hint" compared to your machine.

Needsdecaf · Post by **Needsdecaf** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 6:35 pm

Slinky wrote:Goshes, sleep labs don't have much choice whether their patients are smokers or not. It wouldn't seem that they would have separate machines for smokers and non-smokers but maybe they do. Why not ask a local sleep lab, KansasRT? Good luck!!

Sleep labs would not typically allow smoking. It is unlikely, IMO, that simply being a smoker would contaminate the machine. The mask, maybe, but the disinfection ought to take care of that, or just tossing the hose and mask in the garbage.

Slinky · Post by **Slinky** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 6:57 pm

Smokers do NOT smoke w/their CPAP and mask on. Smokers have a cigarette or two on their drive to the sleep lab. They probably put one out as they park their car at the sleep lab parking lot. Once they've smoked even one cigarette after a shower the smell is in their hair, it exudes from their skin. And from their lungs. Ever see a smoker's mask cushion after they've worn it for say 30 nights? It becomes yellowed from their exhalations. Yes, I'm sure sleep labs do encounter the smoking odor in the equipment used on smokers during their titrations.

RonS · Post by **RonS** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 8:04 pm

I dunno about you, but I don't think I exhale all the way back to the machine against pressure!

My sleep lab "gives" (i.e. charges for) a new mask and hose for every new patient. I don't know what they do for patients who have their own hose and mask.

Slinky · Post by **Slinky** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 8:09 pm

My sleep lab sterilizes and reuses masks used during a titration. I assume the hoses as well.

RonS · Post by **RonS** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 8:30 pm

If my lab told me that, my first instinct would be to say: "Check please!"

Really? ick ick ick

I can't think of many things I'd rather not share with strangers more than a mask and headgear. It's pretty close to a toothbrush, and maybe more than a catheter. ewwwww

Slinky · Post by **Slinky** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 9:52 pm

KansasRT, try this:

viewtopic.php?p=214406&highlight=smoke#214406

Ozone. You can rent ionizers.

sleepycarol · Post by **sleepycarol** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 6:22 am

Our sleep lab is like Slinky's -- they reuse the masks and tubing. I assume that they are cleaned properly between users.

Needsdecaf · Post by **Needsdecaf** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 7:07 am

[quote="Slinky"]Smokers do NOT smoke w/their CPAP and mask on. Smokers have a cigarette or two on their drive to the sleep lab. They probably put one out as they park their car at the sleep lab parking lot. Once they've smoked even one cigarette after a shower the smell is in their hair, it exudes from their skin. And from their lungs. Ever see a smoker's mask cushion after they've worn it for say 30 nights? It becomes yellowed from their exhalations. Yes, I'm sure sleep labs do encounter the smoking odor in the equipment used on smokers during their titrations.

socknitster · Post by **socknitster** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 7:59 am

I don't think the issue is whether the cpap user is a smoker or not--the issue is whether or not it is a smoking HOME.

For example, my inlaws house REEKS of smoke. My MIL doesn't smoke, but if she used a cpap it would reek too because they FIL smokes so much that the whole house is completely permeated. The problem is the smoke-saturated air is getting sucked into the machine--not that the person using it has smoker's breath.

When we come home from a visit to their house, WE REEK TOO. And we have to change our clothes and bathe and wash our hair to get rid of it. Anything that sat out at their house would smell. Only clothes that are tightly sealed up inside a closed suitcase are spared. Even our dogs, if we bring them along, reek and need a bath.

It is disgusting!

jen

KansasRT · Post by **KansasRT** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 8:12 am

Thanks for all the responses. I worked in a sleep lab for 10 years and never encountered the machines smelling from smokers, only the masks and tubing. I am going to try an ozone machine and see if that helps. One of the problems is that I am very sensitive to smells and if I can't stand it, I won't give it to anyone else. Other people here don't think it is that bad. Thank you again for all being so helpful.

RonS · Post by **RonS** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 8:53 am

KansasRT wrote:Other people here don't think it is that bad.

If that's the case, I might try running it at 20cm for a day, then run it 8 hours a day for a couple of weeks in a clean environment. It seemed to work for my machine.

Anyway, good luck!

Slinky · Post by **Slinky** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 9:59 am

I hope that works for your machine, KansasRT. By the way, I can't take credit for that suggestion. Jules suggested it when I asked in Chat last night.

DreamStalker · Post by **DreamStalker** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 10:00 am

Yes ozone is likely the only thing that will take the smell out if anything. I believe it can be bought in concentrated form in a pressurized botttle/can.

socknitster · Post by **socknitster** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 3:26 pm

Make sure you air out the place afterwards. Ozone isn't particularly good for you either. I believe it is a free radical, if I'm remembering correctly. I don't know much about it except for the hubbub about it in the aquarium "world" when it got popular as a way of keeping the water clean. Apparantly some of the early adopters had leaks and there were health concerns some folks voiced. Maybe it was all crap? I don't remember the details exactly. And I am not into aquariums any more either.

jen