Perma-Stench: M-series Auto CPAP

hummer3d wrote:

rocketdork wrote:I wonder if Ozone would work to kill the smell. Its toxic to most bacteria (us too) but has a short life span. It works very well as a bleach too. I know one guy that uses it to get cigarette smoke smell from a car. Because its so reactive it doesn't just cover a smell, but actually destroys the molecules that cause odors.

Hot tub places sell machines that produce Ozone for use in hot tubs.

I have an Ecoquest ozone air purifier, I bet you could put a cpap in front of it and it would get rid of the smell Maybe. I can tell you you can check into a hotel and plug it in and after just 30 minute you wont smell any more foul smells at the hotel. Theese macines are great but expensive in the $800.00 price range.

I would have some doubts as the way ozone purifiers work is that they pump out negative ions & these attach themselves to dust particles & odor molecules in the air & cause them to fall out of the air. That is why the 'air' can be cleared but a smelly cpap will still smell as soon as the ozone machine gets turned off again and air carries the source of the smell back around the object & room. Also the -ve ions won't really achieve their objective in regard to a smell inside something. Ozone generators can kill bacteria but they have to freely get at the bacteria. -ve ions clear the dust & smells.

If you have a genuine ozone generator (-ve ions) look around the base of it after a day or so & you should see a very very fine dark dust layer around it. Below is a link that talks of ozone & -ve ions.

DSM

OZONE LINKS
http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/factsheets ... ators.html

http://www.epa.gov/iaq/pubs/ozonegen.html

Negative ION Genration Links
http://www.uoguelph.ca/~antoon/circ/hv/ ... ngen2.html

Various Air Purifiers (Ultra Violet Etc:
http://www.negativeiongenerators.com/

White vinegar was mentioned by KarenP. That is definitely worth a try. Rinse like crazy or the M-Series will smell like an old apple. I have tried ozone for 48 hours.Short exposures did no harm that I could see. It would usually cut the stink roughly in half but math rarely works with stink. Half a stink still equals a stink.

Here is my 3 cents. I work in a cell phsiology lab at the University of Minnesota and we predominately study ion channel function in epithelial cells. Anyway we need a very sterile
environment to culture and grow the cell lines that we are investigating and this is provided by a Biological Safety Cabinet or Hood. The hood basically draws in air and then filters it before it reaches the inside of the work area to minimize any contaminants that may cause bacteria or fungus to grow on our cells. The hood also has two light sources; fluorescent for when the hood is functioning and in use and an ultraviolet light source or germicidal lamp that is turned on when we are done and the hood is closed. This lamp is extremely effective in killing bacteria and fungus on anything that is left in the hood and exposed to the lamp.

Now DigiSage I don't know if you have access to something this expensive or elaborate, but I'm wondering if prolonged or short-term exposure to ultraviolet light (the light emitted is in the UV range of the spectrum) would kill the smell. There is a trade-off, the UV lamp also tends to break down plastics after prolonged exposure but this typically takes months.
I don't know how this foam would react but I would imagine that the bacteria, assuming that is the cause, would be killed before the foam was degraded. If you think it would be worth your time to send it to me I would be more than happy to put it in our hood to see if this would work. I can't imagine it would cost very much to ship it, I live in St. Paul, and I would pay to ship it back to you. If it does work then you still have a useable machine. If you are interested send me a PM.

Cheers


Travis

Years ago, when we were building our present home, we purchased a mobile home to live in on the property as we built "out of pocket". Our "out of pocket" plans were disrupted when we got burned out of our mobile home. I had some very rare old "dog books" that the insurance company wouldn't cover because they considered our dog showing/breeding activities a business. I argued since IRS would NOT consider it a business the insurance company couldn't either. There were other problems w/this adjuster and I finally threatened to get a lawyer. Our agent stepped in and negotiated a reprieve: they would rent a deodorizing device to try to remove the smoke/burned smell from my books. Stuff we wanted to try to keep was put in our small separate garage under a tarp and this deodorizing machine was left in there to run for several days (I have NO recollection of how long). It did work and we were able to save my books!!!! Whether it would be financially worthwhile or not for a CPAP/bi-level .... but out of curiousity we could contact a fire restoration business ....