Poll: How Often Do You Clean Your Tank?

I realize this is an old thread, but wanted to respond too I rinse mine out daily and once a week clean with baby shampoo. I haven't had any issues yet, but you guys have me freaked out with the slime and pink gunk talk. If I ever see anything like that I'll probably clean it daily so I don't start convincing myself there's something in my lungs.

Actually, we're headed on down to the tankwash now:



Muffy

Hmmm... Since I use distilled water in my humidifier, I rarely clean my tank. When I do, does that mean I will join Mike Rowe in a new episode of Dirty Jobs?

For those of us that don't clean our tanks that often and might have a build up of grime or other bacteria, here's the perfect solution. Don't rinse your tank, don't submerse it for several hours in a bowl of water, get the pressure washer out!

I top off the tank daily with distilled water. I wash out the tank thoroughly with disinfectant soap followed by odourless soap every weekend (plus the tubing and mask). So far so good. But I'm up in the Toronto area and the humidity in the bedroom is very low during the winter. During the summer I expect it will be about the same as we have a brand new central air conditioning system that does a great job. Using the H4i humidifier.

Jersey Girl wrote:I use only distilled water in my tank and dump the left over water every day. I put a little vinegar fill with water once a week to disinfect it. I let it soak and then rince thoroughly. Once a week is my routine.

Regards to all,

Jersey Girl

I have the same routine. The top of the yellow cap that covers the tank for cleaning, has grooves in it. Fill the grooves of the cap with vinegar, dump it in the tank. This is the exact amount of vinegar you need for the correct concentration, then add water to the fill line of the tank. Let soak for 10 minutes, as per the instructions from ResMed.

In order to avoid any buildup of anything, I just use distilled vinegar in my tank all the time. Sometimes it gets a little hard to breath at night.......but it saves time cleaning it.

Country4ever wrote:In order to avoid any buildup of anything, I just use distilled vinegar in my tank all the time. Sometimes it gets a little hard to breath at night.......but it saves time cleaning it.

I had bounced away, when I finally realized what you had posted!! Yikes!



Hang on world, the number of us with warped humor is increasing!

Mary Kay keeps her tanks pretty clean:



Muffy

Starting out, I cleaned the tank once a week, along with hose washing, etc. I was full of vim and vigor and did almost everything the manufacturer said.

Time passed. I got lazy. Now I clean the tank when I think about it. The old style tank type Respironics machines have a very visible large humidifier tank on the outside of the machine. Haven't noticed any uglies growing inside, but periodically I'll glance at the tank, feel guilty, and decide to clean it. The rest of the time I just top up with distilled water.

As to where the mold/mildew/germs come from. We are totally, interior and exterior, coated with stuff like that, the air is full of it. By the time you've washed and gotten back to your machine you probably have hundreds of thousands of yeast, mold, bacteria, etc. on your humidifier tank. A fascinating book I read years ago was called "Life on Man," and it opened my eyes.

Cleaning routine is using odorless dish soap (Planet). I've never seen any scum or the kind of stuff on Muffy's tank so I haven't used vinegar. I use distilled water only except for a one week trip to Mexico. Distilled was hard to find so I used plain bottled water with no problemo.

Has anyone tried using martinis or other attitude adjustment beverages in the humidifier? Would we all sleep better, or wake with a foul hangover?

Happy Naps,
Mr Capers

Once a week.

As a newb I cleaned it all the time per instructions and now I alternate chambers so one thoroughly dries over 24 hours. I use distilled only. Then I replace the older tank every 6 months. I've been doing this for over 2 years and no problems yet.

I use tap water. Here in Plano TX its a bit hard. So after about a year I see hard water deposits appear. I just take a flat screwdriver and gently break up the white coating on the metal plate. Rinse it real good and keep on going. I've kept my last humidifier (heated humidifier for the resmed spirit) going for 3 years on tap water!

Puff Daddy's tank:



Muffy