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7 1/2 years on CPAP and I have 4 hoses the newest is a slimline. With three spares I will not need to get a new one for a while.

I'm still using my original hose-just over three years old. I have several relacements standing by, but haven't seen a need to do it, yet.

AThom10731 wrote:How often should you replace your CPAP hose?

My insurance is an HMO, medicare base and they recommend and will pay for a replacement hose every 6 months.

I usually inspect my hose when I'm cleaning it...and I'm either cleaning it because the hose cover needs a wash or there's a smell coming from somewhere, and I'm trying to find out where.

If the hose looks like it needs to be replaced, I'll replace it. It starts developing kinks in the surface over time, and since I get a new one every 3 months...I've got a small collection to replace from.

Otherwise I'm on my 3rd hose in the bedroom... and there's a hose in my travel bag that's been on 5 trips with me so far. Those hose would probably last longer if I didn't try to jump out of bed with my mask still on. First time I did it, I was using a HoseBuddy stand....it held its ground and snapped back into bed. The second time was with my current stand, a Hozer, it caused my humidifier to go flying off the nightstand....fortunately no damage or spill.

As for smells....the first time it was because I had run the integrated humidifier tank dry and it was the smell of burning plastic. Adding fresh water covered up the smell until the water had absorbed all of the smell it could....and then things got really bad again when it ran dry. Wonder what the inhaled burnt plastic has done to me. Second time it was few bad batches of distilled water.

There have been other incidents of smells, but those are the ones that lasted more than a night and required investigation....

The Dreamer.