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Does anyone actully know what causes the cushions to become cloudy as they do? I have tried vinegar, assuming it was hard water deposits, but that did nothing. Even a dishwasher cycle won't remove the cloudiness. Why does boiling with baking soda work?

I only use baby shampoo to clean the masks.

I don't know either, but it improved the appearance and feel of my Swift FX headgear.
Sadly, some newer cushions are composed of a harder plastic as well as the silicone.
The Wisp is like that. it makes for easy assembly, but will it boil?
Who knows? Anybody tried it?
There are a couple other masks out there with hard plastic in the cushion.
Perhaps somebody has tried boiling one of the others.

hyperlexis wrote:Does anyone actully know what causes the cushions to become cloudy as they do? I have tried vinegar, assuming it was hard water deposits, but that did nothing. Even a dishwasher cycle won't remove the cloudiness. Why does boiling with baking soda work?

I only use baby shampoo to clean the masks.

I wash my ResMed SoftGel Nasal Mask cushion every couple of weeks in the dishwasher on its highest heat setting, but withOUT the heated dry.

That does remove some of the cloudiness.

I have never "boiled" any of my cushions, but I assume that would do a better job of removing more of the cloudiness.

I just remembered something I read about silicone; that it absorbs gases readily.
I have noted that old, cloudy pillows smell a little funky, and that the odor leaves after boiling.
Maybe the heat and some chemical reaction with the soda helps remove the gases.

Be careful if you opt to google boiling silicone. You might get some info unrelated to sleep apnea that you might be good with not having knoweldge of...

That did not occur to me until you (sort of) mentioned it.

I tried boiling the cushion once. Used distilled water and a little bit of baking soda. It was clear afterwards. But, I think a little bit of the stickiness went away. When I told the DME about it, she wasn't real happy. Her reason: cushions should be washed using the same soap that you use for washing your face. That is the best thing for them and they won't break down as quickly. I have been following the washing with the face soap routine and the cushions are retaining their stickiness.

MagsterMile wrote:I tried boiling the cushion once. Used distilled water and a little bit of baking soda. It was clear afterwards. But, I think a little bit of the stickiness went away. When I told the DME about it, she wasn't real happy. Her reason: cushions should be washed using the same soap that you use for washing your face. That is the best thing for them and they won't break down as quickly. I have been following the washing with the face soap routine and the cushions are retaining their stickiness.

I hear ya. I wouldn't do this every day, but this cushion had seen over a month of use, and would be in the trash right now otherwise. I see no harm in doing this every now and then to revive an otherwise dead cushion. I would not do this though, without having a backup plan. SInce I got my second cushion from my DME thursday, figured why not give it a shot. I want to try to stockpile for that one, as I plan to get a mirage quattro to try from my DME. Want a working cushion or two for my fx, since the FX really does work quite well for me.

Nooblakahn wrote:Be careful if you opt to google boiling silicone. You might get some info unrelated to sleep apnea that you might be good with not having knoweldge of...

Where do you think some of my inspiration came from?

Well that and silicone cooking utensils.

MagsterMile wrote:I tried boiling the cushion once. Used distilled water and a little bit of baking soda. It was clear afterwards. But, I think a little bit of the stickiness went away. When I told the DME about it, she wasn't real happy. Her reason: cushions should be washed using the same soap that you use for washing your face. That is the best thing for them and they won't break down as quickly. I have been following the washing with the face soap routine and the cushions are retaining their stickiness.

That and she wants to sell you replacement cushions every month.

Nothing in distilled water and baking soda is going to hurt you or your cushions. The method I describe is for deep cleaning every month or 2. It isn't meant to be used daily. The best way to tell that you are due to boil is when after cleaning with your preferred soap that it is still slippery. Your leak graphs will also look abnormally high as well.

Daily cleaning will leave residue just like your skin oils and sweat will. It happens slowly but eventually you will have a build up.

allen476 wrote: II have a bunch of Swift LT pillows and I am going to try them as well. I don't hold out much hope as they are the ones that collapse after 1 week of use.

I was going to try boiling, but someone suggested to me that O rings work with the LT cushions to bring them back to life - they were RIGHT! I got a size 9, for my medium pillow, later learned a size 10 is the suggested size. Got the O rings in the plumbing dept at Home Depot. Thought I'd suggest this to you since this worked so well for me. I'm on about week 3 or 4 of use on a previously used up cushion. O ring gives it more comfort I think too.

Jen

Hello All,

Wow, boiling a cushion? Gosh that makes sense.

Though I recommend using Control III or any pure product, then rinsing very very thoroughly, I think I'm going to do some experimenting. Full face cushions start to wear out very quickly. I wonder if boiling is the answer.

I've got some masks at the shop that need cleaning. Thanks for the idea!

Jim

So you hear this Respironics and ResMed and everyone else!?

We want some crystal clear silicone here! No more of this nasty funky ass cloudy in a week stuff!

The people have spoken! Change your plastic formula, please!

I can hear them now: "lalalalalalala"
(better silicone would LAST longer! No way Joe)
They just might be working on single use contact media.
Watch for it!

Apparently this is also a problem that afflicts mothers using clear silicone baby bottle nipples. A plague of cloudiness on silicone!

Cool tip, Thanks. I'll have to give that a try.