CPAP tube brush?

Which CPAP tube brush do you guys recommend? I'm looking for the best one on the market.

TheChuckster wrote:Which CPAP tube brush do you guys recommend? I'm looking for the best one on the market.

WHY?

Admittedly, I haven't been as diligent as I could be about cleaning my tube.

I've been using the very same hose since I started therapy 8 1/2 years ago and have never "cleaned" it. I've filled it with hot water a couple of times over the years to check for leaks, but saw no need to actually clean it. I always use distilled water, so there shouldn't be anything growing in it. It only gets disconnected from the tank when I top it off with water or when I need to travel. I've only "cleaned" my tank once in that 8 1/2 years (February 2012) for no real reason other to say I've done it. Normally, I just dump and rinse it when I open a new gallon of distilled water.......at about 3 months intervals.
However, I AM diligent about rinsing out my foam intake air filters twice a month.


Den

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TheChuckster wrote:Which CPAP tube brush do you guys recommend? I'm looking for the best one on the market.

I see nothing wrong with a thorough tube cleaning even though it may be overkill. I bought mine on ebay...$11 shipping included. I suspect they are all about the same.
J

I agree; I washed my hose daily at first, later on, I even invested in a tube brush,
as I was "assured" it would work with the slimline/climateline tubing--what a crock!
Now that they have finally produced a brush for slim tubing, I find it is not necessary.

Wulfman... wrote:Normally, I just dump and rinse it when I open a new gallon of distilled water.......at about 3 months intervals.

It takes you 3 months to go through a gallon of water? Or are you saying that you dump/rinse every 3 months when you happen to open a new gallon?

cdru wrote:

Wulfman... wrote:Normally, I just dump and rinse it when I open a new gallon of distilled water.......at about 3 months intervals.

It takes you 3 months to go through a gallon of water? Or are you saying that you dump/rinse every 3 months when you happen to open a new gallon?

1 gallon per 90 days is about 42 mL of water evaporated per day from a ~400 mL heated humidifer tank. In other words, around 10% of its volume at full capacity per day. Sounds about right.

My S9 humidifier is set at 2.5...I top off the tank every 4 days. I'm not sure how long a gallon lasts me, but I'll bet it's close to 90 days. It depends on how humid your room is. If you are in a very dry area, you will use more water. I'm sure once we get into Nov and later our home will get dryer with the heat on and I'll use a little more water.

cdru wrote:

Wulfman... wrote:Normally, I just dump and rinse it when I open a new gallon of distilled water.......at about 3 months intervals.

It takes you 3 months to go through a gallon of water? Or are you saying that you dump/rinse every 3 months when you happen to open a new gallon?

Yep. I use "passover" humidification.......no heat, but water in the tank, year-round. I live in the dry, northwestern mountain area of Wyoming and the air blowing over the water picks up about the right amount of humidity. The cool air keeps my nasal passages open. I tried heated humidity for a couple of nights when I started therapy in early 2005 and didn't like it.

So, yes, a gallon of distilled lasts me about three months. When I open a gallon of distilled, I pour it into old 20 oz., plastic soft drink bottles and keep it in a shelf in the refrigerator door. I use them to top off my humidifier tank every few nights.
And, like I said, when I get ready to start on a new gallon, I'll wait till the water level is pretty low and then dump that and rinse with hot tap water and refill with distilled.


Den

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Every couple of days, I slosh the tank under a good light.
Eventually, I see something that isn't water--then I clean it really good, let dry, and refill in the evening.

The reality is the inside of your nose is designed to trap and kill bad organizums so reasonable care is all you need.

There is a HEPA filter on the air inlet of your blower. From WIKI: To qualify as HEPA by US government standards, an air filter must remove (from the air that passes through) 99.97% of particles that have a size of 0.3 micrometres or larger. (American Society of Mechanical Engineers, ASME AG-1a–2004, “Addenda to ASME AG-1–2003 Code on Nuclear Air and Gas Treatment”, 2004)

The gist of the matter is air that circulates through your machine has been thoroughly cleaned, Chlorine treated tap water or deionized UV treated bottled water may be cleaner. But I'd bet that any brush once it's out of it's sterile packaging long enough to wave it around once in nonHEPA filtered room air will actually be a source of contamination and if the brush didn't come in sterile packaging, consider it dirty before you've picked it up

I'm new to this but the more I think about it reasonable care means, never disconnecting or cleaning the inside your gear once it's out of the sterile packaging it came in and is hooked up. Wipe down the outside if you wish, but never touch the inside with anything but filtered air and water vapor.

I have never seen HEPA filters for cpap machines.
Do you mean a room filter?

Hey Huckster,

I have immune issues and cannot take the chances that some can. The tube brush sold by the owners of this forum at CPAP.com has worked well for me.

When you get to the website, in the upper right, you will see the search box. Type in "tube brush" and what you are looking for will pop up on the screen. Just this week, they came out with the "2nd generation" brush. You will need to check your instruction manual of your CPAP machine for the size of the hose you want to clean as the 2nd generation brush comes in two sizes. You will not see any reviews on this brush because it is so new.

I own a ResMed S9 Autoset and bought the older brush and it does the job.

Take care,
TheWino

Hi,
I use the 19mm brush advertised on the CPAP.com site also. It fits through the climate line on the ResMed S9 machine. The new hose brush is made of stainless steel which is a better material but unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a user friendly hose brush suitable for CPAP hoses. Obviously one needs to be invented so it will fold or bend easily but in the mean time as far as I know, that's the only one available. Would you believe? I find it is an essential tool though. Obviously the tube needs thorough regular cleaning as moulds are so harmful to the lungs.