Speed drying for Cpap Hose?

Never fails, I wash my hose (short one w/ the vents, which were accumulating some dark dust, yuck), hang it and.... 48 hours later, it's still wet (and I live in a dry climate!). Has anyone ever used a hair dryer to expedite the drying process? I am so tempted .... I'd be quick about it, waving it around and through the hose for a few seconds at a time. I haven't washed the longer Climate hose because it would probably take a month to dry. I washed a regular hose once, and I don't think it ever dried, I just slammed it on the machine and said to heck with it.

I do want it to be dry now, because these are the rainout months, and I have to deal with enough moisture as it is!

So... anyone use a hair dryer, or have other drying tips?

What is your "logic" for drying a hose you're going to be putting humidity back into in a short period of time?
If you feel you MUST wash them, do it in the evening before bedtime and the air will add the excess humidity to your air from the machine/humidifier.


Den

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i haven't heard of anybody having serious problems with the left over droplets in the hose. do the best you can drying it, put it on and go to sleep.

You can also wash the ClimateLine hose.

Just make sure the 2 ends are dry, especially the end that connects to the H5i Humidifier.

The droplets in the rest of the hose will be gone pretty soon after you turn on the machine and will NOT cause any rainout issues.

I just dunk the whole climateline in the water (ends and all). The first time I did pause for thought, but there are no warnings on the hose packaging, so I went for it. No problems thus far.

I hook my long hose and my short hose together and put it on my machine and let it blow for a while. The air will blow the water droplets out. Put a towel at the end, or you'll end up with a small wet spot on your bed. I usually leave it on until I remember to turn it off, but I think about a half hour should be enough. Oh, and you might want to turn your humidifier off while you blow air through the hose.

onthefreeway wrote:Never fails, I wash my hose (short one w/ the vents, which were accumulating some dark dust, yuck), hang it and.... 48 hours later, it's still wet (and I live in a dry climate!). Has anyone ever used a hair dryer to expedite the drying process? I am so tempted .... I'd be quick about it, waving it around and through the hose for a few seconds at a time. I haven't washed the longer Climate hose because it would probably take a month to dry. I washed a regular hose once, and I don't think it ever dried, I just slammed it on the machine and said to heck with it.

I do want it to be dry now, because these are the rainout months, and I have to deal with enough moisture as it is!

So... anyone use a hair dryer, or have other drying tips?

I feel it is a complete waste of time...it's like washing and drying your car before going out in the rain. Hours later you are just going to run water through it again. (When you do wash your hose...I hope you are smart enough not to hang it in the germ ridden bathroom)

grapeshly wrote:I hook my long hose and my short hose together and put it on my machine and let it blow for a while. The air will blow the water droplets out. Put a towel at the end, or you'll end up with a small wet spot on your bed. I usually leave it on until I remember to turn it off, but I think about a half hour should be enough. Oh, and you might want to turn your humidifier off while you blow air through the hose.

If your humidifier tank is connected to the machine, it's still going to pick up some moisture.......even if it's turned OFF. That's called "passover" humidification.......humidification without heat. That's what I use year-round.

You're wasting electricity and wear and tear on your machine.


Den

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In the past I've put the hose on the bed and sat a small fan near the end of it. But... why not just put it on the CPAP and turn the blower on (without using the humidifier)? An hour or so of air blowing through the hose should dry it out.

If you wash the hose in the evening instead of morning, all that's needed is a good shake or spin.
That's dry enough. Truth: I haven't washed a hose for many moons and am quite well, thank you.

onthefreeway wrote:Never fails, I wash my hose (short one w/ the vents, which were accumulating some dark dust, yuck), hang it and.... 48 hours later, it's still wet (and I live in a dry climate!). Has anyone ever used a hair dryer to expedite the drying process? I am so tempted .... I'd be quick about it, waving it around and through the hose for a few seconds at a time. I haven't washed the longer Climate hose because it would probably take a month to dry. I washed a regular hose once, and I don't think it ever dried, I just slammed it on the machine and said to heck with it.

I do want it to be dry now, because these are the rainout months, and I have to deal with enough moisture as it is!

So... anyone use a hair dryer, or have other drying tips?

are you the same freeway who said this

onthefreeway wrote:So what's the moral of this story?

If traveling in the US or a familiar country, just get on the Internet or call your DME and have one shipped? That sounds reasonable, especially on a longer trip. But what happens if you're in a foreign country or on a cruise, or spending time in some remote location - do you travel w/ TWO cpaps just in case????

I find it hard to believe that ONE night w/out treatment can do you in - another poster said that two friends passed away because they skipped ONE night, but that has to be a real rarity. Some people can't use a cpap when they get a head cold. Some users have it on for only half the night, or nap without it, whether intentionally or not. Obviously using CPAP is optimum, but to scare people into thinking YOU WILL DIE without it is not helpful IMHO.

i have to agree with those who said you are waisting your time
i find it hard to believe you havent figured that out

onthefreeway wrote:... anyone use a hair dryer, or have other drying tips?

I use a small fan to blow room air through the hose. I have a picture of it, but cannot figure out how to post an photo on this forum.

The fan is a small 5V 7500rmp 7CFM fan. It's size is 1.25x1.25x.50 inches. I wired this to a USB cable so that it can be powered by a cell-phone charger. Then I made a shroud for the fan. It's about 2 inches long and the inside is conical. At one end 1.25 dia. At the other end, about .62 dia ID. This end has a .875" OD and can fit to one or more hoses strung together.

On the other end, the fan is mounted.

The fan costs about $7. The 3D printed shroud made from nylon cost $27. The USB cable cost about $3. I also needed some hot glue and a soldering iron to make the electrical connections.

Use it every day. Rinse the hose through a fitting that attaches to my shower - then hook it up to a dryer.

Once a week, us use an aquarium pump to pump soapy water through the hose for a few hours.

The problem with drying, is that the water causes the humidity to reach 100% because the air is stagnant. It's kind of like a terrarium, but it's inside your hose. Great environment for molds, etc.

Heated air may dry it more quickly. Thought of using an hair dryer at first, getting the end piped to force air into the end of a hose took a little more doing that the route that I took.

LSAT wrote: I feel it is a complete waste of time...it's like washing and drying your car before going out in the rain. Hours later you are just going to run water through it again. (When you do wash your hose...I hope you are smart enough not to hang it in the germ ridden bathroom)

Depending upon how strong or weak ones immune system is, it may be more like washing your body in the morning even though it will just get dirty again as the day progresses.

A moist environment is often a great one for molds. If the molds, spores, bacteria, virus or other pathogens are not erased each day by whatever cleaning method is used, a culture could, over time, form. Think of it this way: Most of us would not take a hose from our cpap machine after an evenings use, and fill the water glasses for our friends when they come over for dinner. It wouldn't be sanitary.

Humid air can support the grown of things like the bacteria that causes Legionnaires' disease. It is transmitted "by inhalation of aerosolized water and/or soil contaminated with the bacteria."

True enough, most of us would look at these risks as small -- but I have read on at least one apnea forum, of people who have been hospitalized with lung infections if they don't clean or replace their hoses often enough. If they need to replace them periodically to avoid infections, it's because the cleaning methods they are using are inadequate for them.

Is it likely? For most of us, probably not. But many of us dry our dishes and sterilize them in our dishwashers.

martinsr00 wrote:

LSAT wrote: I feel it is a complete waste of time...it's like washing and drying your car before going out in the rain. Hours later you are just going to run water through it again. (When you do wash your hose...I hope you are smart enough not to hang it in the germ ridden bathroom)

Depending upon how strong or weak ones immune system is, it may be more like washing your body in the morning even though it will just get dirty again as the day progresses.

A moist environment is often a great one for molds. If the molds, spores, bacteria, virus or other pathogens are not erased each day by whatever cleaning method is used, a culture could, over time, form. Think of it this way: Most of us would not take a hose from our cpap machine after an evenings use, and fill the water glasses for our friends when they come over for dinner. It wouldn't be sanitary.

Humid air can support the grown of things like the bacteria that causes Legionnaires' disease. It is transmitted "by inhalation of aerosolized water and/or soil contaminated with the bacteria."

True enough, most of us would look at these risks as small -- but I have read on at least one apnea forum, of people who have been hospitalized with lung infections if they don't clean or replace their hoses often enough. If they need to replace them periodically to avoid infections, it's because the cleaning methods they are using are inadequate for them.

Is it likely? For most of us, probably not. But many of us dry our dishes and sterilize them in our dishwashers.

You repeatedly demonstrate that you don't have a damned clue what you're talking about, haven't done your homework and spew "nonsense".


Den

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I have several hoses and wash them once a week, and swap them after washing. Then I dry them out on an old CPAP machine (no humidifier) and let it sit dry for a week. I think this proably keeps the germ growth down.

Someone reported that if they hung up the hose vertically, it got more convection (or something) and dried out better. They found it worked best if they hung it up where it was entirely vertical, instead of an inverted U shape, it dried better.

If you're going to use the same hose the next night, I'm not sure getting it dry for just a few hours is going to help much.