Are the filters necessary?

[DanGagner]

I've wondered about this for a long time. For years I've breathed the air in my bedroom all night and been okay. My wife breathes it too. We live in Maine, not LA so I'm not worried about the air. My cpap machine has a 'coarse' filter and a 'fine' filter. I've always used to coarse filter as it at least keeps a fly or spider from crawling into the machine, I've never used the fine filter.

Question: If the air is the regular air of our bedroom and anyone there breathes it in all the time, why do cpap users have to have filtering for the same air? For better air flow I'd be satisfied with a small open netting sort of filter.


Is there some reason that I'm not seeing?

[Dog Slobber]

The filter not only improves air quality, but also prevents foreign substances from damaging or reducing the life of your machine.

[ardenum]

the filters are there to protect the machine not you.

[Big Guy]

I lightly spray both sides of the filter in my machine with a touch of my wife's hairspray. That makes it even more efficient. 

[Clay L]

It is easy to find out if if a fine filter would be needed or not. Just use one for a month and see what shows up on it.
I live in a high desert valley in western Colorado. After a month my fine filter is a dark gray instead of white when it was put in.

[Big Guy]

I've had my machine since last Sept. 10th. I've cleaned the filter in it maybe a handful of times. It's never been anywhere near being discolored when I do. 

My machine rests on a 4-drawer file cabinet, that is about the same height of our bed. The file cabinet sits in a corner of our bedroom, literally. 

I don't know for sure if that has a bearing on just how dirty the filter may or may not get. We have wood floors and my machine is far away from any foot traffic.

[DanGagner]

I've had my machine since last Sept. 10th. I've cleaned the filter in it maybe a handful of times. It's never been anywhere near being discolored when I do. 

My machine rests on a 4-drawer file cabinet, that is about the same height of our bed. The file cabinet sits in a corner of our bedroom, literally. 

I don't know for sure if that has a bearing on just how dirty the filter may or may not get. We have wood floors and my machine is far away from any foot traffic.

Same here, in two years I've rinsed out the filter three times. It doesn't seem to change. I didn't realize that the it was to protect the machine mechanism. It all makes more sense now.

[Big Guy]

I've had my machine since last Sept. 10th. I've cleaned the filter in it maybe a handful of times. It's never been anywhere near being discolored when I do. 

My machine rests on a 4-drawer file cabinet, that is about the same height of our bed. The file cabinet sits in a corner of our bedroom, literally. 

I don't know for sure if that has a bearing on just how dirty the filter may or may not get. We have wood floors and my machine is far away from any foot traffic.

Same here, in two years I've rinsed out the filter three times. It doesn't seem to change. I didn't realize that the it was to protect the machine mechanism. It all makes more sense now.

Yes, when someone says their filter was really dirty or badly discolored, I have to wonder what is going on?

[Melman]

Yes, when someone says their filter was really dirty or badly discolored, I have to wonder what is going on?

It's just a matter of how much dust there is in the air.  I've never seen a home in which surfaces don't get dusty over time. The same dust accumulates on your CPAP filter. If you leave it long enough it will accumulate some visible dust just like your furnace filter.

[Sleep2Snore]

You could almost get by without the filters, however, if you saw inside the machine and saw just how much dust collects on the fan blades you would be horrified!  If you put a small strobe light in the room it might just surprise you just how much air is constantly moving towards the machine (and dust).  Remember one thing, the machine is constantly pulling air into the machine, when you breath the air goes in both directions, in when you breath and out when you breath out, but the machine is pulling in all the time as the air breathed out goes out through the mask.
Make up your own mind if you need a filter or not based on this.