Remove bottom of humidifier? (bugs inside!)

[princessamethyst916]

Hi, I've been reading the helpful info on apnea board for awhile but this is my first time posting. I've mostly been doing fine with my treatment, but I stayed at someone else's house the other night when a storm knocked my power out, and today I noticed little bugs in the bottom of my humidifier, between the metal and the plastic housing!!!!

There's a little hole in the plastic, I'm guessing that's how they got in, but I want to get them out before they breed and start infesting my home! It looks like the bottom might be able to be removed, but I'd probably have to pry it off. There's a spot where I can slide a small flathead screwdriver or something, and I could probably move the screwdriver around and pry it open, but I don't know if it will go back together after that, or if it might leak afterwards. 

Has anyone ever taken this bottom part off, or have any idea if it's okay to do so? It's not time for my insurance to cover a new humidifier and I definitely can't afford to buy one. ?. 

I'm attaching pictures, sorry these bugs look gross but it's probably helpful to see what I'm talking about. 

   
   

[staceyburke]

If there are bugs in it throw it out, a new one is about 20$ on amazon

[princessamethyst916]

Oh, I didn't realize that, thank you! I can probably borrow that from someone and order one in the next few days. I don't know what to do until then though. Right now I have taped over the hole so they can't get out. I don't think they can get into the part where the water is.

[SevereApnea]

Hmm always wondered what that hole in the bottom was for, now we know!

If it was me I would toss this immediately and switch to my spare one.

Make sure these creatures don't migrate into your actual cpap machine, that would be more costly.

When your order a new humidifier, I suggest you buy 2, one to use and one as a backup unless you can manage to go for a while with no humidification.

(It took us a month to clear the ants from my coffee machine, that's another story: some people eat ants, of course but this is different: I wouldn't want those thingies of yours near my airways! or taking over my CPAP machine .)

Here is hoping you can sort this out in a hurry!

[OpalRose]

Since I'm not a fan of any bugs, that water chamber would have been gone as soon as I spotted bugs.  
Buy a replacement water chamber on Amazon, then when your insurance sends you a replacement, keep it as a spare.  Even Supplier #1 is running a sale (I think).

[Sleepster]

My humidifier tank is identical to yours, and is about due for replacement. (I keep a stock of extras so I have a new water tank at the ready.) So, I tried some experiments, but I was unable to pry off the bottom. As far as I can tell there's a cavity in there where your bugs are, and I think the small hole is a weep hole to let any condensation out that might get trapped in that cavity. I would look online for a recipe for a homemade insecticide that's safe for humans. Try squirting some in that cavity with a bulb syringe or the like. Then flush it out with warm water. Set it somewhere to dry with the weep hole facing down so water can drain out. You may not need an insecticide, just flushing it out with hot water may do the trick.

[Sleeprider]

Bugs in the humidifier chamber are a new one on me. I would discard that one and buy one on Amazon or ask my supplier. You might want to let your friend know there is an issue with some kind of bug.

[hh9797]

Yeah as others have stated just get a new one, you have no clue what type of diseases and bacteria those little pests might have on them, it isn't worth the risk of getting some bacterial infection in the lungs to try to just clean out the bugs seeing as you have no clue if you got out the bacteria or not, even if you get all the bugs out there is still risk of infection. so yeah would just immediately take it outside leaving it somewhere away from the house in a bag and not put it into the trashcan until the day you take out your trash because well you don't want them to breed in your trash and spread to your house. Not to long ago we had a fly infestation where a fly laid hundreds of eggs in my daughters stuffed animal, yeah that thing went directly into a bag and sat out on the curb until trash day and only went into the trash on trash day and it still took a while to get rid of them all.

Hard to tell through the plastic but it almost looks like bed bugs, if that is the case definitely let your friend know they have an infestation because those things are nasty little buggers that are extremely hard to get rid of if they spread their nesting grounds to other parts of the house. The good thing for you is that bed bugs are not known to spread diseases to humans, the bad thing for you is that like I said they can be hard to get rid of if they spread If you wake up all itchy with small rashes those things do feed on blood and some people are more sensitive to their bites than others. But just because they are not known to spread diseases to humans doesn't mean that breathing in their fecal matter can't cause you some sort of infection.

[Dog Slobber]

There is no path for air or water from the pocket under the humidifier to the tank or device's air pathay to you.

But........, if the bugs are in the humidifier pocket, you have to also consider that they are in your CPAP as well.

I wouldn't be concerned at all with the ones in the humidifier, but the rest of the machine is a different story.

Fill the pocket with vinegar, rotate it around to fill as much of the cavity as possible and let it rest for a while. It might be difficult to then remove the dead bugs from the cavity but perhaps water and vigorous shaking. Sounds like you don't have a spare tank. You're tempting fate. Get a new tank and then save this as a spare.

Now for the controversial part.

If they're in your tank, they're likely in your device. Though they may not be in the air pathway. 

This is where I would recommend an ozone device. Full disclosure, I absolutely detest ozone devices, they are not needed in the capacity they are marketed and when used *regularly* will harm your device.

But this is one circumstance that they can be used. Get an inexpensive ozone cleaner, place your cpap in a bag or fairly airtight container and run the ozone device in it or the hose for a couple hours.

For your safety run it outside. When done run the cpap for 30 minutes or so (without wearing it).

Ozone and material incompatibility causing materials (like foam) to prematurely degrade is cumulative. Continuous exposure is the problem. Single (or very rare repeat) usage is simply not enough to cause damage to your device.