Sanitizer Machine

[mesenteria]

Dawn is the detergent used on animals by those who handle them and who need to get them sudsy and clean.  Dogs, cat's...if you dare..., horses, seals, sea birds and shore birds affected by pollutants such as Ye Olde Bunker C, etc..  Vets and groomers use it.  My daughter, a dog breeder/handler/groomer uses it in her business.  People rescuing and washing water fowl whose plumage has gotten...well....fouled, use it.


It's cheap...……...like borscht.  A dab on the finger tip run into and around the mask will get that clean.  Same with how I do my tube, a single drop in one end, add 0.5 liter of warm water to the tube, run back and forth, drain and rinse twice.  That's it.

You could have a really swanky dinner for the price of an ozone PAP cleaner.

[SarcasticDave94]

How often do y'all clean your mask?

Would sometime this year be an acceptable answer?

[Sleeprider]

How often do y'all clean your mask?

Would sometime this year be an acceptable answer?

>..or upon replacement.  Best answer in the thread.

[Melman]

I think I've cleaned my hose once in the last two years. I do examine every couple of weeks with bright light shining through it but have never seen any residues. I think those who have issues with rainout should be most concerned. I wipe the silicone cushion of my mask daily with a chemical free  baby wipes to remove skin oils. I clean the rest of the mask with mild dish washing detergent if if I see any residues. Otherwise I wash it every week or two. I use store brand dishwashing detergent and have never noticed a residue. I've been using the same F20 mask and cushion for 22 months with no problems. I use distilled water in my humidifier most of the time because of very hard water. I just top it off every day. I drain, rinse, and refill it every week to 10 days. Like Paula, I use vinegar in the humidifier.

I have worked professionally with a variety of sanitizers and sterilants including the technology employed in the CPAP sanitizing machines. They will not sanitize surfaces that have not been cleaned and once surfaces have been cleaned they are overkill for our needs. Cleaning, as everyone has described, is sufficient to assure sanitization unless a surface is really heavily contaminated (e.g. pink slime in humidifier). In such a case cleaning with mild detergent followed by a rinse with drugstore hydrogen peroxide or another mild sanitizer will be sufficient.

[SarcasticDave94]

Loosely speaking, I'm probably cleaning my equipment once per quarter. No I'm mostly not joking about that timeframe either. Especially right now with this major pain in the back.

[Big Guy]

Being new to all of this, I wasn't sure just how often the equipment needed to be cleaned. Some of the responses have reassured me some that I don't need to be as anal about it as I am. I'm going to try and relax just a bit about it. Don't know if it'll work, but I'll give it a shot. 

[SarcasticDave94]

Being new to all of this, I wasn't sure just how often the equipment needed to be cleaned. Some of the responses have reassured me some that I don't need to be as anal about it as I am. I'm going to try and relax just a bit about it. Don't know if it'll work, but I'll give it a shot. 

IMO whatever works for you is likely the best answer.

I actually started cleaning everything weekly, then I forgot a time or two. Then I did wash the stuff and forgot to cleaning them for even longer. Well, you see my pattern.

[Big Guy]

It sure is a lot easier finding my way thru all this with the help of this forum and all you members. 

[SarcasticDave94]

Hey, a follow up from doing it your way:

Keep doing it your way if it doesn't kill you. But if by chance it does kill you, stop doing it your way.

[PaulaO2]

Many years ago, something started growing in a hose I'd had for a while. I thought I was having allergic reactions to something in my house and we were going nuts trying to figure out what it was. Then I went to Disney with my bro and his family and dang if I didn't still sneeze and snow and watery eyes!

So when I got back, we went through everything I had taken with me. The only real connection was the CPAP. I called the DME and they said they couldn't clean the inside but would give me a new hose, mask, and water tank for free. I decided to replace one at a time to see which it was. It was the hose.

It didn't take long for my symptoms to disappear. At that point in time I was rinsing often and using distilled water. hoses back then weren't smooth on the inside, but had a ridge where the coil was.

That said, do I clean my stuff religiously now? Nope. What I do is replace everything on a regular basis. I keep the old one, get rid of the one I'd had before that one, and use the new hose. I clean the old one exceptionally well and let it dry. Then hang it around a hanger.

The cleaning thing is whatever you are comfortable with. I'm not a morning person. Not at all. Me washing all that crap out every morning got old really fast.

What you DO need to keep track of is the filter. Change it. Often. A lot. I forget mine and it looks like I run the CPAP next to a diesel engine. Because I'm an idiot.