drying humidifier amd tubes

[SleepyBee]

having been advised to rinse and dry my humidifier and tubes every day I'm wondering about drying them

my airsense 10 has a warmup feature that seems to blow air through the system at a low rate plus hear the plate in the humidifier.

is this a good option to dry things?

As a side note why don't machines have an explicit"dry" function, just trickle some air through the system for an hour or two, maybe with some low heat from the humidifier?

[DeepBreathing]

You'll find many opinions on this, but my view is that daily washing is unnecessary. I personally wash my stuff once a week - the hardware is washed, rinsed in very hot water then left to air-dry. The tube is likewise washed and rinsed, then hung up. Each day I hang the tube and mask but don't bother washing or drying them.

I don't think it's worth worrying about getting everything completely dry. The humidifier will be filled with water and the tube will have moist air blown through it every night.

[silversnore]

You will find members clean their equipment on different frequencies, some daily and some annually. Most manufacturers state wash you humidifier every day and hoses once a week. While using your machine to dry your equipment will work (Resmed says using the humidifier with no water will not harm the machine, not sure about Devibiss). Using your machine however adds more hours to the machine and therefore will lower the life span and this is probably why companies don't include a dryer cycle and probably don't see a problem letting the equipment air dry. Most people wash their equipment and let it air dry, hanging the hoses over the shower rod, etc. My experience is that the hose may have some droplets of water after hanging all day, I simply plug it up and start using, I might get a drop or two past the mask but find it refreshing and not a problem.

[Melman]

If I use tap water I completely drain and wipe out my reservoir every week or so to prevent mineral accumulation. (I see very little.) I never bother with drying it completely. I just refill it with fresh water. In between I just top it off each day. For several months I used distilled water. During that time, all I did was top off the tank every day and drain and rinse it every few weeks. I think I have washed it with detergent once in the last 6 months, although I saw no evidence it needed it. I have never seen any sign of significant microbial growth, and since I'm a microbiologist I know what to look for.  I'm not saying none are there. There are species that grow even in highly purified water but they are not pathogens and are present in numbers too low to be a threat.

I've washed my hose once in 6 months. I inspect it every week or so but never see any evidence of microbial growth.  I don't bother with drying it. I have seen no evidence of mold in my reservoir or mask.

I have an F20 mask. I wash the interface and cushion daily to remove skin oils and small amounts of saliva that accumulate inside the interface. If I don't remove the skin oils daily I have sealing problems.  The rest of the mask gets washed every couple of months but never appears to need it.

Certainly if you ever see slime, discoloration, or turbidity (very unlikely) it's an indication that more frequent cleaning is necessary.

[Raven87]

I clean my humidifier tank, hose, and mask once every week. I wash them in very hot soapy water, triple rinse them in equally hot water, and then let them air dry with the hose hanging.

I use only distilled water in my humidifier and have never had any issues. Hope this helps.

[personal111]

The machine I have runs from $1300 to $1700 new depending on supplier.
I would not want to waste expensive machine life on drying a hose.
They are manufacturer to run so many hours and that's it.
Just hang them up so the ends hang down and you'll be fine.
If you want to go the fancy route they have a specialized hose hanger for CPAP hoses available on Amazon.

[Crimson Nape]

Wash it in the morning and hang it over the shower curtain rod till that evening. Any residual moisture will evaporate when you use it. It would be the same as using the humidifier.

[Sleepster]

Some people do use their machine to dry their tubing. I can see the need for this if you plan on storing it, but if you plan on using it again that night I really don't see the need for drying it. And I really see no need to use the machine to dry the tank. It will dry if just left on the counter.

I empty my tank every morning, rinse it out with warm tap water, and leave it on the counter top to dry. I wash my mask cushion in hot soapy water every morning and leave it to dry next to the tank. I wash my tubing with hot soapy water, using a tubing brush, maybe once or twice a month. I soak the tank in vinegar and wash it out with hot soapy water maybe once every other month. I have a water softener so I just use tap water.