Boiling Nasal Pillows

[archangle]

Not so much rethink the cleaning process as the drying process, non?

Well, I really want to be sure it gets clean deep in the crevices.

Failing that, maybe be sure that I kill off any germs feeding on the residual gunk in there from time to time. I might start doing a quick dip in boiling water.

Improving the drying process would be nice, too. I usually dry the hose on an old CPAP machine, so I may just hook the mask up on the end and blow dry it, too.

I did reject one nasal mask because the flap and the cushion were one piece and there's no good way to clean down in the crevice where they come together. However, I do love my Swift FX mask now.

I don't have a lot of confidence in the cleaning when you soak the parts in soapy water. That seems like a way to just spread the germs around to me.

[SleepyNanna]

Ive tried it and it seems to work for a short time. I use a saucepan with a small amount of boiling water, throw in the nasal pillows and carefully add about a tablespoon of baking soda. It will bubble up so be VERY careful you have enough room for the expansion. Keep it on the boil for about 5-10 minutes, stir occasionally with a wooden spoon. This will make it bubble up again with the stirring. I then rinse with cold water and let it dry. try not to touch the pillow with your fingers as, I'm lead to believe that it is our skin oils that cause it to loose its definition. I also make my own straps that can be tightened as needed. Everything about sleep apnea is too expensive and im always searching for ways to survive financially and sleep better. At the moment I have an old nasal pillow (clean and dry) resting in plain flour to see if that pulls out the oils. First I tried baby powder but the talc smell was too strong to sleep with and I read that talc was poisonous to breath in. ( I dont know if that is true or not) Its too soon to tell so experiment. You dont have anything to loose as the old nasal pillows will get thrown out either way.

[Stom]

Do not boil your mask components. Boiling your ResMed cushions will reduce their lifespan.

ResMed has institutional cleaning instructions for their cushions so they can be re-used in an institutional setting.

High level thermal disinfection

ISO 15883-1

    1.Using a certified hot water disinfection system, soak the disinfectable mask components using a temperature-time combination

    158°F (70°C) for 100 minutes
    167°F (75°C) for 30 minutes
    176°F (80°C) for 10 minutes
    194°F (90°C) for 1 minute.

    2.On completion, remove the mask components from the hot water disinfection system.

    3. Allow the mask components to air dry out of direct
    sunlight.

https://www.resmed.com/us/dam/documents/...er_eng.pdf

Note how radically the time needed for disinfection changes with the temperature. You need precise temperature control to use this method. The ResMed cushions are rated for 20 disinfection cycles using ResMeds validated thermal or chemical disinfection methods.

[big_dave]

I occasionally boil old pillows/cushions, but never new ones. Boiling is best used as a stopgap measure to get a little more life out of them, until new ones can be delivered or until you get home from a trip. I’ll boil them if the only other choice is to throw them away. It quickly becomes ineffective.

[SleepyNanna]

Re: boiling with baking soda.
I only do this with the old ones that are ready to be thrown out to try to coax a little more life out of them.
My new ones I wash daily and dry carefully.
@ $30-$40 (Australian) for each nasal pillow Im thinking of putting these on my Christmas wish list. Its getting too expensive to breathe.