Humidifier Chamber cleaning

[SarcasticDave94]

I clean my humidifier tub, mask parts, and heated hose...sometimes.

I can definitely state that it's always washed on a day that ends in Y. And always with Dawn and very warm water. How often? Depends. Maybe monthly-ish. OR maybe not. And I DO NOT dump the water out after each use!

 

Same routine for me Dave. 
I have never understood the need to empty the reservoir daily OR why the need to let it "air dry" after cleaning, only to fill it with water again.
Been doing it this way for many years and it hasn't killed me yet. 

There's the ONLY probable place we differ, in that when I do clean the tub, I do let it air dry. AKA It sits on the counter while I drink decaf, eat a few meals, go shopping, etc. before I fill it up with water and plug it into the side of the ASV.

[Fats Drywaller]

I have never understood the need to empty the reservoir daily OR why the need to let it "air dry" after cleaning, only to fill it with water again.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mold_health_issues

[Big Guy]

A gallon of distilled water is $0.82 at Walmart. That will last me a week or so. 

The little bit of water left over from the night before, isn't worth trying to save. It gets dumped and then the chamber gets wiped dry. It then sits with the lid open for several hours. 

Nothing good will happen if you let something sit around with water in it. Sooner or later, that will become apparent. 

I don't refill the reservoir until about an hour or so before bedtime. I'm a bit of a neat nick. That has carried over to my CPAP machine.

[Melman]

I use distilled water to avoid mineral deposits. (It's not sterile and doesn't prevent microbial growth.) I usually just top mine off each day. I only drain and clean it if I see evidence of any type of microbial growth, which is almost never. When I do clean it is with mild detergent (or vinegar if there are mineral deposits).  I've seen evidence of mold growth only once in the last couple of years, a few pinpoint size colonies that I wiped off.  They have not returned.

[upsman]

Nothing good will happen if you let something sit around with water in it. Sooner or later, that will become apparent. 

I sure hope my open gallon of water doesn't start growing something before I  can use it. 

[Big Guy]

Nothing good will happen if you let something sit around with water in it. Sooner or later, that will become apparent. 

I sure hope my open gallon of water doesn't start growing something before I  can use it. 

Well, you can rest assured that it's not going to improve any......

[mesenteria]

A. It takes three days at my settings to run the reservoir dry.  When it is close, I empty, rinse once, and then refill.  Mine has water in it for a couple of weeks or more before I clean it.  That is, it's never without at least several tbsp. of water in it.

B. I only use local tap water.  I have no staining, no mold, no scale.  This despite not having cleaned my reservoir since maybe the 20th of October.

C. I clean my reservoir, when I do, first with hydrogen peroxide.  Add about 1/4 cup, rinse around well, and then let sit.  Five minutes later, I return and only once have I found a very slightly pink slime showing, maybe amounting to a teaspoon.  I emptied that, and then added a solution of potassium metabisulphite. Again, swish around well, let stand for five minutes.  Rinse, fill with more tap water, and back into the side of my Elite it goes.  I guess I'll allow that its overdue again.  I will do that tonight.

D. When I do the hose and mask pillow, I wash first with Dawn or Ivory dish soap, rinse, and then sterilize them with the metabisulphite as well.

I have had no sores, hot spots, welts, deformations, or illness that wasn't just the lone cold I had over the past 11 months since starting PAP.  My mask and hose, and head gear are still the originals, now almost a year in.  They look like the day I got them.

I say all this because using distilled water is almost certainly entirely unnecessary.  If you can't change your water often, and the local tap water is quite hard, and you don't use a softener in line with your service, then you will see some scaling over time if you don't empty and rinse the reservoir essentially every morning.  For those of us with good mountain/glacial water, as I have, just use that.

[Big Guy]

Our tap water here is horrible. We won't even drink it unfiltered. Lots of minerals in it as well. We filter it in a Zero Water purifier. 

It would be nice if our water was more pure, but it's not. Hence, the distilled water.

[OMyMyOHellYes]

every few months, I just toss the two pieces in the dishwasher. It's fine, unless yours has a an aluminum plate/base. On my old S-9 and prior S-8 that was the case. Dishwaser detergent is not kind to AL. If it is stainless, it will not hurt them. (Resmed offered a dishwasher safe, stainless bottom tank for the S-9, I don't know how the S-10 is set up). Teh fillips System One I have is stainless so no worries. I'll not comment on the superiority of the PR Respironics products ......

[Jflow66389]

I quit filling the humidifier/tub on my machine more than a year ago. I cannot see any difference in the way I feel now versus how I felt when I did use water in it. I'm on Medicare and get new hose, filters, and 6 replacement masks every 3 months, and a new mask assembly every 6 months, and a new mask with headgear and a humidifier tub every 12 months at no cost to me. Before, when I was cleaning the water chamber, I would just toss it in the dishwasher (top rack). It has a metal bottom and doing this never damaged it. Every couple weeks I change the filters and replacement mask and I check the empty humidifier tub and have never found any mold or anything else growing there.