cpap cleaning

[groggykevin]

I am new to this and have loved what I have read so far on here. It has been very helpful. My CPAP machine manual says to clean the hose daily. Is that more than necessary? I can see cleaning the mask daily, but the hose to the machine daily also? If people here agree, then I will. It just seems like a lot.

[big_dave]

I think cleaning the hose daily is overkill. I clean my mask cushion and forehead piece daily, the other parts of my mask weekly, and my hose and humidifier chamber every 2 or 3 weeks.

[Shastzi]

Hi groggy!



I clean my hose every week or two at most, depending on how much moisture gets in it.
Then I use a gun cleaning cable and pull some disinfecting mops through it, followed by a distilled water rinse 15 minutes later.
I finish by hooking the hose up to a hose dryer I made from a centifugal blower for about 1/2 hour.

Clean, disinfected and...
Done!

[trish6hundred]

Hi groggykevin,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
I clean my hose and mask once a week in warm "mild" soapy water. I don't clean the headgear very often because it seems to wear out quicker if I clean it too much.
There are a few threads dealing with cleaning here on the board that might give you more ideas.
Best of luck.

[Tez62]

groggykevin, everyone has different opinions on cleaning, I wash my hose and all accessories twice a week in liquid soap (no fragrance), I just chuck them in the sink basin while I have a shower, rinse and hang the hose up during the day and dry everything at night. I use a full face mask so only wash that twice a week as well. A tip, when you put your hose back on, run the CPAP for a few seconds without a mask on to blow out any left over water. The manuals tell you to wash vevry thing daily so the parts don't last as long. I have had all my parts for 2 years now and haven't replaced anything including the mask, good luck.

[SuperSleeper]

I cleaned my hose in 2010 I think.

[DocWils]

The hose takes up moisture from your humidifier, but if you are using distilled water and change the water daily(and wash the tank and dry it, which you should) then daily washing of the hose is unnecessary. If you have set the brick to auto-off in the settings menu, then it runs on for a minute or two after you take the mask off, and the air pushed through is enough to get most of the moisture out of the hose - the build up of moisture in the hose is largely due to two factors - your are breathing in and out on one end, so there is a tendency for some condensation since the system is not open at your end, and if your humidifier settings are too high for the passive room humidity. Letting it run on is enough to deal with most of that, unless there is massive buildup, which we call rain-out.

If you wash your hose every other week in dish soap, let it hand dry for a few hours to get most of the wet out, and then turn off your humidifier and auto off (remove the CF card first), hook up the hose and let it run for a while, it will take care of the rest of any moisture left from the wash.

As for the nasal pillows, you need to clean the pillows regularly but the rest not so often. Easiest again is a bit of dish soap on a wash cloth, rub it around the outside of the pillows, was it off and Robertus is your Uncle. All done, don't even need to unmount the pillows from the hose. Others buy CPAP wipes that doe the same thing.

The rest is easy - change your filters monthly, give the rest of the assembly a wipe monthly as well, and anything that has innards that eventually reach you (humidifier chamber, hose, the rest of the mask assembly, more often), but except for the humidifier tank, nothing needs a daily wash.

[JJJ]

I cleaned my hose in 2010 I think.

A man after my own heart.

[Ugly]

I cleaned my hose in 2010 I think.

A man after my own heart.

It's usually my intention to wash them often but remember I've used CPAP since 1998 - maybe 1997. Over 5100 days, that's a lot of soap. Serious. I try to do it when I remember. But certainly not every day.

By "them" I mean a SlimLine, a ClimateLine and a "standard" hose.

[groggykevin]

Thank you everyone. Looks like everyone has a different preference on cleaning, but you all agree that daily hose cleaning is not necessary so that is helpful to hear. Thank you for the Welcomes to the forum too! I am learning a lot from it and am wearing my mask a few hours every day...in hopes that I can get used to it and sleep through the night with it. That's the goal anyway.