How do you guys clean out your cpap hose?

[jcmn81980ster]

I just squirted a little bit of dish soap in to mine then flushed it with mild hot water

[Julie]

Why? The only thing going through it was filtered air from the machine to you, not the other way around. An awful lot of us never touch the hose from one year to the next... no need, unless you incidentally happen to be aware of something that got in through the mask area when you weren't looking.

[jcmn81980ster]

Ha ha just figured it might get moldy from the humidity or something like that

[LSAT]

Ha ha just figured it might get moldy from the humidity or something like that

It won't get moldy when you use it every night. As Julie said, you are only running the mist from distilled water through it. I have been using the same hose for about 8 months now and it has never been cleaned or dried out. The only time I change a hose is when the ends get so stretched that it leaks when attached to the mask.

[Ontario CPAP]

I give my hose a rinse every couple of weeks. I squirt some soft soap into one end, add some hot water, and swish back and forth by holding both ends, letting the hose droop in a U shape and alternately seesawing each end up and down. Dump out the soapy water, and give a good flushing.

Although I'm using only distilled water, it is not sterile, nor is the ambient air. Having said that, I've never had any issues with molds or smells in the hose, so I could probably go without cleaning it for longer, but I've made it something of a habit.

[chunkyfrog]

I confess, I don't do anything unless I see (or smell) something weird in there.

[Elle]

What is "mild hot water"?

[Goofproof]

I turn me XPAP on with the mask off, and hope the spiders loose their grip. Jim

Never had one come out yet!

[The Latinist]

Why? The only thing going through it was filtered air from the machine to you, not the other way around.

I don't think that is necessarily true. Those of use using nasal pillows have no check valve on our masks to prevent exhaled air from blowing back trough the hose. Indeed, when I exhale through my P10 mask, a significant amount of air blows back into my humidifier, indicating to me that my exhaled breath is making it at least some of the way down the hose.

That said, I generally don't worry about it. If I've been particularly sick, I might wash out the hose, but I've been using the same one for nearly a year and have only cleaned it perhaps half a dozen times.

Incidentally, at least Resmed masks and hoses can be sterilized by submerging them in 190°F water for 90 seconds. I've done it several times with no noticeable harm. To any component.

[palerider]

Those of use using nasal pillows have no check valve on our masks to prevent exhaled air from blowing back trough the hose.

show me one mask that has a 'check valve'.

[chunkyfrog]

Check valve, ha, ha, no clue at all, but I've never seen one on a mask, of any kind.
Oh, maybe a steampunk costume mask. Now that would be cool! Especially in brass or copper.

[The Latinist]

Those of use using nasal pillows have no check valve on our masks to prevent exhaled air from blowing back trough the hose.

show me one mask that has a 'check valve'.

Any mask with a so-called "anti-asphyxia" valve (which includes, I believe, nearly every FFM) has a check valve. What else would you call a valve whose purpose is to allow flow of a gas in only one direction? Specifically, both my Quattro Air mask and the Simplus I tried for one night had swing check valves.

[palerider]

Check valve, ha, ha, no clue at all, but I've never seen one on a mask, of any kind.
Oh, maybe a steampunk costume mask. Now that would be cool! Especially in brass or copper.

yeah, no mask has a 'check valve'. anti asphixiation valves, sure. but those are all closed while the machine is in operation, as you well know

[Goofproof]

Those of use using nasal pillows have no check valve on our masks to prevent exhaled air from blowing back trough the hose.

show me one mask that has a 'check valve'.

Also the volume of air in the hose is is large enough, that if it all blew back into the HH water would be pushed into the XPAP. So the patient air isn't what's going into the hh. Jim

[The Latinist]

Those of use using nasal pillows have no check valve on our masks to prevent exhaled air from blowing back trough the hose.

show me one mask that has a 'check valve'.

Also the volume of air in the hose is is large enough, that if it all blew back into the HH water would be pushed into the XPAP. So the patient air isn't what's going into the hh. Jim

I didn't say that exhaled air was blowing into the humidifier; I said that the flow of air into the humidifier suggests that exhaled air is entertaining at least part of the hose. After all, that is what we're talking about potentially needing cleaning in this thread.