How to sanitize equipment and how often?

Being new to this and visiting different sites can be confusing. Manufacturers want you to buy their products for obvious reasons, therefore, I seek the help of the experts. Those who have had to deal with the same issues. When I first got the equipment about 2 weeks ago, I was told to wash the hose, mask, and water container in a mild detergent daily, or at least every other day. It has become my routine to use the wife's sink in the morning to put my items in a dishwashing solution to soak while I get ready for work. I then hang them from a robe hook that I attached to the wall for drying. This is all I have done since I have had it. The hoses are still a little wet at night when I get them for use. I have read that some people use a vinegar and water solution weekly. I have seen several different cleaning products from mask sprays to the Control III solution that you soak in that should last about 2 weeks. I see brushes for the hoses. I see heated dryers for the hoses. I am currently getting a cold and also want to rule out contamination from the equipment. There are so many things out there and I don't mind spending the money on something that really works, being that this is a long term situation. I also don't want to spend money unwisely on things that can be accomplished just as well by other, more inexpensive means. I know that everyone has their own routine, and I would really like to hear what you do and why. I have many more questions and have found a lot of good answers searching the forums, but I will try to handle the questions as they arise and not try to overload a thread with a lot of confusion. The cold is what I am dealing with now and I want to ensure my equipment stays especially clean during this time, just as I ensure my toothbrush is sanitized when I am sick. Thanks in advance for the help.

Brock... I may have replied to this on another thread here posted by Weezy. We all have our own cleaniness routines and "phobias". After saying that...there is no reason to do what your doing. What you are doing would scare a lot of folks away from cpap usaeage. I wipe my mask down every morning with baby wipes. You can use cpap wipes, but they can be costly. I use Pamper Thick Wipes for Sensitive Skin. You can use the generic brand, but be sure the wipes do not contain alcohol or aloe. Alcohol will deteriorate the mask plastic and aloe will leave a film. Some mask manufactures will say not to use vinegar (and some folks here do). Phillips told me is will eat up the mask. I suspect a deluted-down vinegar/water solution would not hurt. I wash my mask (I use baby shampoo... with a toothbrush) every weekend and soak for a few hours in a plastic tub. Be sure to rinse real good to get the soap and scent out.

As far as the hose.... I don't use my humidifier except a few times a year when I get plugged up. My insurance sends me a new hose every 3 months, so I change out the hose then. There has been a lot of discussion on hose cleaning here.... but when I started out (and was using my humidifier), I washed my hose once a month. Every day seems excessive. Let it dry... I would hook the hose with a clothespin to wire hanger and let it hang to dry.

Sheriff

The only thing that goes through the hose is filtered moist air. I rinse my hose with hot water once a month and replace it once a year (even though Medicare will give me a new one every 3 months). I use the old one to hide cords along the baseboards.

LSAT wrote:I use the old one to hide cords along the baseboards.

Good idea... how do you get the cord in the hose (probably a dummy question... but you're talkin' to one!! )?

I empty my humidifier and wash it out with warm water each morning. At night i fill it up with fresh distilled water. As for the mask, every morning i wipe the inside and outside with unscented/no-alcohol baby wipes and once a week or so i wash the mask with warm water. As for the hose, once a week i wash it out with warm water.

We wash our humidifier tanks, hoses, and mask parts in warm soapy water (ivory liquid soap) once a week. If we are busy or forget, we don't sweat it. We use distilled water in our humidifiers so there is no buildup. Hubby wipes his mask with mask wipe each day.

Sheriff Buford wrote:

LSAT wrote:I use the old one to hide cords along the baseboards.

Good idea... how do you get the cord in the hose (probably a dummy question... but you're talkin' to one!! )?

Cut it along the length of the hose...Sharp box cutter or strong scissors.

In terms of contamination of the equipment, realize that using something that's been used by you is different from something that's been used by another person. You're not going to catch a disease from yourself. If you had a cold last week, breathing in a few thousand cold germs you coughed out last week isn't going to compete with the billions of cold germs you had inside your body last week. Anything on the CPAP came from you or the environment in your house. It's not like touching something in a hospital or public restroom where others have been.

Think of it this way. You would never use someone else's toothbrush, but you'll reuse the toothbrush you used yesterday without any special sterilization procedure between uses. (Gee, now I'm making myself paranoid about my toothbrush.)

Also realize that your CPAP equipment is never going to be sterile. It is medical equipment, but it's not like surgery equipment or wound dressings.

Of course, you don't want the equipment to be nasty either. You don't want a place for germs from the environment to collect and multiply.

I disassemble and wash my mask and water tank weekly in the dishwasher. No dishes at the same time. I use the hottest, longest "sanitize" cycle with extra rinse and no heated dry. I've done this for years and get good lifetime on the parts.

I did give some thought to whether that was safe on my particular mask. I wouldn't do this to some masks or some mask parts. I looked up the manufacturer's sanitizing process on their web site. ResMed's procedure is here.

Note that procedure is for use between different patients, and is specified as 20 cycles, but it does indicate the mask won't dissolve in 100 minutes in 158F water, so I don't think my dishwasher would ruin it too quickly. Dishwashing isn't the same as the procedure they specify, I'm just saying that the hot water in my dishwasher isn't as hot as the water in the manufacturer's sanitizing procedure.

I don't wash the headgear. I don't usually dishwash the hose because I'm concerned dirty water will sit in it between cycles and water won't circulate down through the inside of the hose anyway. I hook the hose up to the kitchen faucet and run the hottest water I can get through it. I then dry the inside out by letting it blow dry on an old CPAP machine I don't use any more. I bought 3 spare hoses off ebay for $15 and will probably replace them once a year or so.

It's good to have a spare set of everything. Your insurance will probably buy replacement cushions, hoses, masks, and water tanks on some schedule. Accumulate at least one spare of whatever it will pay for. Then wash one set and put it aside to dry until the next cleaning cycle.

General sanitation practices are always interesting to review...

I wash my hands frequently.

I try to shower daily, but on camping trips that can't be done so I may skip a few days.

I change my underwear and socks daily.

I wash my dishes and silverware after every use.

I wash the pots and pans that I cook with after every use.

I wash my cutting board and cutting utensils after every use.

As you see the list goes on and on, but there is a pattern developing.

I believe that in general sanitation promotes better health. With that belief, it makes sense to me to clean my xPAP equipment after each use.

I must also say that my grandchildren love to check out my machine and while I love them dearly they are "germ factories," and are less concerned about sanitation than having a good time.

My general advice to people is to clean their equipment as often as their immune system dictates. If you are frequently ill, you can eliminate one variable by cleaning your equipment after every use. If you have never been ill, just scrape the big chunks off that are preventing you from getting a good seal and go from there.

Since I am more of a preventative person than a reactive person I clean my mask daily using a spray solution and try to wash everything once a week. I empty my humidifier water daily and swish it out. I use distilled water in the humidifier and limit the amount of water I put in to a reasonable estimate of what I use nightly. The daily cleaning takes me about as much time as it takes to wash your hands. I use something similar to RespiClean for the daily cleaning and soap and water followed by a something similar to RespiSoak rinse for the weekly cleaning. I don't know how available those products are, but there are alternatives that are similar.

I don't know if my nearly two years of problem free xPAP use is a result of a strong immune system or my sanitation habits, but I don't think improved sanitation hurts things.

Thanks all for the good advice!

Not sure if this is a different twist?
Every other day wash pad-a-cheek mask liner in warm soapy water and air dry.
I weekly clean entire mask, humidifier chamber, and hose in warm soapy water. Rinse and air dry and reassemble.
monthly soak same parts in vinegar water 6 to 1 ratio water/vinegar for an hour, then throughly rinse and air dry.

Seems to work OK for me?

When I first started slightly more than 2 years ago, religiously washed hose, mask on regular basis. Nowadays I rinse my hose once every few months, wipe my nasal pillows with a wet cloth, change my filters once a month and sleep like a baby.

Oh yea - haven't had a cold since I started cpap

dtsm wrote:When I first started slightly more than 2 years ago, religiously washed hose, mask on regular basis. Nowadays I rinse my hose once every few months, wipe my nasal pillows with a wet cloth, change my filters once a month and sleep like a baby.

Oh yea - haven't had a cold since I started cpap

Ditto : ) Except I rinse water through my nasal pillow each morning and let it dry. I have two pillows so that one has 24 hours to completely dry while using the other - same for the water chamber where I use one while the other is drying.

I too sleep like a baby : )

As others have said, we all have our own cleaniness routines. There are quite a few threads here on how to clean, when to clean, what to use when you clean, etc. Just do a search for them it you want more info.

My routine is:
Daily: wipe mask and forehead gel pad with a baby wipe.

Weekly: wash humidifer tank, hose, mask, headgear, and foam air filter in hot water with Palmolive Pure & Clear.
http://www.colgate.com/app/Palmolive/US ... #PureClear

Monthly: same as weekly but with an extra step. Once I wash everything, I then soak it in hot water and Control III Disinfectant CPAP Cleaning Solution.
https://www.cpap.com/productpage/Contro ... eaner.html

Chris

Thanks to everyone for the input. When I picked up the equipment, the tech told me how the humidifier was a warm, moist environment perfect for growing germs and bacteria. He made it sound much worse than it obviously is. I pulled their instructions which said basically to clean everything in mild detergent daily and disinfect with 3-1 vinegar solution weekly. I read the instructions with the equipment which were much different. Hang hose daily and disinfect with 5-1 vinegar solution weekly. Clean humidifier in mild detergent daily and disinfect weekly. I am using the nasal pillows and the Swift FX , so I don't believe the wipes are practical. Correct me if I am wrong as I am not opposed to using them. It seems to me that most of what needs to be cleaned would be internal. They make perfect sense with a mask, though. I know I caught the cold at work, I just wanted to see what I needed to do to prevent prolonging it. I also like the suggestion of keeping 2 sets of pillows and rotating out. They told me that the body oils would break down the pillows and that they needed to be changed once monthly. I am understanding from browsing on here that they last much longer than that. How often should they be replaced? Is there a time frame, or just when they become difficult to seal? Sounds like I just need to relax a bit. I am feeling better than I have in years the past 3 weeks and just want to ensure I don't do anything to compromise that.