Have you been able to remove smoke odour from a CPAP?

[torontoCPAPguy]

Have you been able to remove cigarette odor from a CPAP machine?
Please respond ONLY if you HAVE BEEN SUCCESSFUL.
And please give details of how you accomplished the task.
Your assistance will be greatly appreciated by the masses.

Please, no suggestions. Only successes. And once again, thanks for your support and assistance on the forum.

[jules]

okay - I can't read - or maybe I can but can't understand what I read

titrator was an employee of cpap.com and a tech - read his post -

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=24677&p=214406&hilit=smoke#p214406

[torontoCPAPguy]

okay - I can't read - or maybe I can but can't understand what I read

titrator was an employee of cpap.com and a tech - read his post -

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=24677&p=214406&hilit=smoke#p214406

Thanks Jules; I believe I did read that post at some point where my mind was going numb with yes's and no's and maybe's and try this and that. What I am trying to do is find someone that has actually taken a machine like the S8 Autoset II and got rid of the tobacco odor.

I am fixing to try a thorough but 'exterior' cleaning first; failing which I am fixing to disassemble the unit and clean the plastic parts and replace the sponge parts (the sound dampening materials). I have no idea if it is going to work but I sure will report back once I am underway as to my success or failure.

For instance, along the lines of sugggestions, I have suggestions to use ozone (and happen to have a friend who has an ozone generator for cleaning up after fires) and then I read do NOT use ozone as it will mess up the plastics and destroy the machine.

This machine is shown as coming from a non-smoking home and having only 18 hours on it... so unless someone was smoking right beside it while it was running and sucking the smoke in I can't see it being all that bad nor getting into anywhere but the air 'pathway', which one would have to access by disassembly I am pretty sure.

And taking the mask, hose, humidifier out of the equation as they can be thoroughly cleaned in the sink... one is left with the blower itself.

In any event, still looking for someone that has actually taken a blower and 'desmoked' it.

As to that link you provided... good advice and much appreciated. My problem is that I have read advice exactly opposite to that advice so am, needless to say, confused at best.

Still looking for that special person who has taken a 'smokey' blower and managed to clean the smokey out of it. And the method. The soft foam has got to be the worst to deal with, followed by plastics and then the innards as a whole. Hopefully my Autoset II has a fixed air path that is pretty much sealed so that 18 hours of smokeys is easier to clean out.

We shall see. Thanks again for the reference.

Anyone else that has had success and how?

[jules]

if smoke is in the foam then that may be beyond hope and you might have to get new foam and plastics or take them out and sun them for many days - I gather you are chemically sensitive as I am which is why I don't even bother trying to trade parts or buy masks from others

I know when I was given a pulse ox for a night by the DME back near the start of my journey I had to put that damn thing in a double ziploc bag and run the probe out and still that got to me - it was loaded with cigarette smoke

gumbyct got a nose piece from someone - allegedly smoke free house - he had quit just before and it bothered him - he ended up putting that piece out on the clothes line for days I think -

[torontoCPAPguy]

if smoke is in the foam then that may be beyond hope and you might have to get new foam and plastics or take them out and sun them for many days - I gather you are chemically sensitive as I am which is why I don't even bother trying to trade parts or buy masks from others

I know when I was given a pulse ox for a night by the DME back near the start of my journey I had to put that damn thing in a double ziploc bag and run the probe out and still that got to me - it was loaded with cigarette smoke

gumbyct got a nose piece from someone - allegedly smoke free house - he had quit just before and it bothered him - he ended up putting that piece out on the clothes line for days I think -

I made a sad, knee-jerk reaction to saving a few hundred dollars. I am going to pay for it in labour (sic). After all, the machine only has 18 hours on it.. how bad can it be?

But I think that you hit the nail on the head and we are of similar minds; I am going to superclean the plastic and foam parts or replace them if possible; superclean everything else in the blower and then put the whole thing out back to run for some hours/days to see what happens.

I am not so much chemically sensitive as just plain find the smell of cigarette smoke nauseating (I am a reformed smoker and a fortunate one that has had MRI/CT SCAN/XRAYS as a survivor of H1N1... and given the all-clean by the internists/respirologists. Thanks goodness.) We ex=smokers (it's been many years) seem to get more sensitized to smoke odor over the years for some reason. I can sit in a restaurant here in Toronto where smoking in them is illegal and tell you if one single person in that entire room has stepped out and back in after having had a cigarette.

[dtsm]

Murray: are you stock-piling cpap machines for armageddon? I noticed your bids for two brand new RESMED S8 AUTOSET II CPAP…
http://www.cpapauction.com/auction-list ... -cpap.html
http://www.cpapauction.com/auction-list ... -cpap.html

[Paul56]

Given that cigarette smoke places deposits on most things it comes into contact with... I believe the machine will need to be disassembled.

[rosiefrosie]

I had a small house fire with allot of smoke damage to the upstairs of my home, where my bedroom and c-pap machine are. My c-pap machine was covered in soot. It took me hours to clean the soot off of the machine using soap and water. I also used some purple cleaning solution, that the people who came in and cleaned up the house used to wash the walls down with, on it. Don't know what the name of it is. I also changed the filter on it. I did run it on & off for a few days with an air purifier in the room. I now use this as my travel and back up machine and can honestly say I don't smell that smoke smell from the fire anymore and I am very sensitive to that smell. It's a smell I can't seem to get out of my head or should I say nose. I have a few pictures that I was able to salvage from the fire that still have that smoke smell and I pick up on it right away when I walk into the place where I have the pictures stored until I can have them cleaned. So I know it can be done.

rosie

[rosiefrosie]

I had a small house fire with allot of smoke damage to the upstairs of my home, where my bedroom and c-pap machine are. My c-pap machine was covered in soot. It took me hours to clean the soot off of the machine using soap and water. I also used some purple cleaning solution, that the people who came in and cleaned up the house used to wash the walls down with, on it. Don't know what the name of it is. I also changed the filter on it. I did run it on & off for a few days with an air purifier in the room. I now use this as my travel and back up machine and can honestly say I don't smell that smoke smell from the fire anymore and I am very sensitive to that smell. It's a smell I can't seem to get out of my head or should I say nose. I have a few pictures that I was able to salvage from the fire that still have that smoke smell and I pick up on it right away when I walk into the place where I have the pictures stored until I can have them cleaned. So I know it can be done.

rosie

BTW, I did toss the humidifier as it was to much to even try to clean up.

rosie

[jules]

We ex=smokers (it's been many years) seem to get more sensitized to smoke odor over the years for some reason. I can sit in a restaurant here in Toronto where smoking in them is illegal and tell you if one single person in that entire room has stepped out and back in after having had a cigarette.

I tried it back in college for one quarter but never followed up with it - few packs is all I have ever smoked (back in 1968 or so) but ......... when I used to walk to work back in IL I walked through the student parking lot and sometimes followed them up the hill. I could tell when someone lit up 50 ft away and many times I had to take another path up the hill just to not be behind a smoker even 100 ft behind.

I hated it when I had a student show up for "office hours" having just smoked outside and got really mad at the ADA (American with Disability Act know it all on our campus) officer for showing up at my office one day having just smoked outside too. She should have known better but she was an ......... and a chain smoker.

[drj130]

I purchased my current APAP from the auction site and it was over loaded with smoke smell. I had to take it completely apart to get rid of the smell. I'm a smoker, I'm working on stopping, and I couldn't stand the smell myself once I opened the box when it came in. I just used some simple green cleaning product, paper towels, working on some parts while others soaked. The fan casing was yellow from the smoking it sucked up. But it now works just fine with no smell from when I got it.

David

P.S.
A small screw driver came in handy while working on the fan chamber.

[torontoCPAPguy]

I purchased my current APAP from the auction site and it was over loaded with smoke smell. I had to take it completely apart to get rid of the smell. I'm a smoker, I'm working on stopping, and I couldn't stand the smell myself once I opened the box when it came in. I just used some simple green cleaning product, paper towels, working on some parts while others soaked. The fan casing was yellow from the smoking it sucked up. But it now works just fine with no smell from when I got it.

David

P.S.
A small screw driver came in handy while working on the fan chamber.

"Simple Green" products are known to work very well with oily residues. In fact, if you watch some of the AGI gunsmithing videos that's about all they seem to use to clean their handguns with; a tub with a pile of Simple Green in it. They take a Glock, for instance, which has about 38 parts in total, extricate the barrel for cleaning (a bit more of a challenge) and dump all of the other parts in Simple Green and let them soak. Then they pull them out and rinse them off with plain water, give them a squirt of BreakFree or the like for lubrication and protection and stick the handgun together again as good as new. I have yet to try it but if it is 'the standard' at AGI then it must be pretty good and it must be VERY VERY gentle on plastics because at least half of the Glocks are made of plastic as are many semi-automatic handguns today. I've got to go out and get a bunch cuz I have some guns to clean. Mind you, the old gun that does the instructing surely looks like he should have a stogey hanging out of his mouth.

Taking that to the next step, one would think that nicotine and its products of combustion, being oily, should do well with Simple Green.

I have no problem taking apart the blower but don't want to mess with the electronics (at least not cleaning them). I think the issue is going to be with the plastic major housing inside as well as the soft foam sound baffling, which can likely be replaced for a buck or less. One should be able to pull apart the hard plastic main motor housing and clean it/soak it without too much trouble, after removing the motor. Once reassembled in a dry state I am thinking it would be good to let the thing run for a few days at almost full blast in the fresh air and sunlight, as has been suggested.

Still looking for the penultimate techy resololution to the situation. Keeping in mind this thing only has 18 hours on it supposedly. Think I am going to go upstairs and try to reset mine to zero hours to see if it can be done.

Sure would be nice to have a service manual for the unit (ResMed S8 Autoset II). Any ideas?

[torontoCPAPguy]

Has anyone ever heard of Vamooseproducts dot com?

They apparently produce a new product that rids articles of cigarette smoke odours amazingly well and have a patent on this. It interacts chemically with the tar and nicotine residues and turn them into a gaseous solution that dissipates into the air in a few days and leaves zero smell behind.

Worth a peek?

Murray

[dsm]

I'd love to say I succeeded but can only say that striping a cpap to its minutes parts scrubing & soaking them in various cleaners & perfumes & then leaving them in the sun for a day 'barely removed any of the odor'

So am inclined to think of it as a mission impossible.

DSM

[bearded_two]

Maybe Oxi-Clean might work.