Homemade filters?

[cosmo]

Does anyone cut their own paper filter? I'm thinking a furnace filter from Home Depot should work. They also have foam ones.

[chunkyfrog]

Bad idea, that is not even close to the same quality. It is your health we are talking about.
This is the cheapest item in the cpap shopping cart.
I can understand not wanting to pay $12 or more for ONE filter (DME price),
when I can buy 6 for less than that. (at cpap.com)!

[corybodette]

very very bad idea. the filters at home depot are a very low quality and would not do you any good. (i use to be a home depot employee) i don't even have my CPAP machine yet because i just got the results of my sleep study but everything i have read says to use the proper equipment with your machine. while the paper filters from home depot would be very cheap they are also ineffective for the kind of filtering needed. I hope this has come out right it is very late where i am. if i am sounding rude or like i am "flamming" you it is unintentional

[BlackSpinner]

Others have used masks, N95?

[-tim]

Home filters are designed to be porous so they don't block the air when it fills up.

The hypoallergenic filters are much tighter than the default filters and I expect the better 3m Filtrete filters may be somewhere in between. One of these days I will do that test.

[2 B Sleeping Soundly]

To me, some things are just not worth trying to do as a do-it-yourself project just to save some money. CPAP filters are one of them. They are designed by the manufacturers to fit and filter the incoming air on specific PAP machines. By fitting as they are supposed to, they filter out dust/fine particulate very well, but do not cause any unknown air restrictions or sub par filtering to the incoming air. I buy my filters from cpap.com and also get some every 6 months from my DME. I replace my white fine particulate filter every 2 - 3 weeks and replace the grey foam filter at the same time with a cleaned one. I find it helps me with my allergies and occasional sinus issues to replace the filters on this schedule. For me it is a cost that is worth it, though not everyone would agree. Variety is the spice of life...

[SleepingBearDoNtWake]

I wouldn't try it. I know it sounds like a great Idea, but you could restrict air flow and burn your motor out, and that would not be good.
May I ask why you are looking to go this route? Is it to save money? If so there are several sites that sell filters cheap. Some of are cheaper quality, and some are higher quality, so you have to do your research, but you should be able to get it cheap.
I just talked with my DME and asked if insurance would pay for hypoallergenic filters, and they replied that some insurance companies will and I just have to get a prescription.

Peace,

Mike

[archangle]

Apart from risk to your health, there's risk to the machine's "health." If the machine fills up with dust over the years, there may be mechanical problems with the airflow, and problems with the sensors. If you get a filter that's too restrictive, the machine may overheat. There have been reports of clogged filters causing machines to burn out.

Be careful not to take a machine back to the DME with a "pirate" filter in it. They'd love a reason to deny you warranty service.

[nanwilson]

Stop there........ if you do a search for homemade filters you will find several threads on the subject. Some use furnace filters, others airconditioner filters, and others mouth (flu type) filters. I have tried furnace filters and occasionally use face filters with no problems, once they start showing a bit of dust on them I just change it. The mouth filters seem to work the best for homemade filters, I just bought a package at the pharmacy, cut what I needed and insert it into my filter spot. By mouth filters I mean the ones that they use in doctors offices and hospitals or when a member of the family has the flu and you don't want to breath their germs. I have and still do buy filters from cpap.dom, sometimes they are the one that come from the manufacturer and sometimes they are made by cpap.com. The last batch i got for my F&P were ones that had been made either at cpap.com or by someone else as they were not quite the same as the original F&P ones. In my m-series, I sometimes use the home made ones, I put them into the filter hole the same way that they are used on your mouth and nose, then put the black foam filter in. Never had a problem, have not had a cold or the flu in 2 1/2 years (knock on wood ) on the hose and both of my machines work just fine.

[JeffL]

I sometimes think the filters are more helpful for the machine, since you are breathing the same unfiltered air when you are not using the CPAP.

[stopthemadness]

I quit using the white filter all together, I just use the black foam, I wash it a couple times a week, the reason i quit the white was that it was restricting my air flow, these new super thin filters i dont like, i've flipped and flipped them around and said to hell with it....I was curious on what the different micron rating is on the new "super thins" compared to the old "fat white ones with tabs"===tks FA

[Jerry001]

When I run out of "store bought" filters i cut several layers of drip coffee pot filters and use that till i get around to buying real ones. This filter mediun is food grade, dust free, bleached cellulose fibers and it works great. I have no idea wheather this adds load to the pump, but my settings are low so it hasn't been a problem for my unit.

[photonic]

I sometimes think the filters are more helpful for the machine, since you are breathing the same unfiltered air when you are not using the CPAP.

Yea, one has to wonder why the filter is there at all since we all breathe non-filtered air all the time. Is it for machine protection, personal health protection, or feel good reassurance. Hard to know.

[photonic]

Just contacted our hosts via chat. The filters they supply for my Phillips ASV are made by them. They say they meet the exact specs of the Phillips original filters. The rough side faces in and the soft side faces out. They will be emailing me the exact filtering specs after the chat person gets the info from her supervisor. Should be interesting. I will post.

[palerider]

I sometimes think the filters are more helpful for the machine, since you are breathing the same unfiltered air when you are not using the CPAP.

Yea, one has to wonder why the filter is there at all since we all breathe non-filtered air all the time. Is it for machine protection, personal health protection, or feel good reassurance. Hard to know.

ever look in the back of your computer at what the fan looks like, and the dust and crap that builds up on the leading edges?

want that building up in your cpap? and then chunks of it breaking off and coming for you?

I didn't think so