Cleaning heated humidifire with hard water deposits in it?

djo2005 · Post by **djo2005** » Wed Aug 08, 2007 10:58 pm

Does any one know what i should use to clean out my humidifire cointainer.
i was staying at a boy scout camp and they said that the water had gone through reverseosmoses. but it oviuosly was not and so now i have hard water deposits on the inside of the container and i'm not sure how should clean it off the bottom metal plate?

Sleepy Dog Lover · Post by **Sleepy Dog Lover** » Thu Aug 09, 2007 12:02 am

White vinegar is an amazing thing. Not only does it sterilize, but it takes off hard water deposits too. However, you have to use it straight, or only slightly diluted. Wash it well afterwards.

tuna · Post by **tuna** » Thu Aug 09, 2007 7:10 am

djo2005 wrote:Does any one know what i should use to clean out my humidifire cointainer.
i was staying at a boy scout camp and they said that the water had gone through reverseosmoses. but it oviuosly was not and so now i have hard water deposits on the inside of the container and i'm not sure how should clean it off the bottom metal plate?

Nothing beats using distilled water!

drummergirl410 · Post by **drummergirl410** » Thu Aug 09, 2007 11:22 am

I've seen the white vinegar suggestion many times for humidifier chambers and masks at various amounts and recpies for diluting it. Haven't tried it yet though.

___H · Post by **___H** » Thu Aug 09, 2007 11:37 am

Yes - white vinegar works on hard water deposits! It is an old trick for cleaning coffee makers when they start brewing slowly due to water deposits - run white vinegar through a brewing cycle. Smells awful when you do it, though! Be sure to rinse it repeatedly - can't imaging that odor blasted straight in your face would be pleasant at all!

drummergirl410 · Post by **drummergirl410** » Thu Aug 09, 2007 11:43 am

Yea, my grandmother and mom do it to our coffee makers and boy does it have a stinch! Funny grandma used to do it right befor lunchtime on Saturdays and we'd be eating fried chicken for lunch. Now I smell it and start craving fried chicken, LOL! Seriously though, you;'d want to rinse it enough to diminish the smell afterward.. maybe one reason why I haven't tried it yet.

birdshell · Post by **birdshell** » Thu Aug 09, 2007 12:34 pm

I have used tap water from time to time, whenever I could not easily acquire distilled water. The ResMed representative that I contacted had said this was an acceptable practice if the water were replaced each day.

Over the course of a year, I had gained some deposits despite soaking the entire humidifier chamber in a 1:10 vinegar:water solution (or stronger!).

I used a stronger (1:4 or 1:3 solution) recently to soak the humidifier reservoir for about a half hour. Then, since it had been bothering me, I decided to see if I could get the not-so-hard water residue out of the tank.

I cut a 1.5 inch by 3.3 inch rectangle of terrycloth from an old towel. I swished it around the inside of the tank, and then reduced the amount of water and manipulated (with my fingers, for those into redundancy) the little washcloth around as much as I could reach. (There is a nice oval hole in the top of the ResMed tank.)

For the rest, I took a long, semi-flexible nylon cooking implement handle

(another idea might be a manicure-type 'orange wood' stick) and pushed the little washcloth around to the tougher areas. VOILA!!! Magically, the humidifier tank came clean and looks nearly brand new. It is about 1.25 years old--but clear and clean once again.

I saved my little washcloth with my growing list of CPAP equipment, as I now will remove the light mineral deposit sludge whenever I notice it has built up. My weekly cleaning regime includes soaking the tank, hose, mask (face touching portions), and top of the humidifier and silicone seal in a vinegar:water solution.

Now, it probably doesn't really have any, or a very minimal, effect on the operation of my machine. However, I just feel better to see a clear tank holding my breathing water.

I just thought all y'all would like to know! (Geez, Southern is a great dialect!)

Karen

(BTW, even though I have kidded about the anti-aging effects of breathing our Great Lakes water when chlorinated for drinking, it has no known age-reducing properties. It does, however, after the humidifier tank has been filled in the morning and sits all day on the warming plate, evaporate out the chlorine gas enough to be used safely in a fish tank. Note that I said the WATER could be used in the fish tank, NOT the fish enjoying the humidifier tank.

YUCK!)

_________________

CPAPopedia Keywords Contained In This Post (Click For Definition): resmed, humidifier, hose, CPAP, seal, clean

drummergirl410 · Post by **drummergirl410** » Thu Aug 09, 2007 1:39 pm

LOL! Very informative post there, bird!

Cleaning heated humidifire with hard water deposits in it?

Cleaning heated humidifire with hard water deposits in it?

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