Posted by Octavian on January 17, 2003 at 11:33:06:

In Reply to: Drying Hose posted by sleepyjack on January 17, 2003 at 07:05:39:

Dear Sleepy Jack,

Years and years ago I use to be paid to do bacterial and viral research.

And so when I started using CPAP, I developed my own system for cleaning my equipment.

TO ME DRYING OUR EQUIPMENT IS THE SINGLE MOST CRITICAL STEP IN MINIMIZING THE NUMBER AND VARIETY OF BACTERIA WHICH CAN FLOURISH DEEP INSIDE OUR C.P.A.P. EQUIPMENT.

Here is the system that I developed.

First I bought.

1. A wire mesh basket into which easily fit both my face mask and the water reservoir for my HP heated humidifier.

2. A small Windmire fan/heater (brand name, there are a dozen different ones that can work as well ) Heater/Fan. Mine is about 12 by 12 inches in size. The one I presently use has been in use for 6 years.

3. White Vinegar (which bio-chemically is nothing more than pure dilute acetic acid, with out any contaminants.

4. Several large rubber bands. And baby shampoo which is nothing more than a minimally irritating, pure soap with out any other contaminants or addatives.

Then each day:

I take my tubing, humidifier reservoir, and face mask into my bath room.

Then I put about 2-3 ounces of white vinegar and 8 to 10 drops of baby shampoo (A Little soap goes a long way, and soaps are harder to get out of your equipment, And by using a small amount of a pure DILUTE mild soap makes it makes it much easier to wash out after cleaning)

( Actually what I eventually did was to get a liquid Dial soap dispenser, and after the soap was used I started filling the container with approximately 1/8th baby shampoo (avoid liquid soaps which contain conditioners, oils, and other additives, they can be hard to rinse out and can be irritating to your nasal and bronchial mucus)

Then I fill the remaining 7/8 ths of the dispensor with tap water. And then I just squirt one plunger full of the mixture into my humidifier reservoir.

After putting in the Vinegar and soap I fill the reservoir with tap water and shake it well.

After shaking you have both created a VERY effective bacterio-static solution and also cleaned your humidifier reservoir simultaneously.

I then pour some of the solution into my CPAP tubing. Then by raising and lowering different ends of my tubing, my bacterio-static cleaning solution sloshes around and does a very effective job of cleaning the interior of my tubing.

Then I place one end of the tubing next to (or on) the nozzle of my sink and thoroughly rinse the tubing out well.

And in a similar way I thoroughly rinse the soapy solution out of my Humidifier reservoir. By having started with a very dilute soap solution this is much easier to do, and only takes a minute or so to do.

Then I place some of the bacterio-static solution, that I have made, on the plastic and silicon portions of my facial mask (I wash my cloth soft cap only once a week) and use my fingers to gently remove the build up of oils and other contaminants that have built up the night before.

Then after rinsing all of my equipment well, I place my mask, and humidifier reservoir into the wire basket. Which is place right next to and directly in front of my little fan/heater. I also arrange my large rubber bands so that I can suspend my tubing adapter (the plastic ends of the tubing) so that the air from the fan goes directly down the tubing.

In the summer I run the fan on cool and in winter I run it on low heat.

After doing this technique every day for 6 years my ORIGINAL tubing, masks, and reservoir are in perfect condition.

What you will find when you come home at the end of the day is that, all of your equipment is BONE DRY.

And dryness is the key to killing bacteria. And from having bacteria and viruses multiply.

A major key to ALL of the systems of killing or preventing bacterial build up are built around dryness.

Now this all seems complicated and time consuming. BUT what you will find is that after going through the routine a few time, you can clean and insure that you have safe equipment to use every single day.

And it only takes approximately 3 Minutes a day.

Now if you are not willing to clean your supplies every day, just putting your CPAP supplies (Not your machine) in the basket in front of the fan each day, will have a HUGE impact on drying, and decreasing the bacterial load on your equipment.

A slow steady flow of air for 8-10 hours, is a dozen times more effective at drying and killing bacteria than is just hanging it up or blowing air through it for as minute or two.

If you think that, if you simply hang your 6 or 8 foot section of tubing up (with out any air flowing through it) or if you blow air into it for a minute or two, that 3 or 4 feet into the interior of the tubing that you have created a dry environment I am afraid that you are sadly mistaken.

Just remember to place each piece of equipment in your basket, so that the air from the little fan blows directly down it.

After using CPAP daily for 8 years, I have never developed an infection that I thought was related to contaminated equipment, which might have been caught from my allowing bacteria or viruses to be blown into my lungs and sinuses.

Sleep tight and God bless,

Octavian

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