I can't for the life of me get the hoses (that are part of my bipap machine) to dry completely after cleaning. I let them air dry for days and even tried using a hairdryer and they still have lots of water droplets inside. I haven't been using my machine for several days now since the instruction manual says to let them dry completely but I figure letting them sit wet for days on end is a bacterial/fungal growth hazard. The insurance company is going to be mad at me if I keep this up. What do I do?

Edit: I realized I should have included a bit more information, now that I've called the place that instructed me on use of the bipap machine (expecting a call back tomorrow) and the woman who answered the phone asked me: I did shake the hoses well before hanging them upside down to air dry. I don't think it's especially humid here. It has been raining recently, though. (I live in central Maryland.)

I'm not sure which hose you are referring to?  Do you mean the hose that goes from the machine to the mask?  It sort of sounds like there's some internal hoses that are internal pieces of the machine?

Not sure what you mean exactly.


_________________
Brian
Severe OSA
19 cmH2O
Respironics M Series Plus
F&P Forma Full Face Mask

The long hose that connects the machine to a smaller hose that, for my specific machine, connects the big hose to the nose pillows face part. I am having trouble getting both small and big hoses to dry completely. A bad visual:

[machine]000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000oooooooo<8
(0000 = big hose, ooo = small hose, <8 is nasal pillows face mask bit)

budgie wrote:

I can't for the life of me get the hoses (that are part of my bipap machine) to dry completely after cleaning. I let them air dry for days and even tried using a hairdryer and they still have lots of water droplets inside. I haven't been using my machine for several days now since the instruction manual says to let them dry completely but I figure letting them sit wet for days on end is a bacterial/fungal growth hazard. The insurance company is going to be mad at me if I keep this up. What do I do?

Edit: I realized I should have included a bit more information, now that I've called the place that instructed me on use of the bipap machine (expecting a call back tomorrow) and the woman who answered the phone asked me: I did shake the hoses well before hanging them upside down to air dry. I don't think it's especially humid here. It has been raining recently, though. (I live in central Maryland.)

Hi budgie,

Just some thoughts:

Is the air inside the hose trapped - that is, is it the hose open on both ends?  Can it be made to be so??  If the hose is open on both ends then the air which dries the inside of the tube will so cool and constantly fall out the bottom allowing new dry air to enter at the top.  If it is enclosed (plug the top or the bottom) then I would not expect it to dry inside.

I have been meaning to obtain a small yarn ball or cut a cloth to a size where I can use string to pull it though my hose and so clean the inside (soap and water).  Since I do not yet have that I sometimes use a bit of hydrogen peroxide to flush a bit more of the organics which may be in the hose.  I just us a bit in the bottom of the hose in a U shape and move the ends of the hose up and down to distribute the peroxide to wet all of the hose.  I then flush with water.

You mightt try adding a little heat source to the room you dry the hose in.  You might place the hose above the heat source being careful not to get it too hot.

Just some thoughts.

Todzo

Todzo wrote:

I have been meaning to obtain a small yarn ball or cut a cloth to a size where I can use string to pull it though my hose and so clean the inside (soap and water).  

Todzo

This seems like a good idea.  A string that is longer than the hose with some kind of weight (like a fishing weight but maybe something not made of lead) tied to one end and a piece of cloth that is big enough to dry it as it passes through tied to the other.  Drop the weight through so that it falls to the other end and pull the cloth through to absorb the water.


_________________
Brian
Severe OSA
19 cmH2O
Respironics M Series Plus
F&P Forma Full Face Mask

ApexAZ wrote:

Todzo wrote:

I have been meaning to obtain a small yarn ball or cut a cloth to a size where I can use string to pull it though my hose and so clean the inside (soap and water).  

Todzo

This seems like a good idea.  A string that is longer than the hose with some kind of weight (like a fishing weight but maybe something not made of lead) tied to one end and a piece of cloth that is big enough to dry it as it passes through tied to the other.  Drop the weight through so that it falls to the other end and pull the cloth through to absorb the water.

Thanks Brian!

You caught me out and about just finishing a sub.  The mall is a short walk away and so the materials to make the cleaner.  And now, yet another reason to make them.

Todzo

Todzo wrote:

Hi budgie,

Just some thoughts:

Is the air inside the hose trapped - that is, is it the hose open on both ends?  Can it be made to be so??  If the hose is open on both ends then the air which dries the inside of the tube will so cool and constantly fall out the bottom allowing new dry air to enter at the top.  If it is enclosed (plug the top or the bottom) then I would not expect it to dry inside.

I have been meaning to obtain a small yarn ball or cut a cloth to a size where I can use string to pull it though my hose and so clean the inside (soap and water).  Since I do not yet have that I sometimes use a bit of hydrogen peroxide to flush a bit more of the organics which may be in the hose.  I just us a bit in the bottom of the hose in a U shape and move the ends of the hose up and down to distribute the peroxide to wet all of the hose.  I then flush with water.

You mightt try adding a little heat source to the room you dry the hose in.  You might place the hose above the heat source being careful not to get it too hot.

Just some thoughts.

Todzo

It is open at both ends. The only heat source I have that would work is a hairdryer. I tried it for a while; I suppose I could give it another go but I was hoping for something else, since that would be quite time consuming (and boring).


Would a cloth drying mechanism (to be pulled through the hoses) be sterile enough? What about the potential for leaving small fiber in the hoses?

" It is open at both ends. The only heat source I have that would work is a hairdryer. I tried it for a while; I suppose I could give it another go but I was hoping for something else, since that would be quite time consuming (and boring).


Would a cloth drying mechanism (to be pulled through the hoses) be sterile enough? What about the potential for leaving small fiber in the hoses? "

Hi again budgie,

Yes it is good to keep the cloth clean and to use a kind of cloth you are not alergic to.  That said, I think your nose in a normal day will deal with many times more dust, lint, and dirt than your clean cloth will leave behind.

The germs growing in the organics coming from you are probably the greatest threat.

Brian has probably given us the best idea.

Look in your house for a source of warm humidity.  Sounds like the hose likes to condense water from your air.

To a good nights sleep!

Todzo

I do 2 things.  I hang it on a line with a clothespin so all the water goes down and out.  I do this on my back porch, so it is not directly in the sun.

When it was raining,  I hooked up the hose to the machine, did not put on the mask, turned the humidifier off, and just let it blow dry.  took about 10 minutes.


_________________
ResMed Auto Set II w/hi4 Pressure 9 - 20 EPR at 3 SleepWeaver, Mirage Micro, Liberty, FitLlife
Orig AHI 30.4 RDI 36 & RLS/PLMB

Budgie,
If you are worried about lint or fibers getting left behind in the hose maybe you could try the cloths used for cleaning eye glasses.  They are very soft and lint free.  You should be able to find them in most stores by the eye drops.  

Just a thought.

CatJ

Hey, Budgie,

I think it's really funny that "Cat" answered your post (considering that a budgie is a bird!!).  We traveled by car from Florida to Utah with three budgies in our car several years ago - what a trip!!  We love our budgies!!  I also love cats!

Anyway, your question is one that had been bothering me for some time, so I actually never washed my tubing - just got new tubing occasionally.  I washed my mask daily.  No problems with that setup; still, I thought washing the tubing regularly could be good.

But just now I had an idea about how to possibly dry the tubing:  Couldn't you make sure that one end is dry (dry it manually inside and outside with a cloth), then hook that dry end to your CPAP machine and, (hanging the tubing down so the water could not come up into the machine), just turn the machine on and let the blowing from your CPAP machine do the drying?

Another suggestion would be to turn your oven on low, then turn it off.  Then place a towel on the rack in the oven and place the CPAP tubing in the warmed oven.  When I was a kid, my mom used to dry my cloth dolls in the oven after washing them.  It worked!  

Breathless

Thank you very much, everyone. I'll try the cloth dry one end of the hose and let the cpap machine blow dry the rest technique first and if that doesn't work for some reason, go to the rig up a cloth mechanism to be pulled through the hoses one. Hopefully I'll have nice dry hoses in no time!

I usually take mine and give them a good swing to let most of the water out.  (outside so as not to make a mess) I then hang them over the shower curtain rod until that evening when I reconnect them.  Any small amount of residual is gone by the next morning as the air from the xpap will dry it out.


_________________
~ElleMarie~ One day at a time......are you kidding me?.....sometimes it's just one minute at a time.

Jun 2007 AHI 100.7 started cpap at 9** Oct 2007-11** April 2009 Bipap-15/10
Respironics auto M w/ Optilife nasal pillows

Breathless wrote:

Hey, Budgie,

I think it's really funny that "Cat" answered your post (considering that a budgie is a bird!!).  We traveled by car from Florida to Utah with three budgies in our car several years ago - what a trip!!  We love our budgies!!  I also love cats!

Breathless

Pay Breathless no mind.  I don't eat birds.  They're bad for my feline figure.  

CatJ

There is very little need to clean the inside of the hose.  The air that goes through it is filtered.  The outside of the hose will get dirty, but not the inside.  Even if you do wash it, it will not hurt if some moisture is still in the hose when you us it.