Warning about Respify (brand name) CO3 gas CPAP cleaning device

I'm of the same mindset although I did use a SoClean at home and a Respify for traveling with the CPAP for a few years until I switched to a UV CPAP cleaner. I did notice a slight smell when I first opened it up after cleaning but it dissipated pretty fast and didn't really cause me any issues. I did start buying antimicrobial CPAP tubing but I'm not sure if it's much better than the regular CPAP tubing.

I clean my hose whenever I remember to, which averages about every 3 months. No, I'm not kidding. Sometimes 4 months. It's not a sterile environment anyway, nor is is meant to be. After all, it intakes and passes through it the very same air you'd breathe in your bedroom without the machine. Yes it has a filter, and some use HEPA filters, but I just use the regular kind. I wash my nasal mask once a week.

My routine, as a cheapskate, is to rinse it with soapy warm water (good ol' Dawn does a great job at this, cleaning fine optical surfaces, cleaning dogs who need a bath...it's perfect for this). Part-fill, and then lift each end of the hose alternately to run the solution back and forth. Drain, rinse, and then comes Step Two: I keep a resealable bottle under my sink with a solution of potassium or sodium metabisulphite. It's a white powder sold widely in DIY wine and beer stores as a sterilizing agent. Cheap, like borscht. A pouch that will last you three years or more is about $5. To half a liter of the water you add a tsp or two of the metabisulphite powder and dissolve it by swirling and tilting the closed jar/bottle. I do this days ahead and let the solution 'perk' to full potency, which you'll soon detect if you put your nose close to the open vessel and take a whiff. Great for clearing the sinuses! I add some of that to the tube and repeat the lifting of each end alternately. Let the solution contact the connectors on each end...won't hurt them at all. After 20 seconds, drain down the tub drain and rinse well. Well. Then drape the hose and restore it to the machine later in the day.

In case it's news to you, ozone is like a powerful oxidative component in food or in chemicals. It attacks organic material aggressively, and is why you have to be careful running those small plug-in ozonators to keep unpleasant odors at bay in musty basements; the ozone will attack wiring insulation, and plastics...oh and the plastics on your CPAP machine as well....all of them.

I have developed a cough after using a Respify to sterilize my mask and hose every couple days. If I discontinue use of the Respify will my cough essentially go away?

Welcome @sclong, If it were me, I would definitely stop using the Respify to see if may be causing the cough and if the cough continues I would have a doctor check it out. Did you just start using the CPAP cleaner or have you been using it for a long period of time?

@gloaming Thanks, Gloaming! I get excited when I see you have responded because I know I am going to learn something new or be reassured that I have made a good choice without knowing why (and you tell me why).

Can the liter bottle be plastic? And are we looking for the crystals to dissolve? Is it necessary to rinse the metabisulfate out of the tubing? Do you use it on the water tub?

You are my hero!

Cheers,
Dana

@sclong My reaction was immediate. My breathing is sensitive to whatever is put into products for creating a scent. The Fabreeze types are toxic to me. I only use products that are odor/ scent free so perhaps I am not a good example and have nothing to offer for your post. In my experience the ozone sent me into a breathing close down. After I turned it off, I had a long recovery period. We are all different.but my guess if you developed a cough, it could be related.

@dalebout123 I'm not positive that the metabisulphite solution can be stores in plastic. I try to minimize my exposure to plastics anyway, which is why I prefer bottled beer over plastic-lined cans. Not that I drink much at all these years with a wonky heart (alcohol was never big in my life, thankfully, even with 30 years in the Army. Not muh thang.). You can purchase replaceable stopper bottles of beer, like Grolsch, or others, the ones with the heavy wire loop and ceramic stopper. Get a large liter bottle with that stopper, sometimes at those same DIY wine/beer stores. Store the solution in that. Note that, with exposure and time, the rubber gasket WILL harden and crack, as I have learned. Some of that is natural deterioration, but some is exposure to the sulphite....so that's why I tend to avoid storage in plastic. It's all organic, after all.

Yes, rinse well....everything you make the bisulphite contact. This is mostly for comfort, not quite so important for exposure, or unnecessary exposure. Your nose and taste buds will let you know you should have rinsed. The residue is minimal and should not harm you at all, but yes, rinse, please.

I have noticed a very faintly pink 'sludge' or a bloom once or twice in my water tank for the PAP machine, but that is only twice in eight years of use. It's only visible if you bother to peer at the inside of the tank AFTER you have discarded the dregs down a sink. It shows up better in good light, but with no water to speak of left in the tank. Even so, I refill my tank about every fourth day due to my particular settings. There's nothing wrong with emptying and refilling every night, even sterilizing the interior. Whatever floats yer boat. I don't, but when I do fill it every four days, I add some tap water, swirl, drain, and repeat. On the third time under the tap is when I fill it completely. This rinse disperses any concentration of minerals and insoluble organic materials that might eventually encourage that pink bloom.

For cleaning the tank every so often, you can use Scrub Free, or tile cleaner for bathrooms, toilet bowl cleaner, Javex, or any bleach, industrial strength vinegar (5% acetic acid, which some house owners use regularly for surface cleaning instead of bleach), or use the bisulphite. Just rinse well before restoring the properly filled reservoir to the PAP machine.

Yes, the metabisulphite is white and crystalline. Looks like table salt. One heaping tsp per 750 ml, or three cups of plain tap water. BTW, if you have decent tap water, and can drink it from the tap, that's all you need to use in your PAP machine. I have done so for eight years now. The secret, again, is to rinse really well before refilling the tank each time. You want to dilute the dissolved and non-soluble stuff in the dregs as much as possible to discourage that pink bloom.

Thanks! I printed off your response. AND it just so happens...I have an empty liter bottle with the stopper you recommend that I could not throw away because it was so neat. Original use -- olive oil. I doubt I will find a DIY wine store down here in Mormon Hurricane, Utah. I am going up to Salt Lake City the end of the month. Now the trick is to remember to get the metabisulfite while I'm there.

I use distilled water and just top off the humidifier each day before stowing the BIPAP and accoutrements. I hate to have my bedroom look like a hospital room, Makes me feel old LOL! And I seldom feel old; forgetting I am turning 82 this month. I have a reverse osmosis on the kitchen sink. I used that for awhile, but got a film of mineral on the heater part of the humidifier. Distilled water is cheap enough that I don't resent having to buy it.

Now from your very fine description, I couldn't figure out how much of the solution is enough to roll back and forth in the tubing. Hope I'm not too much of a pain asking all these questions.

Dana

@dalebout123 I add about 300 ml, say a cup or so. It's not much volume, but what is there is very potent, so do meticulously raise and lower each end so that some of the solution dribbles out over the bottom/nether orifice. I do this over the tub, of course, so that all remnants can be rinsed down the drain and you won't be left with the strong, pungent, sulphite smells.

OK! Thanks! Won't be able to try it till after my SLC trip. I'll let you know.