How To Clean CPAP Mask
To keep clean your mask overtime and to longer their expected age, you must clean your cpap equipment daily, fortunately cleaning cpap equipment is not that hard.
All you have to do just:
- prepare a warm water
- add mild soap that doesn’t have any scent (try use baby shampoo or special soap for cleaning cpap mask)
- Separate cpap part components (including tube, device, mask, and headgear)
- put your parts in warm water
- rinse well and
- hang it to air dry
That’s how to clean cpap mask (it’s the same way to clean other parts as well) daily, but you need to disinfect your cpap mask sometimes too (usually 1 week), weekly cleaning is almost same as daily cleaning what differentiate it just the ingredients. Instead using warm water and mild soap use vinegar and water to disinfect the mask, to use it mix vinegar with water (2:3, Vinegar: water). Rinse your mask well and pick it up for air dry.
These simple steps will remove oil or any other dirt that has been stick in your mask, not to mention your mask seal will not tear soon.
See my post about Common cpap mask issues and how to fix it here
How To Clean Cpap Filter
There are 2 part that cpap filter have. First, is Grey and the second one is white (this filter is disposable) you can only clean the grey one, do not try to clean white filter since it’s disposable filter (you need to replace it when it’s dirty or in 1 month).
Cleaning grey filter is same as cleaning any other cpap parts. First, you need warm water with mild soap to wash (or squeeze) it till there is no dust was seen, second you need to rinse it well and let it dry
A dirty filter will make your machine work harder thus can make it noisier and have higher temperature.
If you are side sleepers and looking for a mask, see my post bellow
or click HERE to know how to choose the best cpap mask for yourself
How To Clean Humidifier
If you have a humidifier you need to clean it too, like cleaning any other cpap part you need a warm water with added mild soap and take water chamber from humidifier (it should be empty) wash well and rinse it to let the water out of it, let it empty for a day. You can refill it when you want to use it.
How To Clean HeadGear
To wash headgear, you need to separate it first from the mask. You can wash it biweekly or once a month. To clean headgear, you must use mild detergent and wash it gently after that hang it for air dry.
More Post to read How to choose the Best cpap pillow for side sleepers 2016 and How To Choose The Best CPAP Chin Strap For Sleep Apnea
How To Clean Tubing
When your cpap tube become yellow or appear dirty (usually 1 week) you need to clean it to prevent live of bacteria or other creatures. Mix vinegar with water (2:3, Vinegar and Water) then drawn cpap tube in it to let water soak into it, wait for 30 minutes and wash it with clean water, rinse well and let it air dry.
Note:
- Always wash your face first before use cpap mask (that will extend your cpap and it’s rubber life)
- It’s recommended that you must change grey filter every 6 month
- Replace your mask & headgear when you feel uncomfortable using it (usually in 1 year)
- Replace your cpap tube in 1-2 years
- Let the part dry by wind and gravity, DO NOT expose it in sunlight
- If you have flu or something, you need to clean your cpap part more often than before
- Only use mild soap to clean cpap part (do not use soap with added scent)
- Make sure the filter is completely dry when you put it in the mask
- Do not clean your mask with alcohol