Pete,

I've had mine 3 years now, and outside of wiping out the inside of the mask with my shirt right before, that's it for me.

But i will follow this post... I will get to know alot about our cluster brothers and sisters by how clean they keep their stuff,,

Coach Bill

I just wipe it down with a handi-wipe once in a while.

O2 doesn't work for me but I do have some nursing experience.  I don't remember ever needing to do much more to O2 except wipe down the outside of the tubing occasionally with an anti-microbial wipe.

If something needs cleaning though, I think the plastic is probably the same as what's used in catheters.  Catheters are cleaned by soaking them in white vinegar.  Vinegar kills germs, yeasts and molds, and also dissolves mineral deposits.  If you've got a really nasty situation following vinegar with a hydrogen peroxide soak is said to kill a wider amount of germs than bleach.

Soak it for ten minutes or so, then hang it up to dry out. 

edited to add:  DON'T use toxic stuff like bleach- you don't want to inhale that stuff.

Brew wrote on Aug 24^th, 2010 at 4:09pm:


Ditto to the above.
I've wiped the mask down with a soft cloth, but I find that with the fairly constant use of high cycle, I need a new one every cycle of two - usually because the little flexible coverings on the side of the mask holes become brittle and break or the bag pops...