strange pink build up in reservoir

[macone]

Hi Been on cpap a while now last couple of months been getting a strange pink build up in the reservoir of my humidifier it washes away with soapy water but am curious what this is and why now after all this time Thanks Julian

[shuckie]

Hi Julian!

Hello and welcome to the forums!

What kind of water are you using in the humidifier? Is it distilled, filtered, straight from the tap or something else? How often do you wash the water container? Daily, weekly or monthly? You say you've on CPAP "a while now" but how long is that? A few months/years?

The reason I ask all these questions is because if you're using tap water and you're not washing the container on a daily basis, you're probably getting a build-up of limescale and other contaminants in the container. I'm not an expert by any means but there could also be bacteria or similar growing on the build-up until you wash it all away. No idea why it's pink though!

As per my signature I have a H4i humidifier with my CPAP. I use filtered water as I cannot find anywhere locally which sells distilled water, and I refuse to pay the price to have the water delivered. The humidifier manual suggests a weekly wash of some of the water container components on the top rack of a dishwasher on a delicate cycle, however I don't have a dishwasher so I have to wash by hand. I take the container apart every day, wash it and leave it to dry on a towel. I haven't yet found any build-up on any of the container components (fingers crossed, touchwood!).

Hopefully my waffle above will help you, but if not I'm sure someone else will reply with some more constructive advice!


Kind regards

shuckie

[ElleCee]

There is a pink mould, called 'pink mould'. It is quite prevailant and you could be breathing in the spores. It is attributed to diarrhoea etc. You can search for it on the web.
Make sure you give your humidifier a good clean with vinegar and then make sure you wash out your humidifier every day. Don't leave it anywhere damp like the bathroom when it is empty, you need to make sure it gets dry in the day time otherwise the spores will spread.
How do I know? Cos I have had it in my bathroom, it is like the black mould only pink. If I left a clean white damp flannel in the bathroom over night it would be pink in the morning

All the best
Lorraine (who likes everything pink, even my mould!)

[shuckie]

Lorraine (who likes everything pink, even my mould!)

Hi Lorraine!

My husband isn't a great fan of the colour pink, to put it mildly. Every now and again I wind him up by telling him that I'd like our next car to be pink, or at the very least have a pink fluffy steering wheel cover/pink fluffy dice/pink fluffy seat covers etc. Not that I'm a tease or anything...

Part of me would like to have pink mould in my humidifier just to wind him up, though from what you've said the health risks probably wouldn't justify it!


shuckie

[ElleCee]

Hi Shuckie,

Just tell him that a marriage is a joining, not a one sided deal so if he chooses the car, you chose the colour. You can't get fairer than that!
Then get yourself a pink sleepweaver mask to boot, after all it is you using it

Sweet dreams
Lorraine

[Tigers Fan]

I was thinking .....

Hi macone

Pink mould, it seems, is not a fungus for you to ingest the spores. It is, it seems, actually an airborne bacterium known as Serratia Marcescens. And because this type of bacteria contains mold it also prefers damp conditions.

You can chemically clean the humidifier chamber, hose and mask, no problem. But - how do you clean the CPAP itself? From what I have read, the first attempt has to be putting your CPAP where the sun don't shine for Serratia Marcescens. Some people call it the airing cupboard. I'd imagine a few days of dry and hot might kill the bug. Alternatively, dry and cold might work. Some people call it a sealed plastic bag in the freezer.

If that doesn't work, is there an alternative to a complete strip down and chemically clean the air passages?

TF

[ElleCee]

Personally I wouldn't presume it is also in the cpap machine itself, I would concentrate on cleaning out the reservoir and getting rid of it from there.

[Tigers Fan]

Quite right!

But just may be there are a few bugs in the passageways? Possible?

[ElleCee]

I suppose it could fly backwards against the air flow, unless of course they are left joined during the day when not in use. Hmm

[Tigers Fan]

Doh!

Your answer suggests to me, Lorraine, that your air intake filter may need cleaning/changing.

TF

[ElleCee]

Thanks for the comment TF, but why?
It is given a blow every month and seems fine to me.

[Tigers Fan]

Hi Lorraine

You seemed to think that the pink bugs would have to go against the flow to get into the CPAP ie enter via the mask and hose to get to the humifier and continue against the flow to get into the machine - suggesting you hadn't thought about them being sucked into the CPAP through the inlet filter, entrained with all the air that is sucked in and then blown out for you to breathe under pressure.

I was trying to point out politely the flaw in your arguement. Hmm.

TF

[ElleCee]

Aha, OK TF,
I was just presuming, in my simplistic way, that the mould has entered the humidifier through the hole in which the water is added. ie; carried in the air where the water is obtained. It never occured to me it would get in any other way.
I have not heard of having the mould anywhere other than a bathroom and bedrooms are usually not that damp.

Point taken and I now feel duly chastised

Lorraine

[James @ Intus]

We get that earthy red (terracotta style) close to pink-ish (when mixed with the more usual calcium deposits) colour in the bathroom too. Sounds like some metal deposits from the water to me.

[Tigers Fan]

It must be true!

Hi James

I saw it in a TV commercial! Super strength flush buster or some such - first the limescale was shattered and lifted away, leaving some un-named but reddish-pinkish capsules (like a Type 2 diabetes drug) to be busted and also flushed away.

Harpic (I think maybe) makes it into our hosehead world!

and Hi Lorraine

There you go - making assumptions again! We don't know anything about macone's living conditios. Maybe s/he is homeless or lives in a soggy brown-paper bag as we had to - either way, s/he'd know all about dampness even if the bathrtoom and the bedroom are one and the same room. Fortunately, my mother was caring in those days and used to put my bed rags through the mangle before she put me down. And as for that winter of '47 ....... !!

By the by, what is it with you about sinning and chistisement?

TF