Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

My 37 year career as a Registered Nurse was spent as a Certified Infection Control Nurse, and I also hold degrees in Biology, Chemistry and Physics. I have been trained thoroughly at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well. I have sleep apnea and have used a CPAP since 1993. Part of my ICN career dealt with extensive environmental culturing all through the three hospitals in which I served. I am writing this just to add my two cents related to the So Clean CPAP cleaners and all other brands of CPAP cleaners. If you understand how a CPAP works, it filters room air and forces it through water and goes through tubing to your face. If there are any germs in the hardware, they would be in extremely low numbers and be extremely non-pathogenic. The water you add to your reservoir is not sterile, has almost no germs in it, and even if there is a germ you have multiple processes in your respiratory system to either kill it or render it immobile. Most water does have minerals in it, which does make your reservoir scaled with calcium and magnesium, but minerals do not give you infections. These expensive cleaning systems use ozone to kill germs. Even if you really feel like you need to kill all such germs, which is silly, ozone is not something to play around with and should be handled with a lot of care. I am adding several things about ozone which everyone should realize, but these companies will not tell you, so I will. Ozone is an air pollutant and is the principle component of smog. Most people can detect about 0.01 μmol/mol of ozone in air where it has a very specific sharp odor somewhat resembling chlorine bleach. Exposure of 0.1 to 1 μmol/mol produces headaches, burning eyes and irritation to the respiratory passages. Even low concentrations of ozone in air are very destructive to organic materials such as latex, plastics and animal lung tissue. When inhaled, ozone reacts with compounds lining the lungs to form specific, cholesterol-derived metabolites that are thought to facilitate the build-up and pathogenesis of atherosclerotic plaques (a form of heart disease). These metabolites have been confirmed as naturally occurring in human atherosclerotic arteries and are categorized into a class of secosterols termed atheronals, generated by ozonolysis of cholesterol's double bond to form a 5,6 secosterol as well as a secondary condensation product via aldolization. Because of the strongly oxidizing properties of ozone, ozone is a primary irritant, affecting especially the eyes and respiratory systems and can be hazardous at even low concentrations. Even very low concentrations of ozone can be harmful to the upper respiratory tract and the lungs. The severity of injury depends on both by the concentration of ozone and the duration of exposure. Severe and permanent lung injury or death could result from even a very short-term exposure to relatively low concentrations." To protect workers potentially exposed to ozone, U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration has established a permissible exposure limit (PEL) of 0.1 μmol/mol (29 CFR 1910.1000 table Z-1), calculated as an 8-hour time weighted average. Higher concentrations are especially hazardous and NIOSH has established an Immediately Dangerous to Life and Health Limit (IDLH) of 5 μmol/mol. Work environments where ozone is used or where it is likely to be produced should have adequate ventilation and it is prudent to have a monitor for ozone that will alarm if the concentration exceeds the OSHA PEL. Continuous monitors for ozone are available from several suppliers. Although low levels of ozone have been advertised to be of some disinfectant use in residential homes, the concentration of ozone in dry air required to have a rapid, substantial effect on airborne pathogens exceeds safe levels recommended by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Environmental Protection Agency. Humidity control can vastly improve both the killing power of the ozone and the rate at which it decays back to oxygen (more humidity allows more effectiveness). Spore forms of most pathogens are very tolerant of atmospheric ozone in concentrations at which asthma patients start to have issues. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has declared that there is "evidence to show that at concentrations that do not exceed public health standards, ozone is not effective at removing many odor-causing chemicals" or "viruses, bacteria, mold, or other biological pollutants". Furthermore, its report states that "results of some controlled studies show that concentrations of ozone considerably higher than these [human safety] standards are possible even when a user follows the manufacturer’s operating instructions". The concentration of ozone you would be in contact with that these cleaners produce is very low, but is the reason multiple people complain about the “chlorine type” odor, causing many returns. The extremely heavily pushed TV commercials with testimonials from several people who have been duped, and very likely very well paid, sound very ignorant to someone who actually knows a few things about bacteria, disinfection, sterilization, chemistry and human anatomy and pathology. My observation about these cleaners simply put, is they are completely unnecessary, are very costly, and could be a source of irritation to the respiratory system if aeration is inadequate. I do not, and will never own such a scam. If you haven't already been talked into buying this, please feel free to double check my words and reconsider such a purchase.