**Full disclosure** I was given a SoClean unit free of charge by SeattleCPAP (www.seattlecpap.com) in exchange for my honest review. Although I received a free item, all opinions are truthful and my own.
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I like things to be easy.
It makes sense, as I have had two sleep disorders (sleep apnea and idiopathic hypersomnia) for the majority of my life. Many of my days have been spent not doing things because I just don’t have the energy to follow through.
I have found ways to cope over the years. About five years ago I quit my steady, well-ish paying job with the state to start my own professional organizing business. This way I could have the flexibility of self-employment so that I could start to “take care of my health” (translation: take more naps.)
My passion for organizing was largely inspired by dealing with the inefficient systems I have experienced over the years. Faulty systems waste people’s time and energy. For someone who doesn’t have a lot of time or energy, inefficiency can be absolutely infuriating!
The other side of this is that when you lack energy, some things just don’t get done. You have to decide what is important and what’s not – then just do the most pressing things.
After my sleep apnea diagnosis I felt great – at first. However, I started backtracking a bit after a couple of months, my fatigue creeping back in. I later found out that this was the result of my idiopathic hypersomnia, which was not yet diagnosed, but was still affecting me a lot.
Sadly, when you are sleeping 12 to 14 hours a day, the most pressing things become things that normal people take for granted. Preparing food, showering and getting to work on time became the most important things, with everything else coming later, if at all.
Unfortunately, being busy with the mundane doesn’t leave a lot of time for extras like cleaning your CPAP.
Gross, huh?
It’s just not very convenient, to be honest. First you have to take the machine apart. Next, you must fill your sink with water.
Of course, to fill your sink with water it has to be free of dirty dishes. So, you have to do all the dishes in your sink.
Aight, cool. It’s fine. After that you’re set, right? Nope. After doing the dishes, you have to clean your sink so that your CPAP doesn’t get a bunch of bacteria. pick up a bunch of bacteria,
So. You have washed the dishes, cleaned the sink, and then filled the sink with water and white vinegar. (Unless, you are like me and often forget to buy white vinegar at the store, but that’s beside the point.) You make sure the vinegar gets in all of the crevices of your mask, reservoir and tubing. You let everything soak for a bit and then hang it to dry.
Then you forget.
You get into bed, all ready to snuggle down and sleep. You then realize that your machine parts are still hanging to dry in the kitchen. You drag yourself out of the bedroom and into the kitchen to retrieve the parts for your machine. You reassemble everything.
Now! Imagine!
Your husband also has sleep apnea and uses a CPAP. Unfortunately, feminism has not allowed us to progress far enough so that men take over their share of household work fairly, so not only do you have to do this for your CPAP, but you have to do this for his CPAP as well.
FML.
But that is ok. Why?
Because of the SoClean.
The SoClean makes cleaning your CPAP systematic, organized and simple.
The SoClean sits on your nightstand (or next to your bed or whatever) and sanitizes your CPAP using activated oxygen. (I am the least scientific person in the world, so you can learn more here. (https://www.soclean.com/support/soclean-support/soclean-2-support/)
Basically, once a day, you pop your CPAP mask into the SoClean and push “manual” and it runs through a sanitizing cycle. You can adjust the cycle time, to make it longer or shorter if desired. You can also schedule a time for the cycle to start automaticaly, but I haven’t done any of this because I hate programming little digital thingys.
After I press “manual” button, the SoClean makes a loudish noise that both my sleeping husband and my cats hate. (I don’t really mind it though.) Because it is so loud, I generally try to run it before I go to bed at night when no one is asleep. I often do it while I am showering or whatever.
Then I’m done. Done!
I remove the mask, hang it on it’s cute little hook and then I am good to pap for another night.
There is also a little tube that goes into the back and hooks up to your hose and humidifier reservoir to make sure that it gets sanitized. While I did install that feature, I actually don’t use my reservoir, so I am not quite sure if it is necessary.
SoClean on the nighstand after some decluttering and re-evaluating. A glamour shot, if you will, complete with a super-fancy glassybaby!
The one issue I have with the SoClean is this: the footprint is LARGE. According to this website (https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/in/Seattle), the cost per square foot of living in Seattle is approximately $562. I don’t exactly know how much to calculate how much it’s costing me to have the SoClean on my nightstand based on that number, but all I am trying to say is that my space is precious, so I am mindful of SoClean’s bulk.
The average cost of SoClean is usually around $250 to $300. However, I would, of cousre, strongly encourage you to check in with SeattleCPAP (www.seattlecpap.com) to see what theirs are costing, as they are usually slightly less expensive than normal, especially if you mention that you are a #cpapbabe and that you have read this review.
So – would I have purchased a SoClean if I wouldn’t have gotten it for free? Absolutely. However, it wouldn’t have been a urgent item on my list, as I am not currently made of money.
Also, I don’t think that being gross and lazy and NOT washing my CPAP in the past ever cause me any severe illness, making CPAP sanitization low on my list. However, I actually can’t really confirm that for sure.
But – if I was doing great money-wise (my situation is actually looking up – much better than this time last year!) would I buy a SoClean for myself? Yes, for sure!
Another thing: it looks like there is a smaller version of the SoClean for traveling. That would address my bitching about how big it is. Worth a look at that if you are overzealous about saving space like I am.
My recommendation: evaluate your needs and make the best choice for you. That’s all you can do in life, right?!
I love my SoClean. I have only two issues with it, and both involve the adapter lid for the Resmed S9. First, the adapter lid did not include the gasket. You have to take it off of your lid. Not a problem until you travel and can’t use your cpap, because even though you changed the SoClean lid back to the S9 lid, you didn’t switch the gasket. My solution was to order replacement gaskets so the two lids always have one.
The other issue, is the adapter lid they send you doesn’t quite fit as well as the original. So closing the lid requires some effort to get the hinge to lock.
Worth noting that the SoClean is also not FSA eligible, which I found out the hard way.