The equipment company that set me up was great about the machine, but they'd never been in a Peterbilt sleeper. Nobody told me how to run this thing on the road. So I figured it out, mostly the hard way, and other drivers have written in with what works for them. Here's all of it. Your machine and your truck may be different, so check with your own equipment company before you go rewiring anything.
1. POWER
Your CPAP runs on regular house current. Your truck runs on 12 volts. So you need a power inverter, which turns the truck's 12 volts into household current you can plug into.
Find out what your machine draws. Call your equipment company or look on the label on the bottom. The humidifier heater pulls a lot more than the machine itself. Get an inverter rated well above what the two together need. Mine is a 400-watt unit and it's never so much as blinked.
Wire it right. A little inverter that plugs into the cigarette lighter might not cut it, especially with the humidifier. Mine is wired straight to the batteries with its own fuse. The shop at our terminal did it in an hour. If you're not handy with wiring, get it done by somebody who is. A melted cord in a sleeper is no joke.
Ask about a 12-volt cord. Some machines can be run off a 12-volt cord made for them. Ask your supplier if yours can.
Watch your batteries. If you're shut down all night, a CPAP plus a heated humidifier will pull your batteries down some. I get through a night fine, but I don't run the TV and the coffee pot off the same inverter at the same time. If you're worried, get an inverter that shuts itself off before your batteries go too low to start the truck.
Carry a spare fuse. Ask me how I know.
2. DISTILLED WATER
If you use a humidifier, you're supposed to fill it with distilled water, not tap water. Tap water leaves minerals that crust up the tank. Most truck stops sell distilled water by the gallon now, usually in the aisle with the antifreeze and the windshield fluid, and grocery stores always have it, cheaper. I keep two gallons in the side box and buy more when I'm down to one. A gallon lasts me about a week.
Don't leave yesterday's water sitting in the tank. Dump it in the morning, let the tank dry, and fill it fresh at night.
3. KEEPING IT CLEAN
A truck is dusty, and a dirty mask is a good way to catch a cold or worse. Here's my routine. Your equipment company will give you theirs, and theirs wins.
Every morning: wipe the mask cushion with a damp washcloth and a drop of mild dish soap, rinse it, and let it air dry. Dump the humidifier water.
Once a week: on my weekend at home, or in a truck stop shower if I'm out, I wash the mask, the hose and the humidifier tank in warm soapy water, rinse them good, and hang the hose over the shower rod to drip dry. A wet hose that's coiled up in a bag gets nasty fast.
The filter: check it every week or two. A truck gets a lot more dust than a bedroom. Mine needs changing more often on the road than the book says.
Keep spares: an extra mask cushion, an extra set of headgear straps, an extra filter. Straps stretch out and cushions crack, and it's always on a Saturday night in Wyoming.
4. A COLD CAB
Winter in a sleeper is where I learned the most. When the cab gets cold, the warm wet air from the humidifier cools off in the hose and turns back into water. You wake up with a gurgle in your hose and water spitting in your nose. The equipment man called that "rainout." I called it something else.
Run the hose under your blanket so it stays warm.
Or slide the hose inside an old tube sock or two. Sheryl sewed a few together into a long sleeve for me. Looks silly. Works great.
Turn the humidifier down a notch on cold nights.
Set the machine lower than your head, so any water runs back toward the machine and not toward your face.
If you're going to leave the truck shut down somewhere freezing, empty the water out first so it doesn't freeze and crack the tank, and let the machine warm up before you run it again.
5. EVERYTHING ELSE
Find it a home. I put a little rubber shelf liner down on the sleeper shelf so the machine doesn't slide around, and a bungee cord across it when I'm rolling.
Wear it for naps. All of them. Even a twenty-minute nap at the dock. If you nap without it, you're napping with apnea.
Motels: carry a six-foot extension cord. The outlet is always behind the bed.
Paperwork: keep a copy of your prescription and your equipment company's number in the glove box. If your machine quits in Nevada, you'll want to call somebody who knows what you've got.
The guys will rib you. Let them. I got called Darth Vader on the CB for about a month. Then two of the guys who laughed the hardest asked me, quiet like, where I'd had my sleep study done.
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