When it comes to making videos, writing blog posts, and (gosh I hate this term) “creating content,” a few different things motivate me. Some of these things, especially my camping videos, are made for fun because I enjoy making them and I hope people enjoy watching them. Sometimes, however, I create something with the intent of “giving back” to the community at large. This was one of those videos.

As you’ll learn in the video, I’ve had a CPAP for about 20 years. My sleep apnea is so bad that when I sleep without using my CPAP, I dream about suffocating and/or being out of breath all night long, and make up more tired than when I went to sleep! Wearing a CPAP has changed my life for the better — I feel so much more well rested when I wear it, and miserable when I don’t.

I get a lot of questions regarding my CPAP (do you use it? how do you power it? can I run it off my cigarette lighter?) and so I thought I would pile everything I know about CPAPs and vehicles into one video and let ‘er fly.

If you don’t watch the video, the big takeaways are: keep your CPAP well protected, keep it clean, use distilled water if and when you can, and (if your CPAP supports it) use a 12v to save on power consumption.

Even though I have a smaller travel bag, I still use my old gigantic CPAP travel bag because it’s super padded. That keeps my CPAP and accessories protected no matter where I’m headed or what I’m traveling in (van, cruise ship, airplane, etc). My bag is large enough that on the side with the CPAP I can toss in some nose spray and even a tumbler full of distilled water, and the other side has enough space for a day’s worth of clothes.

I can’t stress how important it is to keep your CPAP clean. Everything in my van has a layer of red dirt on top of it, and you have to know some of that is making its way into my CPAP bag. Because I don’t live in my van fulltime it’s a lot easier for me to keep my hoses and masks clean. If you’re living in a vehicle full time, especially in a part of the country that’s overly dusty or dirty, double check your filter on a regular basis and make sure dirt isn’t getting into your machine. The cleaner your machine stays, the longer it (and you) will last.

I’m not a doctor so this is not medical advice, but using bottled water (or tap water for that matter) for a day or two won’t kill you or your machine. There are a lot of medical reasons why distilled water is better and in theory it will extend the life of your CPAP. That being said, if you find yourself out on the road and your options are no water or bottled water… go with the bottled water. This is coming from a guy who didn’t know CPAPs required distilled water and may or may not have used tap water in his first machine for nearly seven years. I’m not recommending it… but it ain’t gonna kill ya.

One thing I didn’t mention in the video is that CPAPs work best when “level,” according to the ResMed manual. How level is level? I’ve never personally had a situation in which I parked so unlevel that I had a problem with my CPAP, but I suppose it’s good to keep in mind, nonetheless. In theory a person could park so unevenly that the water in the humidifier’s reservoir might spill out, but I have to think on a spot that uneven, one would encounter other sleep issues as well.

I’m still a little baffled in the difference between power supplies. When using the 110v power supply that came with my CPAP, the readings on my power station showed a usage of around 55 watts. After switching to the 12v power supply, the draw dropped to 15 watts. From what I understand, converting electricity from 12v (how it’s stored in my power station) to AC (though the built-in inverter) should have a loss of +/- 10%. After that conversion, the power supply converts it BACK from 110v down to 12v. A 10% loss would be 5(ish) watts so even with two conversions, that should only be 10 watt loss. Why the 12v adapter is so much more economical, I’m not sure — but it is, at least according to my battery. I’ll have to do more testing, but 12v seems to be the way to go.

Another thing I didn’t mention in the video is that this thing is going to fog up your windows, so you’ll definitely want/need some ventilation going in your vehicle. I have a MaxxAir fan which is always either on or cracked open so I’ve never actually slept in my van with all the windows closed and the CPAP on.

I made this video for two target audiences: people camping in vehicles who just discovered they need a CPAP machine, and people who currently have a CPAP machine and are considering traveling/camping in a vehicle. Either way, what I want people to know is that using a CPAP in a vehicle is pretty simple.