A CPAP machine that sits unused after an upgrade, a therapy change, or a death can restore sleep for someone who cannot afford one, CPAP therapy is prescription equipment that many uninsured people simply go without. Machines refurbish well; the hygiene rule is that masks and tubing do not. Add one step nobody mentions, pulling the data card, and your machine is ready for a second life. Here is exactly where and how.
Second Wind CPAP in Tracy, Minnesota refurbishes donated machines and supplies discounted equipment to people who could not otherwise afford therapy. It accepts CPAP, Auto-CPAP, and BiPAP machines and heated humidifiers, plus factory-sealed masks and new, unused tubing. Donations must be pre-approved, submit the form at secondwindcpap.com or email [email protected], and you cover shipping; a charitable donation letter comes back for your taxes. Phone: 1-855-263-2727.
The ASAA has run a CPAP assistance program that channels donated machines to patients who cannot afford them, working through sleephealth.org. Program details and intake status change over time, so check the current process before shipping. This is the established nonprofit route inside the sleep-medicine world.
Some sleep clinics and durable-medical-equipment reuse programs accept donated machines for patient-assistance use, and state assistive-technology reuse programs occasionally handle CPAPs alongside wheelchairs. A call to your sleep clinic or the reuse program in our medical equipment guide answers it locally, and skips shipping entirely.
Used masks, cushions, and tubing cannot be donated anywhere, hygiene rules are absolute, and unopened supplies you will not use (sealed masks, filters, unopened tubing) are exactly what programs like Second Wind want alongside machines. Used soft parts go in the trash; the machine and the sealed spares go in the donation box.
Last updated June 2026. Errors: [email protected]
Sleep apnea therapy has an affordability gap hiding in plain sight: machines run hundreds to over a thousand dollars, replacement supplies are a subscription-like cost, and uninsured patients often quit therapy or never start. Meanwhile, upgrades and estate cleanouts park thousands of working machines in closets, because most people have no idea donation programs exist. The machines age well, a five-year-old CPAP still treats apnea, so the bottleneck is awareness, not supply. You are reading the fix.
The rule that decides everything: air path components that touch breath and skin do not transfer between patients. Masks, cushions, headgear, and tubing are single-patient items, donatable only factory-sealed. The machine itself, the blower unit and humidifier, sanitizes and refurbishes professionally, which is the entire premise of programs like Second Wind. Sort your gear on that line and you will never mail something a program must throw away.
Modern CPAPs log detailed usage and event data, hours, AHI, pressure, sometimes for years, on a removable SD card and in onboard memory. That is your health data. Pull the SD card before donating (keep or destroy it), and if your machine pairs to an app, unlink it from your account the same way you would sign out before you donate a computer. Refurbishers reset machines anyway, but your data should leave home with you, not with the box.
CPAPs surface most often in estates, and they are among the most useful medical items an estate can give: pre-approval programs make the process orderly, and the donation letter documents a device worth real money. Travel CPAPs, the small battery-capable units, are especially wanted because they cost the most new. Donate them the same way, machine plus sealed spares, card removed, and pair the errand with the estate's hearing aids and diabetic supplies, covered in their own guides.