With all do respect, yes there isa difference/debate. There's a difference between misting and evaporating to increase humidity. What do you think water distillation is? It's the evaporating of water and then condensing to remove minerals, bacteria, viruses, and other nasties that may exist in the original water supply. It's not misting of water to allow it to condense. Your humidifier is working by similar evaporation (either with or without the additional help of a heating plate).knightlite wrote:I think it is much higher and you do breathe in the water from the xpap whether you call it mist or not is a Bill Clinton definition debate.
The biggest locations for Legionella to multiply are cooling towers, showers, spas, hot tubs, etc where temperature is best for growth as well there is a frequent misting of the contaminated water into the air. You don't catch it because you were near humid, stagnant water that was infected (e.g. a swamp) just because you breathed in. You have to actually inhale the bacteria which isn't present in air humid with evaporated water.
I replace it because the metal plate appears to have mineral deposits and the plastic sides start to discolor, not because it looks unsanitary. The mineral deposits ultimately can reduce the efficiency of heat transfer although it's impact probably is negligible in the scheme of things. The discolored plastic is just cosmetic but still isn't attractive.You must agree somewhat as you are replacing the tank often.