Page 2 of 2
Re: Water for Humidifier
Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2015 10:21 am
by KyFishrman
Like several others who commented, I use distilled water at home, but if I run out or I'm traveling, I go with tap water. Maybe I should reverse that because I'm fairly confident of the quality of my tap water at home, but if traveling that quality varies from town to town and hotel to hotel. Hmmmm? Anyway, something tells me I should be more careful what I suck into my lungs night after night than what I run through my stomach and gut.
Re: Water for Humidifier
Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2015 11:09 am
by Bbecker223
I'm a dialysis technician- water plant certified. For dialysis we have to use pure water- no pathogens, no chlorine (chloramines), poisons, chemicals, fertilizers, etc. These things are present in all tap water- no matter how hard we try to process tap water it's there. In order for me to use it in a patient's body we have to eliminate everything- it's a complicated, expensive and closely monitored process. Way too expensive for the general public.
A very low hardness (calcium etc.) is preferred. That being said. Hard water can be used if there is an issue. It's harder on the machines than the patients.
IMHO- using tap water should be ok- depending on where you live. However- heavy metal poisoning is cumulative. Absorption through digestion is different than inhalation. Faster? dunno.
I'm sticking with the distilled water and what I can get from work. I'd use tap water if I had to. That's just me.
Re: Water for Humidifier
Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2015 12:11 pm
by sleepydc
Cpap.com provides the following answer to why one should use distilled water with a cpap machine:
"Use distilled water to help keep the humidifier chamber clean and mineral deposit free. Tap water should not be used as it will leave hard white mineral deposits in the chamber as the water evaporates, or it may lead to mold growth. Cases of lung disease have been connected to using contaminated well water in a CPAP humidifier. If distilled water is not available where you live, use bottled water. It will be important to clean the chamber each morning, do not leave standing water the chamber between uses."
See
https://www.cpap.com/cpap-faq/Humidifie ... er-chamber
Based on that answer and on what I've read elsewhere on cpaptalk.com, my guess -- and it's just a guess, not based on any scientific training -- is that assuming the water used in a cpap meets minimal health requirements (it's not radioactive, is not from a toxic waste dump, is potable, etc.), then tap water is probably fine for the person. However, it may leave mineral deposits in the tank, or otherwise contribute stuff that can lead to mold and other bacteria, and therefore make it harder to keep the tank clean. I find that the $0.95 I spend a week on a jug of distilled water helps me psychologically with the little extra assurance that the tank is clean, and it's worth it to me; certainly helps me sleep better at night! : )
I use distilled water as much as possible simply to help keep my tank clean. On most days I simply empty any of the contents into the sink and turn it on its side, leaning into the cover, so it dries out thoroughly for the next night's use. I wash my tank only once a week with mild dish washing soap.
Re: Water for Humidifier
Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2015 11:42 pm
by Stevoreno_55
I've been paying $0.88 a gallon for Great Value brand distilled water from my local Walmart. $0.88 for a gallon of distilled water is a very small price to pay when the new machine which I've been sleeping on since December 10, 2014; a ResMed AirCurve 10 S BiLevel machine with a HumidAir heated humidifier and ClimateLineAir heated hose; is currently selling for $1,766.00 on CPAP.com. If the distilled water cost $2.00 a gallon I still would consider that a small price to pay when I'm sleeping on a machine selling for almost $2,000.00.
Re: Water for Humidifier
Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2015 3:12 am
by Krelvin
Stevoreno, You do realize that the water only goes into the tank and not the rest of the machine. Replacement tank is around $32. I also use distilled water, but it is not really that big if a deal.
One of the threads that goes on endlessly....
Re: Water for Humidifier
Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2015 3:14 am
by Krelvin
Krelvin wrote:Stevoreno, You do realize that the water only goes into the tank and not the rest of the machine. Replacement tank is around $32. I also use distilled water, but it is not really that big of a deal.
Re: Water for Humidifier
Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2015 10:10 am
by Pugsy
Krelvin wrote:One of the threads that goes on endlessly....
How about "one of the possibly thousands of threads about tap water vs distilled" that goes on endlessly?
I wish I had a dollar for every one of the "water" threads that we have seen over the years. I could buy a new machine easily.
FWIW...I use distilled most of the time. Where I live I am on well water and here it has a very high mineral content and the water chamber gets yucky looking pretty quickly if I use tap water but I have used it when I was out of distilled for whatever reason.
I am lazy and cleaning a yucky looking water chamber isn't high on my list of things I want to do ...so that's why I used distilled.
I hate the stink of vinegar but I will use it if I have to...I just try to avoid having to use it because it seems like no matter how much I rinse the darn chamber I can't get rid of the smell.
Re: Water for Humidifier
Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2015 10:12 am
by Sleeprider
This is right up there with an oil thread on a car or motorcycle forum.
Re: Water for Humidifier
Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2015 10:57 am
by Uncle_Bob
I had to use distilled where i live. The tap water is very hard, I'm talking 20GPG hard. I don't even drink it as it doesn't taste good. Even when i got a water softener i found the tank got skanky with tap water so i'm still using distilled.
Re: Water for Humidifier
Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2015 11:58 am
by chunkyfrog
Our tap water is 13, but it tastes good. Sadly, Bunn coffeemakers die much too soon.
Re: Water for Humidifier
Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2015 1:03 pm
by palerider
chunkyfrog wrote:Our tap water is 13, but it tastes good. Sadly, Bunn coffeemakers die much too soon.
I saw a thread on a keurig site about brita filters.... they actually soften the water!
might be worth it to extend the life of your coffeemaker.
Re: Water for Humidifier
Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2015 1:32 pm
by Stevoreno_55
Krelvin wrote:Stevoreno, You do realize that the water only goes into the tank and not the rest of the machine. Replacement tank is around $32. I also use distilled water, but it is not really that big if a deal.
One of the threads that goes on endlessly....
To me it's not either but others in previous threads have gone on and on about it making it one. We're only talking about less than $1.00 for a gallon of distilled water; if it were to cost $6.00 a gallon that might be something else.
Re: Water for Humidifier
Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2015 2:45 pm
by Uncle_Bob
palerider wrote:chunkyfrog wrote:Our tap water is 13, but it tastes good. Sadly, Bunn coffeemakers die much too soon.
I saw a thread on a keurig site about brita filters.... they actually soften the water!
might be worth it to extend the life of your coffeemaker.
I have a Bunn My Cafe that we have owned for over 10 years. Its been replaced twice for repair (even once for free outside of warranty) and once under a recall.
The repair guy told me that coffee should not be made with softened water, firstly coffee tastes better with regular water as minerals are necessary to bring out the flavor in coffee (except espresso). Secondly its bad for the coffee machine, something about expansion or something. When my machines failed on softened water the result would be a syrup like leakage of dark coffee from under the unit.
Since we started using the drinking water from the store we have not had single problem in years.
~UB
Re: Water for Humidifier
Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2015 6:38 pm
by Stevoreno_55
Uncle_Bob wrote:palerider wrote:chunkyfrog wrote:Our tap water is 13, but it tastes good. Sadly, Bunn coffeemakers die much too soon.
I saw a thread on a keurig site about brita filters.... they actually soften the water!
might be worth it to extend the life of your coffeemaker.
I have a Bunn My Cafe that we have owned for over 10 years. Its been replaced twice for repair (even once for free outside of warranty) and once under a recall.
The repair guy told me that coffee should not be made with softened water, firstly coffee tastes better with regular water as minerals are necessary to bring out the flavor in coffee (except espresso). Secondly its bad for the coffee machine, something about expansion or something. When my machines failed on softened water the result would be a syrup like leakage of dark coffee from under the unit.
Since we started using the drinking water from the store we have not had single problem in years.
~UB
My city water is shocked with so much chlorine that it smells sometimes like Clorox coming out of the faucet. I too use bottled spring water to drink and to make coffee and tea with but the BiLevel machine gets the distilled water.