Tap Water

I'm on vacation and decided not to take the water with me. I have been using tap water for the past 2 nights and find it fine. It's filtered tap water and I don't think I'll go back to buying distilled any longer. I'll wipe out my tray every day as well as clean the tubing weekly. It even smells fresher when I first put on the mask.

While I usually use distilled water, I'm pretty casual about it. If I don't have it, I use whatever is available. I do find more residue on the bottom with tap water, but an occasional vinegar soak takes care of it. Now, some people report only topping off their tank and never needing to clean it, so I can see them not wanting to introduce anything to ruin a good thing. My tanks have never been able to get by with more than 3-4 days without stinking and getting slimey, so that's why I am lax about it. Vacations are for fun so why complicate things, right?

If it smells ok, it should be fine. It may leave some deposits in the tank, which can probably be cleaned up with an occasional 50/50 vinegar/water soak and rinse. I tried bottled water once while traveling, which smelled yucky. I was very glad to go back to distilled when i got home.

Jasba64 wrote:I'm on vacation and decided not to take the water with me. I have been using tap water for the past 2 nights and find it fine. It's filtered tap water and I don't think I'll go back to buying distilled any longer. I'll wipe out my tray every day as well as clean the tubing weekly. It even smells fresher when I first put on the mask.

Won't it be just as heavy bringing filtered water from home on vacation as getting distilled on vacation. Jim

H2O, is orderless, unless something is added or wrong with.

Some city water supplies have added excessive amounts of chlorine to the water supply,
as a response to state health departments demanding lower microbe counts.
Alliance, NE is such a place. That tap water in my tank STANK to high heaven!
My eyes and throat burned. It was nasty!

chunkyfrog wrote:Some city water supplies have added excessive amounts of chlorine to the water supply,
as a response to state health departments demanding lower microbe counts.
Alliance, NE is such a place. That tap water in my tank STANK to high heaven!
My eyes and throat burned. It was nasty!

Yep, same situation for me. We have a two stage filter with a tap in the kitchen. It removes the chlorine and quite a few other nasties. Works great in the humidifier with the occasional vinegar soak as described above. Saves heaps by not having to buy bottled water for drinking. About 250,000 households in our city also use a 'Puratap'.

Jasba64 wrote:I'm on vacation and decided not to take the water with me. I have been using tap water for the past 2 nights and find it fine. It's filtered tap water and I don't think I'll go back to buying distilled any longer. I'll wipe out my tray every day as well as clean the tubing weekly. It even smells fresher when I first put on the mask.

On a trip to Europe this summer, I brought about a liter of labeled demineralized water in a metal bottle with my carry-on. Although in one airport they swabbed it for explosives, which I'm certainly happy to let them do if it contributes to everyone's safety, I had no problems traveling with it from here to France, to Switzerland, to Norway, to Iceland and back. However, by the time I was in Norway, I ran out and reverted to the local tap water for the rest of the trip. It was just a few days and I felt no discernible adverse effects. Once back home, I did notice a bit of a white calcium-like deposit at the bottom of the humidifier tank, which I simply cleaned out with a little vinegar and water. I'm now back on demineralized water and no longer see any of those deposits. My impression is that it's OK for short periods to use most decent non-distilled water, but it may require a little extra cleaning than usual. However, given the choice, I think I'll normally stick with demineralized water. The fact that your tap water is filtered, unlike mine, may make a difference, though.

I use whatever tap water the hotel has, as long as it is drinkable. I like to travel light. No problems so far with using tap water.

At home I use distilled water, but generally I will use any potable water when traveling, especially internationally.

I did notice a residue, so I do clean it out upon returning. One notable exception was Myanmar (aka Burma), where the bottled water that is sold there for foreign visitors leaves no residue whatsoever.

I always use tap water now ( we have very nice artesian well water here at home that isn't terribly hard, so not a lot of mineral deposits). I use to use only distilled water until we started traveling a lot. I manage this 2 ways. I either use the regular humidifier tank rinsing it out. That seems to last fine until it is time for a replacement. I have also bought some "washable" tanks - you can tell them by the fact that the plastic finger pull area is grey instead of white - from our hosts when they have them on sale. They seem to clean better and so last longer. Can even put them in the dishwasher I've been told.

If there is the smallest amount of mold in the water, do you want it pounded into your lungs all night?
If the brain eating amoeba is in the tap water, and in some places it is, (yes inside the US as well) while the manufacturer promises that bacteria and viruses can not be carried over from the tank, do you really want to risk it. I mean, a drop or two of water may get into the hose somewhere from the machine being tipped around.

Several years ago a fellow came on the board and wanted to do a nasal rinse, others advised him that tap water was surely good enough. A few days later the news reported a man died of doing a Neti Pot rinse with tap water, from brain eating a amoeba.

In my case, the amoeba would find no brain and starve to death.

I am posting from McDs and so a lot of others show a similar IP address.

creepy wrote:If there is the smallest amount of mold in the water, do you want it pounded into your lungs all night?
If the brain eating amoeba is in the tap water, and in some places it is, (yes inside the US as well) while the manufacturer promises that bacteria and viruses can not be carried over from the tank, do you really want to risk it. I mean, a drop or two of water may get into the hose somewhere from the machine being tipped around.

Several years ago a fellow came on the board and wanted to do a nasal rinse, others advised him that tap water was surely good enough. A few days later the news reported a man died of doing a Neti Pot rinse with tap water, from brain eating a amoeba.

In my case, the amoeba would find no brain and starve to death.

I am posting from McDs and so a lot of others show a similar IP address.

Many here have natural immunity, they would starve! Jim

cands wrote: Yep, same situation for me. We have a two stage filter with a tap in the kitchen. It removes the chlorine and quite a few other nasties. Works great in the humidifier with the occasional vinegar soak as described above. Saves heaps by not having to buy bottled water for drinking. About 250,000 households in our city also use a 'Puratap'.

Old Australian insult:
"Your mother drank tap water in Adelaide".

xxyzx wrote:

chunkyfrog wrote:Some city water supplies have added excessive amounts of chlorine to the water supply,
as a response to state health departments demanding lower microbe counts.
Alliance, NE is such a place. That tap water in my tank STANK to high heaven!
My eyes and throat burned. It was nasty!

======

let it sit for a few days in a bowl
the problem should be gone

the chlorine would kill the fish
and the pet store had a sign saying to let the chlorine go away naturally

don't worry she is a frog not a fish

At home I use distilled water the majority of the time...it's easily accessible in gallon jugs at the pharmacy and it's dirt cheap so I just grab 2 on my walk home from work (I live in a big city). I top the tank off every night and have never had any problems with residue when using distilled water.

When traveling or if I run out of distilled water and I'm too lazy to get more, I do not find it a big deal at all to use filtered water from my PUR water pitcher.

I clean my full face masks (I alternate between two of the same kind) maybe once a week - mostly because I tend to mouth breathe and a bit of "gunk" builds up in the corner of the mask and also the mask smells after a few uses. I clean my hose maybe once every 3 months and my water tank about the same. Never had any issues whatsoever but YMMV.