Descaling humidifier using lemon? Tips please!

kipster wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 10, 2018 3:59 pm

Some nights I pour the bottled water through my filter jug. Other times I forget! Would filtering the bottled water help or is it just as good to just filter tap water?

Unless it is a special filter that demineralizes the water, there is no point in filtering bottled water or tap water. I would use store bought demineralized (not mineralized) water, distilled water, or reverse osmosis water. It you can't get it or it is too expensive use tap water.

kipster wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 10, 2018 3:59 pm

I read the books it came with too and it doesn’t mention distilled water at all. It literally just says to fill the humidifier with water.

I’m wondering whether the instruction booklets are different here as distilled water isn’t so commonly available?

Some nights I pour the bottled water through my filter jug. Other times I forget! Would filtering the bottled water help or is it just as good to just filter tap water?

Do you mean you don’t use the humidifier now? Does your nose not get really blocked without it? I’m struggling with congestion while using the PAP machine. I thought it would be even worse if I didn’t use the humidifier?

Wanna try again?!?!

Page 12 of the AirSense 10 Clinical guide

CAUTION:
Do not overfill the water tub as water may enter the device and air tubing.
1. Place the device on a stable level surface.
2. Plug the power connector into the rear of the device. Connect one end of the power cord into
the power supply unit and the other end into the power outlet.
3. Connect the air tubing firmly to the air outlet located on the rear of the device.
4. Open the water tub and fill it with distilled water up to the maximum water level mark.
Do not fill the water tub with hot water.
5. Close the water tub and insert it into the side of the device.
6. Connect the free end of the air tubing firmly onto the assembled mask.
See the mask user guide for detailed information.
Recommended masks are available on www.resmed.com.


Page 21 of the AirSense 10 Clinical Guide

Reassembling:
When the water tub and air tubing are dry, you can reassemble the parts.
1. Connect the air tubing firmly to the air outlet located on the rear of the device.
2. Open the water tub and fill it with distilled room temperature water up to the maximum water level mark.
3. Close the water tub and insert it into the side of the device.
4. Connect the free end of the air tubing firmly onto the assembled mask.


Page 38 of the AirSense 10 Clinical Guide:

Symbols:
The following symbols may appear on the product or packaging.

Use distilled water only.




Page 4 of the AirSense 10 User Guide:

Setup:
CAUTION
Do not overfill the water tub as water may enter the device and air tubing.
1. Place the device on a stable level surface.
2. Plug the power connector into the rear of the device. Connect one end of the power cord into the power supply unit and the other end into the power outlet.
3. Connect the air tubing firmly to the air outlet located on the rear of the device.
4. Open the water tub and fill it with distilled water up to the maximum water level mark.
Do not fill the water tub with hot water.
5. Close the water tub and insert it into the side of the device.
6. Connect the free end of the air tubing firmly onto the assembled mask.
See the mask user guide for detailed information.
Recommended masks are available on www.resmed.com.


Page 9 of the AirSense 10 User Guide:

Reassembling:
When the water tub and air tubing are dry, you can reassemble the parts.
1. Connect the air tubing firmly to the air outlet located on the rear of the device.
2. Open the water tub and fill it with distilled room temperature water up to the maximum water level mark.
3. Close the water tub and insert it into the side of the device.
4. Connect the free end of the air tubing firmly onto the assembled mask


Page 20 of the AirSense 10 Clinical Guide:

Symbols:
The following symbols may appear on the product or packaging.

Use distilled water only.


https://www.respshop.com/manuals/ResMed ... %20her.pdf

https://www.resmed.com/us/dam/documents ... er_eng.pdf


Den

.

Thanks for clarifying on the water front Pugsy.
So, I am using standard bottled water - not anything fancy. Sorry for confusion.

Den - my book is definitely not the same as yours. For a start, my user guide here in the UK only runs to 16 pages in the English language (more pages if you include all the language translation pages) so you definitely have more info in your clinical guide. The only mention of distilled water in mine is the symbol saying ‘must used distilled water’, which - along with every other symbol listed - it says may appear somewhere on the packaging or product. And it doesn’t appear on my packaging or product.

As pale rider and I suggested, I think we have different instructions here in the UK. And seeing as your guide is more than twice the length of mine, I think we can now definitely say that that’s the case. So, thanks for responding to the thread but it really isn’t necessary for any of us to be trying to prove any other wrong by quoting their manual when he manuals are clearly different.

In the UK distilled water is not easy or cheap to come by. I just use tap water and clean the humidifier when needed. A Brita water filter jug will remove some of the minerals that cause limescale so the build up is not so quick.

From a UK link:

https://www.resmed.com/uk/dam/documents ... r1_eng.pdf

Page 21:

Use distilled water only.


On the other hand (and to be fair), on page 4, it just mentiones "water". (item 4)

4. Open the humidifier and fill it with water up to the maximum water level mark.
Do not fill the humidifier with hot water.


Den

.

If you prefer to have a free digital copy of the American version,
others here can direct you to a source.
After all, the machines are pretty much the same.

chunkyfrog wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 10, 2018 5:55 pm

If you prefer to have a free digital copy of the American version,
others here can direct you to a source.
After all, the machines are pretty much the same.

I posted them (clinical and user) in a previous post (above).
But, here's another link to the same Clinical manual/guide.

https://sleep.tnet.com/home/files/resme ... -guide.pdf


Den

.

Thanks, I missed that.
It's a shame that the companies do not treat us all equally.

If the Germans had just taken over the world, they would have standardized all the books. Maybe we could have read them if they allowed it. Jim

Only SOME of us.

. wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 10, 2018 4:55 pm

From a UK link:

https://www.resmed.com/uk/dam/documents ... r1_eng.pdf

Page 21:

Use distilled water only.

Page 21 is an explanation of symbols that may appear on the product or packaging. Not instructions.

If you're still up, Kipster,

1. The stuff that makes water hard or soft is calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate. (The BBC did a great series of on-line exam revision pages a few years ago - you can still access the one on water here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesi ... evision/1/

As you can see from that crib, some of the UK has water with a calcium carbonate level of 100 mg/l or below, but in most of the country, the tap water is at 100-200 mg/l or above.

The level of calcium cabonate equivalent in Sainsbury's Still Scottish Mountain Water is 60 mg/l. In other words, it is right there in the middle of the soft water range.

It is certainly softer than most English tap water - and that's why I recommend it.

As I said before, I use it and I do get a build up in my tank. But (a) it is minor, and (b) it takes quite a while to build up to where I can even see it.

And said water is cheap. And when you make tea with it, the result is fabulous.

2. The thing about smells - there are two things that are variable with smells. One is the 'threshold' for noticing smells is personal. That is, it varies from person to person, and also from hour to hour.

It also varies with mood or what's sometimes called 'state'. As Eric Berne said, when people are what he called 'out-of-script', their sense of smell improves dramatically.

The second thing is that how many smell molecules cling to a surface varies with the material in a container. With the plastic used in my Philips Respironics plastic tank, there is very little cling. I don't have any experience with ResMed equipment.

The reason I suggested Sainsbury's distilled malt vinegar is that it seems to leave fewer smell molecules. Especially if the tank is left near an open window to dry and air properly.

3. If vinegar is no good for you and lemon juice costly, you could try Boric acid. It comes in crystals which you dissolve in water to make the usable solution. And you can order it from Boots the chemist.

4. Pugsy - when you say, "I don't know what constitutes 'mineral water' in the UK" you are right on the money.

I could write a New Yorker long-lead piece on the subject, but the short version is this: there is a jumble of regulations in the UK on bottled water - two different government agencies, different rules for Wales and Northern Ireland vs rules for England and Scotland. And then Scots want to go their own way anyway ...

.. Not to mention the EU contribution on the subject (and we're still subject to EU rules).

There are rules about what is 'Natural Mineral Water' vs 'Spring Water' vs 'Table Water' vs 'Flavoured Water' and 'Functional Water'.

By law, the term 'Natural Mineral Water' covers both the stuff that's got much fewer minerals than tap water and the stuff that's got a lot more minerals than tap water - including the kind which - as you suggest - has extra minerals added to it.

Faced with that mess, the supermarkets just labelled that whole section of the store 'mineral water'.

So Kipster was being accurate to local custom when she called it 'mineral water' - but there is no reason why her words automatically mean already-got-more-minerals-than-tap 'mineral water' or extra-minerals-have-been-added 'mineral water'.

And indeed, given the shelvage that I see in my local stores, the fewer-minerals-than-tap-water 'mineral water' out-sells all the other kinds.

At least it does where I live.

If I can say again what I've said before. Medical quality distilled water is really expensive here. It costs an arm and a leg. The next best thing - in terms of time and money and quality and no fuss - is the very low-level of minerals - repeat very low-level of minerals - bottled water from Scotland.

First of all, I always use plain white vinegar to clean the tank of mineral deposits. Deposits only happen when I travel, as I use distilled water at home. I don't know what's available (or at what price) in the U.K. If you can't get distilled water, the next best choice is purified water. In any case, don't use any water than is unsafe to drink.

try distilled water if you are getting to much scale, not much in distilled water that will cause scaling.

Like others have said use vinegar to cut the scale, cheaper and easier to keep/use.

J-

jjc155 wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 11, 2018 12:33 am

try distilled water if you are getting to much scale, not much in distilled water that will cause scaling.

:facepalm: