No Distilled Water, Can Filtered Water Be Used?

K8TEK wrote:Call Brita, Pur or any other consumer manufacturer if their product contains a deionizing resin.

since your head is to hard to go read anything on your own... and you say (poorly) to call and *ask* if their product has a deionizing resin, I'll attempt to help you along with a quote from the brita faq:

Brita wrote:Does the BRITA water filter cartridge remove all minerals from drinking water?
The BRITA water filter cartridge only partially removes the hardness from drinking water. This part is temporary hardness, which causes scale deposits during cooking. It does not remove all of the minerals from the water. It reduces the concentration of calcium and magnesium with cation ion exchange resins, but theses substances are not completely removed as in desalination systems or industrial plants that use reverse osmosis or distillation processes, for example.

maybe even read this:
http://www.home-barista.com/knockbox/ne ... 18471.html

now, mind you, I'm not advocating brita, I don't even have one, nor have I ever... I just point out bad information when I see it.

Who cares anyway? All you have to do is to WASH the thing and soak it with a solution of vinegar once a week or two!
I used tap water for 3 years in Montreal and it did very little to my humidifier or me. The only reason I use distilled now is because I don't like the smell of the water. The reason I didn't use distilled water in Montreal was that I wasn't hauling a gallon of water on the bus in February when all I had to do was to remember to clean the thing.

BlackSpinner wrote:hauling a gallon of water on the bus in February .

don't you mean "a gallon of ice"

palerider wrote:

BlackSpinner wrote:hauling a gallon of water on the bus in February .

don't you mean "a gallon of ice"

I don't like to encourage palerider... but that was a good one <snicker>

That was funny Pale Rider. But here's the thing. A lot of people believe that they are using distilled water for a MEDICAL reason. That is often because they are TOLD SO by the DMEs. This idea may be further cemented if you are hospitalized and the RT comes in and puts sterilized water into your xpap. You and I know that it is only an issue with mineralization, but hey, newbies don't quite know what to believe. They are newbies.

SewTired wrote:That was funny Pale Rider. But here's the thing. A lot of people believe that they are using distilled water for a MEDICAL reason. That is often because they are TOLD SO by the DMEs. This idea may be further cemented if you are hospitalized and the RT comes in and puts sterilized water into your xpap. You and I know that it is only an issue with mineralization, but hey, newbies don't quite know what to believe. They are newbies.

they usually used tap water in mine when I was in the hospital...

one RT looked at it and said 'where's the water go"

I said "GET OUT".

For about 150.00 at Costco you can buy an under counter Watts RO System. If you are not a plumber expect to pay an additional 100.00 to get it installed but if you are handy at all it is not difficult. I installed mine in the basement and just extended the plastic lines. RO is second only to Distilled in removing TDS. Have been using it exclusively in my Cpap since late June and no buildup what so ever. I keep my humidity pretty high and have emptied my reservoir many times when I am lucky enough to sleep 8 hours. This unit puts out about 25 gallons a day so we use it for everything; coffee, tea, cooking, drinking etc.

I said I use it exclusively but when I travel I buy Aquafina water which has also been treated via Ro

Adding an edit, I have never had an official water test on my RO system but I got my son an aquarium last year and thought it would be smart to use the RO water; when all his fish died a couple weeks later I took a water sample (from the aquarium) to Pet Smart and when they tested the water they asked where I get my water. I told them and asked why and they said it is so soft that the fish could never live in it. They told me to add baking soda and wood to the water, now I just use tap water for the fish with a de-chlorinator.

flightco wrote:For about 150.00 at Costco you can buy an under counter Watts RO System. If you are not a plumber expect to pay an additional 100.00 to get it installed but if you are handy at all it is not difficult. I installed mine in the basement and just extended the plastic lines. RO is second only to Distilled in removing TDS. Have been using it exclusively in my Cpap since late June and no buildup what so ever. I keep my humidity pretty high and have emptied my reservoir many times when I am lucky enough to sleep 8 hours. This unit puts out about 25 gallons a day so we use it for everything; coffee, tea, cooking, drinking etc.

I said I use it exclusively but when I travel I buy Aquafina water which has also been treated via Ro

Adding an edit, I have never had an official water test on my RO system but I got my son an aquarium last year and thought it would be smart to use the RO water; when all his fish died a couple weeks later I took a water sample (from the aquarium) to Pet Smart and when they tested the water they asked where I get my water. I told them and asked why and they said it is so soft that the fish could never live in it. They told me to add baking soda and wood to the water, now I just use tap water for the fish with a de-chlorinator.

I've personally never used RO water in my cpap yet, so good to know. As to the aquarium, depending on the fish, you use a combo of tap and RO to get the right hardness. I had an RO unit back when I had 25 acquariums of different types of fish. For most of the softer water fish, I used roughly 3/4 tap water, 1/4 RO. There are charts on the internet to guide you. I'm envious. Back then, you could get an RO unit for about $100 and at best, you could get 5 gallons a day!

palerider wrote:

BlackSpinner wrote:hauling a gallon of water on the bus in February .

don't you mean "a gallon of ice"

LOL no it doesn't freeze that fast. The sidewalks did however. And the bloody grocery store where I shopped didn't carry distilled water so that meant that while the groceries got delivered I would have to pay extra at the pharmacy to get the water delivered. No way I was paying $10 for a gallon of water.

BlackSpinner wrote:

palerider wrote:

BlackSpinner wrote:hauling a gallon of water on the bus in February .

don't you mean "a gallon of ice"

LOL no it doesn't freeze that fast. The sidewalks did however. And the bloody grocery store where I shopped didn't carry distilled water so that meant that while the groceries got delivered I would have to pay extra at the pharmacy to get the water delivered. No way I was paying $10 for a gallon of water.

I so remember those days of schlepping groceries on the bus and, as my vision declines, I will get to do that again. Our buses now have a no stairs, which makes that so much more pleasant when you do have to schlep stuff. Also, in those days (80s and early 90s) NOBODY did deliveries except the pharmacies and that was simply to the homebound. BlackSpinner had the additional difficulty of wind - which Chicago is known for!

By the way, I want to report that in addition to vinegar, lemon juice also works to dissolve mineral deposits. You have to use a higher strength, but you can smell fresh lemon that first night instead of pickles.

The pamphlet I got from my respiratory tech says to use water that has been boiled for 10 minutes if I don't have access to distilled water.

gravyv wrote:The pamphlet I got from my respiratory tech says to use water that has been boiled for 10 minutes if I don't have access to distilled water.

When you next talk to the RT, ask why that is so considering neither Resmed nor Respironics recommend such a thing. Yeah, sure, I'd do it if it were untreated lake water, but out of the tap? Seriously? Is there some study or something she can point to that makes this recommendation? Enquiring minds would like to know!

gravyv wrote:The pamphlet I got from my respiratory tech says to use water that has been boiled for 10 minutes if I don't have access to distilled water.

Boiling it doesn't get the minerals out - which is the problem. (It probably concentrates them)

gravyv wrote:The pamphlet I got from my respiratory tech says to use water that has been boiled for 10 minutes if I don't have access to distilled water.

that just makes the mineral concentration worse.

that's bad advice.

I have been using filtered water for 12 years, no problem if cleaning the tank weekly or semi-monthly.

Now I am using Zero Water filter on my filtered water to save on filter replacements. The filtered water is 003 Total Disolved Solids (TDS), and with
Zero Water filter it goes to 000. My Tap Water if 425 TDS, so I would waste a ton on filters if I filtered it.

The water taste great and am also enjoying the humidifier a lot more now.