Will tap water damage my machine?

[verbatim]

I stick to distilled water. Have used tap water before but only when it's all I have. Put tap water in your humidifier use it for a few days. The little floating particles will make you want to use distilled. If I was going overseas I would only use distilled.

The germane question for this thread, for those who say NOT to use tap water at least, is what "damage" will the tap water do to the machine.

You bring up two points about your tap water:

• Your tap water has "floating particles" (at least when used in a dehumidifier setup)
• Foreign tape water is verboten; but why? (I presume you intimate foreign tap water contains deadly bacteria and viruses?)

To take each of those (very different) guesses further, we'd have to ask you WHAT you think those "floating particles" are.

Do you think the "floating particles" came with the tap water?
If so, wouldn't they float in any container (not just in a humidifier?).

Do you think the "floating particles" are bacterial mats, or perhaps mats of dust?
If so, we might ask temperature and dust conditions where you put your humidifier (since we might assume they "only" show up in the humidifier).

With respect to the "foreign water", certainly we all would be suspicious of the bacterial and viral load, depending on the country.
If the "foreign water" is filled with, for example, the typhus or cholera bacteria, I'm sure we wouldn't want to drink it - nor even aspirate it.
[Although, we'd have to look up if water-borne organisms can transmit their respective diseases simply by aspiration.]

So, before we take your comments further, what exactly are you worried about with the "floating particles" and "foreign water"?

[egzbuen]

I am a 10yr veteran of the CPAP wars, with 100% compliance. I think this qualifies me to express the considered opinion that chlorinated tap water eats through aluminum water reservoir parts. Have replaced a few.
Y

Thanks for sharing your experience. I didn't even consider the chlorinated part of using tap water. Your input is much appreciated.

I hope, being a 10yr cpap veteran, you or your personal experience don't get shot down with sarcasm like how I got treated here.

I stick to distilled water. Have used tap water before but only when it's all I have. Put tap water in your humidifier use it for a few days. The little floating particles will make you want to use distilled. If I was going overseas I would only use distilled.

The germane question for this thread, for those who say NOT to use tap water at least, is what "damage" will the tap water do to the machine.

You bring up two points about your tap water:

• Your tap water has "floating particles" (at least when used in a dehumidifier setup)
• Foreign tape water is verboten; but why? (I presume you intimate foreign tap water contains deadly bacteria and viruses?)

To take each of those (very different) guesses further, we'd have to ask you WHAT you think those "floating particles" are.

Do you think the "floating particles" came with the tap water?
If so, wouldn't they float in any container (not just in a humidifier?).

Do you think the "floating particles" are bacterial mats, or perhaps mats of dust?
If so, we might ask temperature and dust conditions where you put your humidifier (since we might assume they "only" show up in the humidifier).

With respect to the "foreign water", certainly we all would be suspicious of the bacterial and viral load, depending on the country.
If the "foreign water" is filled with, for example, the typhus or cholera bacteria, I'm sure we wouldn't want to drink it - nor even aspirate it.
[Although, we'd have to look up if water-borne organisms can transmit their respective diseases simply by aspiration.]

So, before we take your comments further, what exactly are you worried about with the "floating particles" and "foreign water"?

I like how you phrase your questions (they sound like written interrogatories) , plus, considering your handle name, any chance that your a lawyer as well mate?



Sent from hell

[VictorC]

Cardsfan, I live near you, and I have used tap water in two places in the Metro East. It is perfectly fine to use. So far my machine has not suffered any damage. You will have mineral build up in the humidifier chamber, but that is the only issue you'll face. Descale it like you would a water kettle or coffee maker, and you're good to go.

[Uncle_Bob]

Cardsfan, I live near you, and I have used tap water in two places in the Metro East. It is perfectly fine to use. So far my machine has not suffered any damage. You will have mineral build up in the humidifier chamber, but that is the only issue you'll face. Descale it like you would a water kettle or coffee maker, and you're good to go.

Distilled water 80¢ 1 GAL at most grocery stores. No descaling required.

Thank you

~UB

[palerider]

Distilled water 80¢ 1 GAL at most grocery stores. No descaling required.

Thank you

~UB

perhaps you missed where the OP said:

I don't want to have to buy anything and haul it in and out of at least 20 different hotels in the next month. (long journey, many hotels). Using the water from the faucet would be ideal if it is safe to do.

no, thank YOU.

[Uncle_Bob]

considering your handle name, any chance that your a lawyer as well mate?

Sent from hell

Is there any chance you could start to use "you're" instead of "your"?
Or has the tap water gone to your head?

[Uncle_Bob]

Distilled water 80¢ 1 GAL at most grocery stores. No descaling required.

Thank you

~UB

perhaps you missed where the OP said:

I don't want to have to buy anything and haul it in and out of at least 20 different hotels in the next month. (long journey, many hotels). Using the water from the faucet would be ideal if it is safe to do.

no, thank YOU.

In which case I would just find some powered disinfectant for occasional tank cleaning. Otherwise why not go without a machine humidifier and maybe just use a small room humidifier?

[egzbuen]

considering your handle name, any chance that your a lawyer as well mate?

Sent from hell

Is there any chance you could start to use "you're" instead of "your"?
Or has the tap water gone to your head?

Two things: it's either the tap water in my head or that's just the auto correct kicking in while using tapatalk and the lack of tap water in your own head is making you nitpick on everything that you see and prevents you from realizing that possibility.

Sent from hell

[palerider]

In which case I would just find some powered disinfectant for occasional tank cleaning. Otherwise why not go without a machine humidifier and maybe just use a small room humidifier?

now, that's an interesting question... with interesting components...

why do people not think twice about using tap water in room humidifiers, many of which actually throw up droplets of water, instead of just vapor, so water quality is actually *more* important in a room humidifier...

but perhaps cardsfan doesn't want to wag around a room humidifier...

also many people need more humidity on their cpap than a room humidifier would provide... some folks (can't speak for cardsfan) like swamplike humidity for their cpap air...

the simplest thing to do is just fill the reservoir with tap water and clean the thing, if necessary, when the long trip is over.

[Pugsy]

some folks (can't speak for cardsfan) like swamplike humidity for their cpap air...

I think he is probably thinking of me... and while I do like LOTS of moisture the swamplike thing really isn't true...swamplike to me is HOT and humid and I don't really like the HOT part.
That's why I love a heated hose so much. Sounds weird but I actually can get what I need in terms of moisture without having to crank up the heat so much. Now without a heated hose a person has to crank of the heat which will of course warm the air and there is more chance to get that HOT part of swamplike.
Right now my S9 heated hose is set to 74 degrees and that doesn't feel warm to me at all.
Now in the winter that's a different story and I want some more warmth because my house is usually on the cold side.

the simplest thing to do is just fill the reservoir with tap water and clean the thing, if necessary, when the long trip is over.

What PR says is correct. It's the simplest way to do things and it's not dangerous to the machine or the person.

The only time tap water will harm the mechanics of the machine or humidifier is if the water gets inside the mechanics and that holds true distilled tap water too. The water is the last thing the air moves over before entering the hose. There's nothing to clog up in the hose at this point and there's no way for the water to go backwards into the mechanics short of spilling/jostling the whole unit.

Mineral build up in the chamber itself...won't hurt the machine or humidifier. It doesn't affect the mechanical components and can't go backwards into the mechanical components. We are talking specifically about harming the machine part of things. As to whether mineral buildup is harmful itself...that's a totally different discussion and not related to the original question from cardsfan. 30 days of tap water may or may not even cause much mineral build up in the first place to even warrant a special cleaning to descale the inside of the chamber. It all depends on the mineral level of the water used and that can vary a lot from place to place.

Now if someone is a really bugged out by the mineral build up or worrying about cooties in the tap water and they want to go to the extra trouble of buying distilled and toting it around or buying new at every location then they are certainly within their rights to do so and if doing so eases their mind so much that it greatly affects their own personal sleep...by all means do what you feel is best for you but there are lots of people using only plain tap water all the time in the humidifiers for any number of reasons and the worst thing is having to clean the chamber more often or simply replace it.

The original question was "will it harm the machine itself" and I take that to mean the blower or humidifier and the answer is "no" because those mineral deposits (if they even happen) can't go backwards into the machine itself. Even if the tap water was laden with all sorts of cooties...those cooties can't harm the mechanics of the machine. In general in the US, where we assume cardsfan will be traveling because she didn't mention going to Mexico or something like that, if you can drink the tap water then it is safe to use in the humidifier and the worst thing that will happen is the mineral buildup.

If someone spills water into the electronics...even distilled water won't save your ass if that happens but that's not what OP was asking about anyway.

[crushing]

I used tap water for a long time. Water here is hard. If I didn't fill the tank enough and all of the water was used, I would get deposits left in the tank. It was a pain to clean.

Something that no one has mentioned that I experienced was that the hose slowly had build up on the inside. The hose I have is heated and over time there was a build up of white material on the inside. Assuming it was minerals from the tap water.

I bought a hose cleaning brush and cleaned it out and it is fine now.

My machine ended up breaking so I got a new one, but it did seem to me that when the deposit buildup was pretty thick in the tank, the humidifier did not work as well. I can't prove it and it might have been related to the machine going bad.

[andycole]

how about "purified water" like Dasani (spelling?). Available in many vending machines.

[Julie]

Distilled is cheaper and there are potentially problematic things in 'purified' water - it won't hurt you, but it could cause eventual build-up in the humidifier.

[archangle]

First off, stop and think a bit.

If the water is safe to drink, bathe, and shower in, it seems obvious to me that breathing air that blows across it is not going to be hazardous to your health, at least when the water is fresh.

Many parts of the world don't have readily available distilled water, and CPAP users have no big problems using tap water.

Risks:

If the tap water does do damage to your equipment, it would just be to the water tank, which is fairly inexpensive to replace. Check it for deposits and damage, and clean or replace as necessary. Make sure it's not nasty before you refill it.

Germs: Drinkable water should be "germ" safe when you put it in the tank. Germs might multiply if you leave the water in the tank too long, so dump it every morning and clean the tank if you use non-distilled water. This also helps prevent mineral buildup.

Some tap water stinks a bit. Once again, if it's safe to drink, it's probably safe to inhale the fumes.

[palerider]

some folks (can't speak for cardsfan) like swamplike humidity for their cpap air...

I think he is probably thinking of me... and while I do like LOTS of moisture the swamplike thing really isn't true...swamplike to me is HOT and humid and I don't really like the HOT part.

among others, yes and who says there can't be a cool swamp? (can there?)