Travel questions

jeaton32 · Post by **jeaton32** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 12:20 pm

Hi. I'm relatively new to the cpap (about a month and a half) and will be embarking on some international travel later this year. I have two questions that some folks might be able to answer:

Should one bother taking distilled water with them or is it easily purchased in European countries (specifically, Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK)?

The overnight flight to Europe is on a plane which I believe has a standard North American power plug at each seat. Has anyone actually ever used their cpap while in flight? It would seem to me that it's possible (just put it on the seatback tray and snooze away!)

Thanks

tangents · Post by **tangents** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 11:28 am

Jeaton32,

Sorry, I don't have any advice for you - but I'll bump up your question so someone else can chime in.

Good luck, and happy trails!
Cathy

Jeb · Post by **Jeb** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 11:37 am

I'm a little surprised that no one has chimed in here. I'm sure you'll get other replies soon.

I travel to Japan 2 - 3 times per year. I do not take distilled water with me as I really don't want the added weight and possibility of having my clothing soaked should the container burst! I have not looked all that hard, but it seems to me that distilled water isn't readily available in Japan. I use tap water while in Japan.

I have never attempted to use my CPAP on the flight. I thought that I read here somewhere that the airline will not allow you as they do not want to be responsible should the power outlet not function properly. They do not want the liability.

tangents · Post by **tangents** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 3:08 pm

Jeaton32,

I have never attempted to use my cpap on a flight, but I searched through some old threads, because I know this has been discussed a lot on this board.

Here's a thread you can read. I hope it helps.

viewtopic.php?t=32045

Here's another that gives a bunch of thread links for battery powered cpap.

viewtopic.php?t=9682

Take care,
Cathy

jeaton32 · Post by **jeaton32** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 7:52 am

Thanks for your comments. I was interested to see that Jeb uses tap water. I had just accepted as fact that one has to use distilled water in their unit. Do others agree that it isn't necessary to use distilled water exclusively?

Thanks for the comments
John

Jeb · Post by **Jeb** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 8:21 am

Don't get me wrong. I use distilled water at home and on the road here in the U.S. But when I cannot find it (in Japan for example) then I use tap.

tangents · Post by **tangents** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 11:00 am

When I travel, I buy bottled water of the "purified" variety, rather than the "spring" variety. But I agree that tap water is OK for short durations, followed by a good cleaning.

Goofproof · Post by **Goofproof** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 11:21 am

If you can afford international travel, the cost of a replacement HH tank shouldn't be a problem. Except, maybe for the $4+ for gas to pick it up.

It can be cleaned easily, anyway, as long as you don't do it all the time. The less we have to drag around the better. The FAA might think you are carrying Nitro. Jim

SleepGuy · Post by **SleepGuy** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 11:26 am

Life is way too short for me to worry about distilled water when I travel.

I use bottled drinking water. It may have a bit of mineral in it but I've never even noticed a problem. Even if there's a little mineralization, it's easy to clean up.

At home I use R/O water from my filter. No minerals in that stuff.