water n the humidifier water tank

[boscov]

Can anyone tell why we should use distllled water in the humidifier water tank?
Bosco - BRAZIL

[6PtStar]

Because nothing grows in distilled water. If you use tap water it will evaporate out minerals and leave a hard white deposit in the tank. It has also been reported that those not using distilled water have found mold and a pink looking fungus growing in the tank. Distilled water is just a better idea.

Jerry

[Babette]

I rarely clean my humidifier tank. Like, MAYBE twice a year. Nothing has ever grown in mine, no pink slime, no calcium deposits, nada. And that's for all 3 of my machines. The only reason I ever clean my tank is just because I'm doing some kind of giant cleaning and feel the need to add that.

I just add more water every night, and I'm good to go. But I ALWAYS use Distilled water.

Except when I'm travelling. Then I use tap water, and immediately clean the tank when I get home.

Cheers,
Barbara

[LinkC]

Only to keep mineral deposits from crusting up your tank.

If your tap water is clean enough to drink, it's fine, as long as you rinse the tank out often.

[rjjayrt]

The real reason is because the makers of the equipment in order to protect themselves suggest that distilled water be used. I agree that if your not sure of your tap water you should probably have it checked before using it. What ever is in your water will go to your lungs and to the equipment (could have mineral deposits ect). If you must or want to use tap water and your not sure of it, then boil it for 10 to 15 minutes, let it cool, bottle it and use it.

[LinkC]

[quote="rjjayrt"]What ever is in your water will go to your lungs and to the equipment (could have mineral deposits ect). /quote]

Mineral deposits will NOT get into your lungs via vaporized water. That's why they build up in the tank--they get left behind during vaporization! Bacteria from the water COULD become airborne...but if you're drinking the tap water, you're getting it anyway.

[tillymarigold]

If you must or want to use tap water and your not sure of it, then boil it for 10 to 15 minutes, let it cool, bottle it and use it.

I emphatically disagree. Boiling makes water evaporate, which means that the end result is that you have *less* water relative to the number of mineral deposits, or to put it another way, boiled water has more mineral deposits in the same volume of water. Boiling will kill anything potentially harmful that's growing in it, but if you don't need to boil it to drink it, then you don't need to boil it to breathe it.

If you can't get distilled and your tap water isn't safe to drink [I lived in Ecuador, which borders Brazil, for awhile, and I know you can't drink the tap water in Ecuador at all], buy a bottled water that does *not* have a lot of minerals in it ... cheaper bottled waters are usually better. Dasani or Aquafina is pretty good; Evian is really bad. But you have to clean the tank out a lot more often if you don't use distilled water ... mine gets white deposits after about 3-4 days of non-distilled water (whether I empty it or not).

[Sleeprider]

I have been doing this for a while now, and do not use distilled water. I discard unused water so minerals do not accumulate. I have never had mineral deposits or whatever pink mold others have claimed. Drinking water is always filtered and usually disinfected. Mineral content varies a great deal depending on whether its a surface water or ground water source, and the quality. and organic content is negligible in most U.S. tap-water. The growth of organisms can be supported in distilled or tap water, and is prevented by frequent exchanged or drying or disinfecting. In my opinion, using a good tap water source is just as safe as distilled, and perhaps safer if you empty and exchange the water chamber daily.

[Gerryk]

I only used distilled water when I first started simply because that's what I was told to do and also because I am on a well. I would empty the humidifier every morning and rinse it out since most of the water was gone anyway. Then when I started to see how much distilled water I was going through, I tried tap water. I do have an iron curtain and a water softner and didn't have a problem with using my tap water. Two times since in the past year I forgot to add salt to the water softner and I started to get sime deposits in my chamber. I added salt to the water softner immediately and soaked the chamber in white vinegar and it looked like new. This past spring I had surgery and coudln't lift the salt bags to get them into the water softer so I just went without for a few weeks. This time my humidifer chamber got a lot more build up and started to show red from the iron deposits. Well it cleaned up pretty good but doesn't look like new by using white vinegar and also something very similar to CLR. But I rinsed the chamber very good and let it dry between using the two chemical and also let it air out real good before I used it.
Again the chamber didn't look like brand new but it is over a year old.

I am sticking with my well water and not spending the money on the distilled water.

Gerry

[cv66er]

If you must or want to use tap water and your not sure of it, then boil it for 10 to 15 minutes, let it cool, bottle it and use it.

I emphatically disagree. Boiling makes water evaporate, which means that the end result is that you have *less* water relative to the number of mineral deposits

Some people have what is called temporary hardness of water. If you boil it and let it cool, the minerals precipitate out and settle to the bottom, leaving much purer water. Ours was like that when I was a kid in Western Pennsylvania. Straight from the tap, it was clear but awful tasting. Boil it and let it set, and an orange sediment would cloud the water and settle out. What was left was much better.