Descaling humidifier using lemon? Tips please!

[Goofproof]

There is a reason Bottled water isn't called Distilled Water, it because it isn't, DUH! Jim

Distilled Water is H's, 2's, and O's, Bottled Water is Anything they can get in the bottle!

There are no 2's in water, just twice as many hydrogens as oxygens.

Maybe you are buying the wrong water, mine comes with 2's it's printed on the label! Jim

[Goofproof]

Many people in the US don't realise that getting the kind of distilled water that's safe to use and which they can buy easily and cheaply is very, very expensive over here.

I thought the secret formula was out! Pss! You take clean water, boil it until you get steam, then cool the steam, it will turn into Distilled Water, pour it into a clean jug.

After you get done, you can use the same setup to distill Spirits, which is much more satisfying if done correctly. Jim

[kipster]

Thanks for all the responses.

To clarify: I’m using bottled mineral water because that was what the sleep technician suggested I do. And I now want to get rid of the limescale, because that’s what he suggested I do.

I think he suggested lemon as it smells better than vinegar. Doesn’t the smell of vinegar really linger even if you rinse it really well?!

Thanks rick blaine for the cleaning tip - I do love Lakeland!

[Goofproof]

Thanks for all the responses.

To clarify: I’m using bottled mineral water because that was what the sleep technician suggested I do. And I now want to get rid of the limescale, because that’s what he suggested I do.

I think he suggested lemon as it smells better than vinegar. Doesn’t the smell of vinegar really linger even if you rinse it really well?!

Thanks rick blaine for the cleaning tip - I do love Lakeland!

It will leave a smell, but I read the books and used distilled water as it what's supposed to be used, now I do even better after 11 years I stopped using me HH period, I drink my ice water in bed as needed. Making life simple one day at a time. Jim

My HH tank broke from being cleaned, I got a new tank, and never had to open it up again, it's 12 years old and still works. Never cleaned it.

[ChicagoGranny]

I think he suggested lemon as it smells better than vinegar. Doesn’t the smell of vinegar really linger even if you rinse it really well?!

Vinegar is cheaper and requires less of the earth's resources. I never had a problem with lingering odor in my coffee maker. Rinses easily.

To those bragging about using 100% (retail grade) vinegar, it is not necessary. Diluted with 50%, or even 70%, water works just as well. You might need to let it sit a few minutes longer if the scale is heavy. Think about the environment. 100% vinegar requires more apples, more transportation, more energy to process and more treatment in the waste water plant.

[Pugsy]

I think he suggested lemon as it smells better than vinegar. Doesn’t the smell of vinegar really linger even if you rinse it really well?!

yeah...vinegar smell lingers and seems to linger especially longer for those of us that think vinegar stinks to high heaven.

I love pickles but I think vinegar stinks something awful and seems like no matter how much I rinse it...it lasts a long time.

Try the lemon...it does smell a lot better.

Let me share a little story about the vinegar thing.
Some time back I had a chance to sell one of my personal machines...and the water chamber had a very small amount of lime scale build up on it. So I used the vinegar soak thing and rinsed and rinsed and rinsed and rinsed it because I think vinegar stinks to high heaven.
I thought it was all gone...the stink anyway.
We also use a wood fireplace in the winter and I was a bit concerned that the wood smoke odor might offend the new owner so I kept asking her if the machine had an odor that she didn't like.

She told me "no, I don't notice anything unpleasant but every now and then it smells faintly like pickles".
She told me it did that for 2 months...just occasionally she got a whiff of pickles.

If a person doesn't like vinegar odor...don't use it unless there is no other option because it can be hard to get rid of the stink.
Now if a person actually likes the vinegar odor...hey use it as it works great for removing limescale.

[kipster]

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?

[kipster]

Pugsy - thanks for sharing. That’s what I’ve been worried about - I hate the smell of vinegar!

[ChicagoGranny]

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?

Each individual needs to experiment with the humidifier settings. For some people, a humidifier setting that is high will CAUSE nasal congestion.

[ChicagoGranny]

Pugsy - thanks for sharing. That’s what I’ve been worried about - I hate the smell of vinegar!

That's a difference in people. I love vinegar - salads, french fries, fried fish, pickles. Gramps brought home some vinegar and salt potato chips. We both loved them, but the grandkids did not.

[Goofproof]

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?

That's what's wrong your machine is too new, the kid that wrote our manual slept in the back of a DME warehouse! No wonder he didn't know what water was. Jim

[kipster]

Chicago Granny - yes, I’m playing around a bit with humidifier settings but haven’t managed to get it right yet. I hadn’t realised that not using the humidifier was an option, actually, so that’s good to know. I’m getting through a lot of nasal spray at the moment!

[Pugsy]

Here's the deal about the water...at least for me.
I don't know what constitutes "mineral water" in the UK but it sounds like minerals are added to what I would normally refer to as bottled water...like the plain bottled water we drink.
We have a few products like that over here...bottled water with extra minerals because it's the extra minerals that seem to make it taste better.

I might use regular bottled water in my water chamber but I wouldn't be using any bottled water that has had even more minerals added to it to increase flavor...because those same flavor minerals increase the limescale build up.
So I would expect to get some mineral build up with my regular bottled water but I would expect even more if I used one of the fancy mineral enhanced bottle water.

It's not the end of the world to have the limescale build up..it's normally easily removed or a person can even just replace the water chamber if it gets horribly yucky and they simply can't get it clean enough. I have only seen that once...it was a donated machine and I simply couldn't get the crud build up removed...it was set up like cement and the previous owner must have never ever cleaned it and used well water to boot. Straight vinegar soak for days didn't budge it. Gross....

[palerider]

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

That's what I've heard.... and point out to the people in the USA that are rabid about *having* to use distilled... lol.

[palerider]

Straight vinegar soak for days didn't budge it. Gross....

If you ever come across another one like that, try *HOT/boiling vinegar*...

I had a kettle that I'd been using for several years, and it had a fair amount of scale and crud in it.

A friend came over, poured in some vinegar, and turned on the kettle... a few minutes later, it was clean as new.

I was, frankly, amazed.

I think the frog said something like that earlier too.