lowest it's been so far/question about water

[sleepymama]

lol i guess that came out wrong. distilled water costs more then spring water here. you can only find it at certain places as well. everywhere offers spring though.
i am more or less worried about forgetting to change the water too. i have used the mask 3 times and haven't cleaned it yet however i have dumped the water every morning. only problem is that when i go to nap during the day i don't use it cause i've already dumped the water and dont' want to waste more water on 1hr nap or more.
i start back at work and the routines around here are going to be started up again including my daughters extra curricular. then i think i may end up forgetting about the water and leaving it. just wanted to make sure i wouldn't get sick from it. thank you all for your suggestions. when u clean with the vinegar what is the ratio to water? do you let it sit? do you clean the plastic water tank in the humidifier or just the mask/hose.

[JohnBFisher]

... when u clean with the vinegar what is the ratio to water? do you let it sit? do you clean the plastic water tank in the humidifier or just the mask/hose. ...

LOL! For an engineer, I tend to be very un-engineerish when it comes to cooking or to cleaning my xPAP unit.

The official recipe for my vinegar to water ratio is a "splash". Yup. I add enough so I can smell it, but not so much that I'll think it's a salad when I use it the next night. :^) It just takes a little bit to help sterilize the stuff.

When I clean my unit, I clean the tank, the hose and the mask. Most of the tanks come apart to allow cleaning. Be careful not to "force" anything. But if not, you can just swish the water around. You actually do NOT want to scrub the tank / hose / mask. The smooth plastic surface is best. A scratched surface provides a foothold area for bacteria.

Hope that official recipe helps.

[KatieW]

We use well water, and it is very hard, so I have to use distilled water in my steam iron. So in the morning, I take the leftover distilled water in the humidifier, and pour it into a 1 gal jug, for use in my steam iron. I'm a quilter, so use the steam iron lots.

Also, I have kept track of how much water the humidifier usually uses, so I only put in enough to have a few ounces left over in the morning.

[sleepymama]

do u fill it up to the min. line katie?
lol john

[BlackSpinner]

lwhen u clean with the vinegar what is the ratio to water? do you let it sit? do you clean the plastic water tank in the humidifier or just the mask/hose.

The thing should have come with a bright yellow bird like top. The indent in it is used to measure the vinegar and pour it in. add water to fill, put the yellow banana bird onto the humidifier tank and shake shake like Carmen Miranda!

[Jaylee]

I was my tank once a week when I do the mask and filter. Even doing that, I found pink stuff growing in my tank once. Yuck! Now I clean it with a toothbrush once a week.

[sleepymama]

u change your filter once a week jaime?

[jdm2857]

I fill the water a little higher than the max level mark on the tank.

Careful with that. If water gets into the xPAP, it can seriously damage the machine.

[LSAT]

If cost of distilled water is a factor...use the boiled water from a tea kettle. Cool it and fill the humidifier. It's not completely distilled...but close to it.

[Jaylee]

u change your filter once a week jaime?

No, I wash it. I replace the white ones as needed. I can generally go a while on those because I don't generate a lot of dust in my room, it seems.

[Jaylee]

u change your filter once a week jaime?

Can I also just say that I love you for always spelling my name right?

[DreamOn]

I use distilled water, which I make from tap water using a distiller machine that I purchased at Sears quite a few years ago. I distill a gallon of water about once a month or so and store it in a covered jug (that held store-bought distilled water) near the CPAP machine.

I top off the humidifier water daily, and I empty it completely every week or two. In the 10+ months that I've used CPAP, the water's always appeared crystal clear in the humidifier, with zero slime or evidence of bacterial/fungal growth. Ditto with the hose, which I rarely clean. I wash my mask cushion/nasal pillows daily using green (original, not scented) Palmolive dishwashing liquid, putting a dab of it on my fingers and mixing with warm water before rubbing it on. So far, no illnesses.

[lbw]

You do need to empty daily. I have the same equipment and mask. I have the humidity set at 4. Even with the water to the first mark only I don't use all the water. Use distilled water for your machine. If you don't change the water daily you can run into problems like the other responses suggests

[sleepymama]

is it possible to empty the humidifier into a jar and keep it until the night again? almost like leaving it in the humidifier but your not throwing it out.
it's ingrained in my mind jaime lol

[jdm2857]

If cost of distilled water is a factor...use the boiled water from a tea kettle. Cool it and fill the humidifier. It's not completely distilled...but close to it.

While that process will kill most microorganisms in the water, and should reduce the level of any VOCs, it will do nothing to reduct the mineral content.

is it possible to empty the humidifier into a jar and keep it until the night again? almost like leaving it in the humidifier but your not throwing it out.
it's ingrained in my mind jaime lol

The problem with this idea is that if something is growing in the water, you will transfer it to the other container and then back to the humidifier. You could, however, boil it as suggested above...