Boiled tap water OK?

[mild6]

Getting distilled water is quite a hassle for me. Is it ok to use boiled tap water for my humidifier?

[Handgunner45]

It won't do you any harm, as anything that is bad that might vaporize in the humidifier will be boiled away, however, by boiling you will concentrate any minerals or solid contaminants in the water that is left. This could be detrimental to you humidifier.


Just my opinion!!!!!!

[path2others]

Do you have a dehumidifer? The water from there would have less minerals than the tap water. I think filtering water with a Brita or other system takes some of the minerals out but I don't know if it will be enough to protect the machine. (IMHO)

[mild6]

so, it won't create a negative impact on my health but the humidifier? in that case, i just use boiled water and see how long the humdifier will last then.

[Swordz]

Literally water is water, but to be safe and keep equipment from any detrimental effects from tapwater, get the distilled.

You can get a gallon from the evil superstore I shall not mention for 49cents a gallon.

[Linda3032]

Your humidifier would last about as long as an iron that is used for 8 hours every day with boiled water. I bet that's not too long, and a humidifier costs about 4 times what an iron does.

[Gidgie]

The point of using distilled water in your humidifier is to save it from scale buildup.....thus keeping it functioning longer and in better condition. All water becomes purified when it is vaporized, and were it to precipitate out as in 'rainout' it would thus be distilled. I distill my own, as buying distilled water entails a 100 mile round trip to the nearest drugstore. My distiller, a countertop model, simply heats the water to near boiling, then cools the steam thus produced to where it precipitates out, and drips into a collection jug........same principal as a moonshine still.......(The sales people I dealt with did point out that ONLY water was to be used, tho)

[mild6]

cost is not of my major concern. i live in a tiny apartment in hong kong, where space is notoriously limited. i wish i could win a lottery and buy a bigger apartment

[Guest]

Do you have a dehumidifer? The water from there would have less minerals than the tap water. (IMHO)

You can't be serious. While water in a dehumidifier unit will likely not have the minerals and sediments in it, I can't imagine that the water collected through this process would be very sanitary. I've got a dehumidifier running in my closet; I wouldn't think of drinking that water. And if I wont' drink it, it's not going in my nose.

[reval]

I use tap water without boiling it. I refresh the water in the humidifier tank every day and clean it once in a while. After a year the humidifier still looks as new. The tap water in my area has a relatively low mineral content though.

[DaveMunson]

I figured that I would point out some thing: I use water from my well. No boiling. No special botled water. No filters. I don't wash the humidifier every day. I don't get sediment in it.

I will note that my water is better than most other places (regular tests).


Any one remember growing up with good water from their tap?

[dvejr]

Mild6:
best: distilled water
if you must: tap water
why even think about it: boiled water

boiling tap water makes it worse, not better, for your humidifier !

[Guest]

if you use regular water (anything not distilled) and do get soem mineral buildup. just try filling your humifier chamber with some white vinegar and letting it soak for a couple of hours. this works pretty good for me, i use my tap water which is from a well and has lots of minerals. I do this soak once a month and all of the built-up minerals are just dissolved away.

[brasshopper]

People boil water for a couple reasons:

They get an alert from their water company that there might be bacteria in the water - or, they know that their water is contaminated, generally with bacteria or viruses or protozoa. Boiling will kill most of the bad things. This makes sense - third world countries could eliminate a lot of water borne diseases if people in areas where water supplies are impure boiled their water.

They are superstitious. Seriously, there are superstitious people who believe that boiling water somehow drives out evil humors or whatever from the water - there is a popular radio personality who always drinks boiled water for this reason.

There is another reason for boiling water - it is contaminated with light, soluible liquid or gas that can be driven out by boiling - for example, if you happened to have vodka in your water, boiling it enough to drive the alcohol out might leave you with water that is more pure - the problem is that this does not work as well as you think it does. The removal of alcohol does not happen all at once before the water starts boiling.

I think that the reason for uaing demineralized water in humidifers is that some drinking water is fairly corrosive. I used to live in an area in Virginia near Richmond where the water had a PH that was as low as carbonated soda when it was fresh out of the tap. It would kill your aquarium fish, and it causes us constant plumbing trouble. Allowing the water to sit would result in the PH rising somewhat toward neutrality, after a while. The water tasted fine, but I'm sure it would have eaten the thin metal plate in a humidifier pretty quickly - we went through irons quickly until we switched to distilled. I'm fairly sure that this water had a lot of dissolved CO2 in it. It might have had other issues. It was a small private water supply - a block well - we (6 houses) all paid a company a small amount on a monthly basis to supply it with electricty, to repair the pump and the common pipes, and to test it. It was not chlorinated and was said to be safe, we got 4 test reports per year) - I do not believe it made me sick when I was drinking it, although a number of times I ended up crawling under the house to replace pipe sections.

There are also water supplies that are very high in alkaline minerals. These can collect, clog things, and will also be somewhat corrosive, depending on the mineral.

Now, the company that makes your humidifier does not know what you have coming from your tap. Bottled demineralized or distilled water, however, is more or less standard, so they can safely recommend it and you can use it anywhere.

The plate is probably anodized and nice and shiny, Chances are high that you will see a discoloration in the plate before it ets a hole through it, so as long as it is shiny you can probably ignore it. If it gets discolored you can order a new one and leave it in the back of your closet until it starts leaking.

I've drunk Hong Kong water without getting sick but that does not mean much - you probably know what your city water is like a lot better than we do. Many people don't believe that germs in water can contaminate the person breathing the vapor, and I am fairly sure that as long as it is just vapor breathed, that you can't get germs from vapor. Some vaporizers can cause the water to splash - and some have baffles and so forth so that splashing won't happen - I think that if the water is not allowed to dry out and as long as it does not splash into the hose, chance of infection is infintesimal.

They could make the plate thick and it would be a lot more impervious to damage - although it might take a lot longer to adjust to the setting because the thick metal would hold more heat. Can anyone guess why they they don't make the plate thick?

[WallyGator]

I travel all the time so I just use tap water from the hotel sink and at home as well. In five years I've only gone through 3 water chambers with monthly washouts with a couple drops of dish soap. Not too bad. They probably don't stay as nice looking as they might otherwise but they always seem to work fine.