Distilled water

rjgreen · Post by **rjgreen** » Sun Sep 10, 2006 1:01 pm

I just love visiting this web site. When I first received my machine, I mentioned to wife that I needed distilled water for my unit. The reply was "How will it know if it is distilled water or not?" Please tell me if it is a must to use distilled water.

rjgreen

inacpapfog · Post by **inacpapfog** » Sun Sep 10, 2006 1:23 pm

Lots of opinions on that issue!
Personally, I use distilled water to keep my unit sparkling!
I have also read that there are lots of pap'ers using purified water with reportedly no problems!

rested gal · Post by **rested gal** » Sun Sep 10, 2006 1:25 pm

Distilled water will keep the water chamber of the humidifier cleaner. Tap water and even bottled water can leave scale on the inside of the water reservoir.

It's easy to find distilled water at grocery stores, WalMart, etc. The label will clearly say, "Distilled" in big letters. It usually costs less than a dollar for a gallon jug. If you don't dump it out of the humidifier each morning -- just add more to bring it up to the fill line each evening -- a gallon will last a long, long time.

linda b · Post by **linda b** » Sun Sep 10, 2006 1:26 pm

Distilled water can be found at places like Wal-Mart, the grocery store; sold in gallon jugs. It clearly states on the label that it is distilled water.

Ric · Post by **Ric** » Sun Sep 10, 2006 1:26 pm

Not only will "it" KNOW you are putting undistilled water in your HH, it will complain by leaving calcium deposits on the inside of the plastic reservoir. If this helps, you can also explain to your wife the subtle chemistry of how it is when water evaporates (as in your humidifier), that what is left, the dissolved calcium carbonates and a host of other things that are present in tap water will precipitate out and collect on the bottom and sides of the chamber. For what it's worth, that isn't generally a health problem, per se. However, if enough of it builds up inside it can reduce the heat transfer efficiency, and it won't work quite as well. Also, it will look "YUCKY". If that happens, you can sometimes dissolve it away by filling it with vinegar (which is mild acetic acid) and let it set for a day or so, that will dissolve most of it off. Some tap water is cleaner than others, but why risk it. Distilled water is pretty cheap.

If you've ever visited Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, you will see my point. They forgot to use distilled water (a million years ago), look what happened.

byront · Post by **byront** » Sun Sep 10, 2006 1:54 pm

I was using distilled water until just recently when I purchased a PUR water filter, and am now using that water. I am wondering if it will be as good as the distilled water? --- BT

Goofproof · Post by **Goofproof** » Sun Sep 10, 2006 1:58 pm

On a lot of the bottles it will say Steam Distilled, that's the same thing as distilled. Jim

DreamStalker · Post by **DreamStalker** » Sun Sep 10, 2006 2:30 pm

byront wrote:I was using distilled water until just recently when I purchased a PUR water filter, and am now using that water. I am wondering if it will be as good as the distilled water? --- BT

Distilled is better.

The purifier only takes out sediment and microbes down to a certain size ... if it has "activated" charcoal, it can also take out chlorine and most chlorinated organics. However, the charcoal filter must be replaced periodically ...if not, it may actually introduce more bacteria into to your water than it supposedly takes out of it.

You would need an osmosis system to get close to distilled.

snoregirl · Post by **snoregirl** » Sun Sep 10, 2006 2:58 pm

I also use distilled water for the reasons mentioned above.

But, if your water tank gets calcium deposits on it it can be replaced, cost depends on the model. Mine costs $25 (Remstar Auto). If $25 doesn't scare you you can uses tap water if you want an see just how long it takes to make it so you want to replace it.

christinequilts · Post by **christinequilts** » Sun Sep 10, 2006 3:18 pm

After a while of using non-distilled water, not only will the humidifier have icky mineral & calcium deposits, those mineral deposits can cause pitting in the aluminum bottom of the humidifier. In extreme cases, the pitting can lead to holes in the bottom of your humidfier chamber...and do you really want to wake up to puddle on your night stand? Or have to explain to your insurance company why you need a new heated humidifier because the old one shorted out when it was sitting in the puddle? For 58cents a gallon, distilled water is just not something scrimp on. An occasional night or two of regular bottle water or tap water is usually okay in a pinch- ie: when you're traveling- but not something you should make a habit of.

billbolton · Post by **billbolton** » Sun Sep 10, 2006 4:54 pm

rjgreen wrote:Please tell me if it is a must to use distilled water.

If you can readily get either distilled or "de-ionised" water, then it is a good plan to use it, as it will be easier to keep your Humidifier clean. Water collected from a domestic dehumidifier is also fine as it has been effectively distilled from the atmosphere (that is what I use at home)

However, if you are in a position where you can't easily get distilled water, such as when travelling, then using tap water is OK. How quickly any "tap" water supply will build up deposits on the inside of a Humidifier depends on how "hard" the local potable water source is.

When I travel on business, I just use whatever comes out of the potable water taps. When using tap water, every morning I rinse out the Humidifier with hot tap water and as far as possible wipe the heater plate with a face washer. Then every couple of weeks I fill the humidifier with a weak vinegar solution and let it sit for an hour or so.

I used to travel with a Resmed S7 + H2i and now travel with an S8 + H3i, and both humidifiers have been used for fairly lengthy periods of time with tap water, following the routine described above, with no ill effects at all to the Humidifier or me!

Cheers,
Bill

snoregirl · Post by **snoregirl** » Sun Sep 10, 2006 5:00 pm

Christine,

While I said I agree using distilled water is a good idea, please enlighten me as to how minerals are going to get out of the water chamber and onto the heating plate and cause damage??

The water gets heated because the metal plate on the base of the humidifier gets warm and transfers heat to the metal bottom of the water chamber thereby heating the water in the chamber (the $25 part). No water goes onto that warming base plate on the main humidifier. Water vapor gets picked up by the air that is blowing through the chamber.

Unless you let the chamber get in such sad condition that the minerals eat a hole in the chamber bottom and that allows mineralized water to leak on to the humidifier warming plate I fail to see how the damage you describe could ever happen thus creating more than $25 of damage (the chamber).

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Vader · Post by **Vader** » Sun Sep 10, 2006 5:20 pm

rjgreen wrote:Please tell me if it is a must to use distilled water.

Basically, everyone here has said this but, YEAH- you should use distilled water, because non-distilled will get your water resorvoir full of mineral deposits. If you do use tap water, clean it weekly with full strength white vinegar .

No other type of filtering will remove these minerals, including reverse osmosis.
So I would say, distilled only for a squeaky clean machine!
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GoofyUT · Post by **GoofyUT** » Sun Sep 10, 2006 5:35 pm

My girlfriend's mother is a alternative medicine/pure foods-water nut. She just sent my GF (who's NOT a hosehead, but is having a PSG in two weeks) a counter-top water distillation/purification machine. It cost nearly $500. We just figured out that, at the current price for distilled water at Albertson's of $0.69 a gallon, and my usage of about a gallon every three weeks, the machine will show a return on investment in about 30 YEARS!!! But I ain't complainin'!!! FREE distilleld water for the next three decades!

Cheers!!

Chuck

christinequilts · Post by **christinequilts** » Sun Sep 10, 2006 6:26 pm

Snoregirl-

It has to do with the minerals left from the water interacting with the aluminum base plate of most humidifier tanks- chem 111 was way too many years ago for me to understand specifics Think what acid rain does to metal and you get the idea. Tap water in general will cause some degree of pitting in the baseplate (at least with F&P HH- what I'm familar with). In some rare cases, over time, the pitting goes all the way through the baseplate. But even if it never gets to that point, I always think of all those little pits as being more places for bacteria & its buddies to hang up- ick!

I think it was more of problem a few years when I started on xPAP and Medicare, and therefore most other insurances, didn't cover replacement humidifier containers at all. People assumed they didn't need to be replaced, I guess...of course it wasn't that many years ago heated humidifiers were considered a 'comfort' item & not medically neccessary and now you rarely hear of someone not getting a HH with their new xPAP from their DME. Also remember there are still a lot of people who rely solely on their local DME and I can only imagine what the price of a replacement chamber would be then, but we both know it would be more then $25

The design of the humidifier chamber makes a difference too- the old standby F&P typically comes with a one piece design so you can't take it apart to clean it and really see what is happening up close (F&P does make a 2 piece humidifier container, but not many people use them when the container alone is around $100 here at cpap.com). F&P is nice enough to give you 2 chambers to start with, which most companies don't, but the inability to hands on clean the interior is a drawback.

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