Anyone still up?...Need answer ASAP!

MissAmethyst2U · Post by **MissAmethyst2U** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 12:09 am

OK my allergies are acting up bad and i cant sleep I am all stuffed up I want to use my humidifier tonight as I normally dont use it but I have no distilled water I only have spring water can I use that for just tonight? I need SLEEP! also I have a heated humidifier but even on its lowest setting its too warm for me (I have asthma seems to bother it) is it ok to not plug up the humidifier and use it as a passover humidifier will it work for that? I have the PB420 CPAP and the Goodknight humidifier...

dsm · Post by **dsm** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 2:17 am

One use of spring water (or very good quality tap water) will be no problem (I've been using boiled tap water for 3 months).

Spring water does have some very insignificant salts in it but nothing to worry about for a one night use.

Also a h/h is usually far too small to function as a passover humidifier. You can try it but I doubt you will notice it - can you start with warmishwater ?.

Good luck

DSM

MissAmethyst2U · Post by **MissAmethyst2U** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 12:28 pm

Hey thanks for the reply I stayed up for about 30 more mins but finally remembered about my FF mask I have that had been put up after a few tries LOL. I got that out didnt use the humidifier and I took an allergy pill well I slept for about 4 hours with the FF mask and actually had no problems with it besides a few leaks when I turned on my side. When I woke up my allergy med had kicked in and I switched to my CC and lordy it must make a HUGE difference cause I had the day off today and well I switched to my CC about 8am and didnt wake up til 2pm! (I think a lot of it had to do with my parents are out of town and my sis is working so the house is way too quiet! LOL...Thanks!

tomjax · Post by **tomjax** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 12:52 pm

[quote="dsm"]One use of spring water (or very good quality tap water) will be no problem (I've been using boiled tap water for 3 months).

Why would you boil tap water?
No way for pathogens to get into the vapor.

lynn · Post by **lynn** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 1:28 pm

Hi Tomjax - funny picture!

Don't know that that's true about not needing to boil water. Even distilled H2O is not sterile H2O. I asked my microbiology professor friend about that and posted it a while back when we were talking about cleaning humid. tanks. Here's what she said back then....

"... the water molecules can piggy-back on each other so that they are then large enough for the bacteria or virus to "ride" on them in the vapor. She would suggest washing and drying the humidifier reservoir no less than every other day, change distilled water daily, and she liked the idea of putting it in the top rack of the dishwasher once a week. She said if you became lax about this, she'd be concerned..."

For whatever it's worth! Tap water in lieu of distilled can't hurt for a day or two...

lynn

p.s. no i don't boil my distilled water but i do what she said above.

WAFlowers · Post by **WAFlowers** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 1:56 pm

Boiling tap water is also a good way to get "hardness" (calcium) to precipitate out of the water as it cools. Then just carefully pour or siphon off the water being sure to leave any precipitate that was on the bottom behind.

dsm · Post by **dsm** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 3:42 pm

tomjax wrote:
dsm wrote:One use of spring water (or very good quality tap water) will be no problem (I've been using boiled tap water for 3 months).

Why would you boil tap water?
No way for pathogens to get into the vapor.

In Sydney a few years back we had a big scare re Cryptosporidium in our water supply - claimed to be caused by dead dogs & wallabies drowning in the open canal that delivers water to a particular resevoir.

I like to believe I killed everything I could before I put that water in my h/h chamber.

I don't want to give the little blighters the slightest chance of holding parties in my h/h tank

DSM

derek · Post by **derek** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 4:03 pm

As far as I know, the only reason for using distilled water is to prevent the long term build up of mineral deposits (scale) on the walls of the humidifier. I don't believe it is for health reasons. When I travel I use tap water right out of the motel bathroom and tip out the remainder the next morning. I'm still here...

BP · Post by BP » Tue Sep 27, 2005 6:03 pm

Absolutely Derek, distilled water has the potential to have more little nasties in it than tap water. They put chlorine and other chemicals in our tap water to prevent such things. The problem with tap water in most places, is that it contains all kinds of minerals etc.. As Derek said this can create scale on the inside of your humidifier tank. But I would think this would be very easy to see on a clear plastic humidifier. I personally think once a week is fine for cleaning. Remember, the primary ingredient coming down the hose is room air, that has all kinds of junk in it. Just my two cents, but I think cleaning every day is overkill.

christinequilts · Post by **christinequilts** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 8:56 pm

derek wrote:As far as I know, the only reason for using distilled water is to prevent the long term build up of mineral deposits (scale) on the walls of the humidifier.

Its not the walls that are the problem...its the metal bottom. Mineral deposits can eventually eat through the bottom over time...and water getting into the heating unit its self is not a good idea...espeically in the middle of the night. I use distilled water 99% of the time, but when I travel I use regular bottled water. I don't trust tap water in most cities- too much chlorine and junk.

snork1 · Post by **snork1** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 9:00 pm

The main thing with using occasional tap water or "Spring water", is to make sure to put PLENTY of water in the resevoir so that it has absolutely NO chance of "boiling" dry. Distilled water is no big deal to end up with a dry tank, but I have heard several stories of tanks being ruined in one time of boiling dry with mineral laden water.

ozij · Post by **ozij** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 10:28 pm

The bottom of the H2O (PB humidifier) isn't metal. It'd coated with some other material.

O.

yawn · Post by **yawn** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 3:35 pm

So what's the answer here....should we be cleaning our tanks everyday?? I was doing that for a long time and then one night I didn't do a very good job putting the tank back together. It didn't seal properly and I had a little flood on the table in the morning. Since then, I never take the tank apart which means I never clean it now. Some very knowledgable people said they never take their tanks apart and some don't even dump the water out each day...they just add more water.

I personally used distilled water in my tank and I empty the tank every morning and let it dry. At night, I refill it with distilled water. I've actually been feeling sick for the past 2 weeks and am now wondering if the fact that I don't clean the tank everyday (or ever now) is maybe contributing to my not feeling well. Any thoughts??

Thanks...Amy

WAFlowers · Post by **WAFlowers** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 3:54 pm

Amy, most of the nasties need a damp environment to survive. If you emtpy your humidifier in the morning and let it air dry, that should be good for most of the time. Periodically a good, thorough cleaning should be done IMHO.

I don't know if this would make a difference for you, but it can't hurt and it might help. Try it!

snork1 · Post by **snork1** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 4:43 pm

I took a humidifier tank apart...once....
They are not MY engineering choice for a design for daily disassembly...but then very little in the CPAP world seems designed for daily disassembly.

Which is why I personally have NEVER taken a tank apart since that one time, BUT I do slosh around any leftover DISTILLED water and dump it out and air dry the tank. I generally don't take masks apart either, except I remove the clip from the swift to pop it open to better dry the silencer-mesh I have stuffed inside after washing it daily.

I also make sure I keep the air filters clean, and added an extra stage of filtration to the 420E since its stock filter is not good for stopping much of anything but large bugs. I cut up "electrostatic" heater register pads and add that on top of the 420E Sponge Bob filter.

Mask

Mask

Mask	Humidifier

Additional Comments: i love resmed stuff!