Ever add anything to your humidifier water?

My brother says he sometimes puts a capful of top shelf single malt whiskey in his humidifier.
I think he is pulling my leg, as I know he'd much rather drink it.

I keep a jug of distilled H2O, to add to me HH, I buy it at the same place I buy my distilled water to fill my HH. Jim

Safety first, always add the H2O last, so it won't Crack the HH.

I like to keep some goldfish in my humidifier, they prevent the mosquito larvae from getting too developed.

Gasper62 wrote:I like to keep some goldfish in my humidifier, they prevent the mosquito larvae from getting too developed.

They can also eat the algae off the sides of the tank, when or if you clean the tank the water can be used as fertilizer for tomatoes, as can the goldfish when it dies. Jim

Reading these responses one thing i would think would be just terrible for the machine would be any type of salt. I could of course be wrong but wouldnt a salt / water / forced air environment be a great way to cultivate corrosion and or rust? Granted i doubt there are many metal parts inside the cpap machines because it seems like everything is made out of plastic but the motor / fan is bound to have some metal.

Somebody once suggested that salt water in the humidifier would help control microbes.
Considering the fact that seawater is ALIVE with living things, the idea is insane.

I will take the other side of this...

I love being at the ocean and find the breaking waves often put up a salt mist that is very refreshing. I add a small amount of salt to my humidifier water instead of using a saline nasal spray.

I should add a caution...

I have only been doing this for a little over 5 years now. I am still using my same machine and my same humidifier tank. The reports of damaging the machine and equipment are extremely over rated...

I will add that I have never spilled the salt water into my machine and that may cause more problems than simply spilling water into the machine. I am comfortable with this risk.

I do not suffer from nasal congestion. If I have a bit of a runny nose when I go to bed often it will be cleared up by morning. I "blame" that on the additional salt I have added to the humidifier water.

I use non iodized salt and add 1/8 teaspoon to 1 liter of water.

At our local sleep disorder meeting I discussed this with a pulmonologist and his comment was "What a great idea."

If you frequently spill water into your machine, don't do this.

If you never clean things, don't do this. I clean my humidifier tank weekly.

If you live in fear of the CPAP police, don't do this. It will add to your anxiety.

If you think the equipment manufacturer knows more than a pulmonologist, don't do this.

I could go on but I think you get my point. I wake up refreshed each morning and attribute part of that to adding a little salt to my humidifier water.

Adding "salt" to the water will do nothing for your nasal passages .... the water vaporizes and the salt remains in the humidifier .... :

https://www.google.com/search?q=boiling ... 8&oe=utf-8


and at that temperature it will cook you nasal passages!

Also the salt also increases the boiling point of water ... so the humidifier will be less effective . On the other hand ... it lowers the freezing point ... so if you are in Minnesota .. where it will be below zero tonight it might not freeze the water.

I am not a chemist so ... Lets see if some chemists chime in on this and correct me or add to it.

Actually in testing this solution some of the salt actually ends up in the aerosol provided by the machine.

The question is how much salt is needed to be therapeutic.

I have access to some sophisticated testing equipment and while the equipment manufactures suggest that water vapor is all that is produced with my equipment there is some aerosols formed and some of the salt actually makes it to my nose.

I have only verified the aerosol formation with the equipment that I am using, the ResMed S8, and the S9. I have not tested beyond that so other equipment may give different results.

I would not add anything to the water, but I have placed a cotton ball with a few droplets of coffee essential oil on cap from a pill bottle about an inch from the intake filter. It draws in just a hint for a pleasant sent. I figured if it was too much all I had to do was move the cap away from the machine.