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dave21 wrote:Checking this supermarket today they didn't even stock any deironised water let alone distilled water.

Thanks Dave, sounds like the best bet is to purchase your own distilled water maker if thats the water you want to use.

In the U.S. many supermarkets have coin-operated R.O. water dispensers (about $0.35/gallon), which is the equivalent of distilled, unless you work in a laboratory. Don't know the U.K. situation.

"Mineral water" means different things in the U.S. and U.K. In the U.S., it must have a TDS of at least 250 (usually much more), which is the exact opposite of distilled, which must have zero. I understand that "mineral water" in the U.K. refers more to the source than the content and can have anywhere from zero to 500 TDS. If the mineral content isn't on the label, cheap battery operated meters can be had in the U.S. for under $20. Don't know U.K. pricing.

But, I think there is a lot of confusion about needing distilled water in the first place. My city has fairly hard tap water (over 200 TDS). I use it anyway, and descaling my humidifier with a coffee-maker product like Urnex every few weeks keeps it looking like new.

Unfortunately we don't have any coin operated dispensers in the UK. There's quite a difference between US and UK, in US you can buy ice in the supermarkets but in the UK we make our own . Never quire understood why people would want to pay for ice when it's so easy to make by freezing water in the freezer, but then again I guess you could use the same argument for bottled water vs tap water

Most of the Still/Mineral drinking water that can be purchased in the UK doesn't have a TDS rating on it. They do still have lots of ions included.

Bicarbonate 150
Calcium 40.5
Chloride 6.1
Magnesium 10.1
Nitrate (as NO3) 3.1
Potassium 0.7
Sodium 5.6
Sulphate 5.3
Dry residue 180°C 170

Here's a typical Still/Mineral drinking water brand here in the UK - http://www.highland-spring.com/about/ou ... Water.html

I have fairly hard tap water here in the UK but haven't had any problems with scale.

Thanks
Dave

In Canada we pay $1 - $1.50 for a 4L jug distilled water from Walmart or Shopper's Drugmart.

fiberfan wrote:The ClimateLine hose is optional in the US though my DME said my insurance should pay for it.

I only got the SlimLine today when I got my S9 Autoset/H5i, so I guess I will have to call my DME's order line to see about sending me out the ClimateLine.

Llama wrote:

fiberfan wrote:The ClimateLine hose is optional in the US though my DME said my insurance should pay for it.

I only got the SlimLine today when I got my S9 Autoset/H5i, so I guess I will have to call my DME's order line to see about sending me out the ClimateLine.

Yes definitely worth getting even if you have to pay the $50 out of pocket IMO

Llama wrote:

fiberfan wrote:The ClimateLine hose is optional in the US though my DME said my insurance should pay for it.

I only got the SlimLine today when I got my S9 Autoset/H5i, so I guess I will have to call my DME's order line to see about sending me out the ClimateLine.

Hi
I used the SlimLine while my ClimateLine was on backorder and I found several things. The heater plate in the H5i does not get very hot for any of the high settings... I tried up to 6.0. It will, however get "very" hot with the warm-up feature. I had my S9 switched out when I got my ClimateLine but I can't say that it operated any differently with the new machine.

With the ClimateLine you can control temp and it does get very hot if you want.

Perhaps it was just because with SlimLine it only regulates humidity and there was enough already... I'm still not sure. This thread originally was started by several other members for that reason but no one either needed more heat or tested it because they had the ClimateLine. You should test it for yourself.

Nord

I would said that the heating feature is almost useless with a SlimLine hose, it just a passive water preserver. Normally I don't really need the heat, I prefer room temperature air.

I used to have the H3i humidifier on the S8 and would rarely use it, but the S9's H5i is so much better and religiously use it every night. I would highly recommend the ClimateLine hose to get the full ability out of the H5i.

Interesting.

Here I got some demineralised water which I believe is distilled water however it says on the label that it's not "recommended for theraputic devices". We also have a RO water purifier but that is not the same thing as distilled water.

For me I do a lot of traveling so it's not really viable for me to use distilled water and I think ResMed have come round to this fact because the H5i it does say you can use tap water.

The big problem for me is I could buy distiller water or demineralised water for home, but it's a lot more difficult when you're traveling in a hotel.

I'm actually in quite a hard water area where I live, but haven't see any big issues with previous humidifiers. However, if over a couple of years it gets really bad, for the price of a new H5i it would probably be cheaper just to buy a new H5i than the cost of buying and using distilled water for several years.

My H5i says on it (the lid) to use distilled water. Where does yours say tap water?

I'm getting the washable one anyway but I'm going to use the S8 for travel anyway.

When purchasing my machine in the UK I received a special S9 series heavy paper sheet called "S9 Care and Cleaning Advice - RealSleep"

It says for the S9 AutoSet Spirit & H5i Humidifier...

Humidifier
Always refill the water chamber with fresh water on a daily basis (tap water is acceptable). Always remove chamber to fill and empty; never take the complete CPAP device to the tap. Lime scale built-up can be removed with a solution of vinegar (1 part white vinegar; 10 parts water).

The same card also gives instructions for mask settings on the S9. If anyones interested I can scan in the double sided sheet.

I suspect the single unit (not the washable one that I have) probably isn't good to use regular tap water because you can't open it up and clean inside it properly to remove lime scale where as the washable one you can.

EDIT: On the lid it doesn't say anything about using Distilled water for my cleanable version.

bigk wrote:My H5i says on it (the lid) to use distilled water.

You told us previously you bought your S9 from the US, so it will have the messages intended for the US market

Cheers,

Bill

dave21 wrote:When purchasing my machine in the UK I received a special S9 series heavy paper sheet called "S9 Care and Cleaning Advice - RealSleep"

It says for the S9 AutoSet Spirit & H5i Humidifier...

Humidifier
Always refill the water chamber with fresh water on a daily basis (tap water is acceptable). Always remove chamber to fill and empty; never take the complete CPAP device to the tap. Lime scale built-up can be removed with a solution of vinegar (1 part white vinegar; 10 parts water).

The same card also gives instructions for mask settings on the S9. If anyones interested I can scan in the double sided sheet.

I suspect the single unit (not the washable one that I have) probably isn't good to use regular tap water because you can't open it up and clean inside it properly to remove lime scale where as the washable one you can.

EDIT: On the lid it doesn't say anything about using Distilled water for my cleanable version.

It appears that there are 2 sets of instructions for the H5i Humidifier tank:

1. The cleanable tank shows in their "ResMed H5i Fact Sheet" that the cleanable version is standard and does NOT have raised printing " Use Distilled Water Only". It also states that " Use Distilled Water Only ?... Optional " and in the cleaning instructions how to clean " white powder deposits " ... leftovers from using hard tap water that may contain iron, calcium, line and other hard to clean minerals.

2. The One Piece tank makes reference on page 15 of the S9 Clinical Manual showing "Use Distilled Water Only" and states "Distilled Water" for the water bottle. It also has raised printing on the polycarbonate body "Use Distilled Water". When it talks about how to clean "white powder deposits" ...

It appears that ResMed has issued different tanks for different markets as standard equipment... as Bill Bolton suggests. Maybe each market has different availabilities of distilled water as Dave21 has found.

In the end, if you use tap water on either tank... you will want to follow the cleaning instructions fairly closely for mineral deposits... or replace the tank more regularly. On the other hand if you have easy access to inexpensive distilled or RO water then cleaning will be limited to removing "stale" water and completely cleaning a lot less regularly.

At first I was concerned that I did not get the multi-piece cleanable tank but with the 1 piece tank there is a lot less to go wrong and the quality is quite good. I use RO water exclusively and wash it out when it needs more water and only clean it with mild soap, maybe, once a month or less which is really pretty easy when I just stick my finger in the refill hole and swish it around.

Nord