how much distilled water a week do you all use?

None, I have been using tap water for a year and a half or so.

I have never "washed" my tank with soapy water, or emptied it on a regular schedule. The DME said to empty and let it air dry every 3 or 4 months and then once a year to put Hydrogen Peroxide in it and slosh it around, pour it out, then let air dry and refill with distilled water. Works for me and have not had any infections. I go through about 1 gallon every 4-6 weeks, depending on outside humidity.

xenablue wrote:Thanks Hose Head - makes sense - I'll stop the daily rinsing, decanting ritual. I only used the boiled water until I could get to the store for some distilled.

Cheers,
Xena

I washed my humidifier once maybe a year or so ago when I changed the filters and whatnot. Figured I'd do a complete once-over and all.

Other than that, occasional tap water use. Never used distilled water in it and certainly not for washing it.

So far, I'm alive so I'd say in my experience it's not important at all.

mattman

Depends on many things, mostly time of year during summer months MAYBE a gallon the entire summer. in the winter i have on my older M series went through a gallon in a week and half. On my new system one I don't know yet but with heat at 1 one machine tank will last 2-3 days. in current FALL weather. Which is way longer then my M series i could go through 2 tanks a night if I would have been bothered to fill it halfway through the night.

Now my DME told me I didn't HAVE to use distilled anymore since my insurance will now pay for replacing the tank every 6 months along with my mask, hose etc.

Care and feeding of my humidifier: I use distilled water. Fill it about 1/2 (or less). Dump the left over water every two or three days and fill to about 1/2 full (or less) with new distilled water. About once a week I dump the water and fill the tank with a 1:10 vinegar:tap water ratio. Let it sit for a couple of hours while the hoses and mask are soaking in a 1:10 vinegar:tap water bath. Dump the vinegar/water and let the tank air dry for the rest of the day before filling it to about 1/2 full (or less).

Total distilled water used: I go through about a quart of distilled water per week near as I can tell. My Hi5 has been set anywhere from 3 to 5 (current setting is 5), but I've not really noticed much difference in the amount of water that's left in the tank. But the nose sure can tell the difference between 3 and 5.

With my S9 there is no way to open and scrub the humidifier tank, and I'm a little leary of growing germs/mold/algae in there. So I use about 6 oz distilled water a night (I have a distiller) and dump the water every morning, so about 42 oz per week. About 4x a week, when I have the time in the morning, I turn the machine on to warm, disconnect the hose, and let the warm dry air flow through the tank to dry it out. Then, when the tank's dry, next time I walk by my machine, I plug the hose back onto the machine and set the machine to warm again, to completely dry out the hose.

I haven't been cleaning my tank at all, since I have only put distilled water into it, and I'm drying it pretty often.

I completely clean the hose, with soap & water, then vinegar rinse, then distilled water rinse and dry, about once a month. I figure I'm breathing directly into it, so it probably merits cleaning. I also have a backup of each piece of my system, in case I do ever discover growies in there.

We are really all quite different! Cheers, Happy Sleeper

Depends on the ambient humidity.

I have my machine on "II" or "2"
I go though a half gallon a week.
DO NOT USE TAP WATER !

Use distilled water. It's real cheap at Wal-Mart or Grocery Store.

The water in your humidifier is heated and going into your lungs. You don't want any impurities in the water and belive me, tap water has impurities.

Again, the impurities DO NOT go into your lungs. The water is evaporated and what you get in your lungs IS distilled water, the impurities stay in the reservoir and need to be washed out (easiest with white vinegar).

Think about it. You buy a distiller and use tap water in it, the distilled water is trapped EVAPORATED water. If the impurities went with the evaporated water then there would not be such a thing as distilled water because THAT IS HOW IT IS MADE. You are breathing evaporated water from the humidifier.

The ONLY problem with using tap water in a humidifier is the impurities left behind, period. You DO NOT get any impurities in your lungs.

Navyvet, I agree that it is very rare to pick up pathogens from tap water, but it does happen.

http://www.news-medical.net/news/200912 ... chine.aspx

Distilling involves boiling the water. This high heat kills the pathogens and evaporation leaves the minerals behind. The humidifiers do not boil the water, they simply warm it up a little to provide some evaporation.

The risk is minimal and I don't know of anyone that has experienced lethal results using tap water.

That is extremely rare and normal tap water DOES not have anything like that in it. Normal tap water IS like using distilled water. Look at this paragraph from the aritcle you linked to:

Although the patient's illness was moderately severe and lasting, Dr. Raymond and colleagues point out that it was very unusual—it would not likely result from using normal tap water in a CPAP machine. The recommendation to use distilled water in CPAP machines is related to preventive maintenance, rather than avoiding contamination. Infections related to CPAP machines are rare, and most often related to poor cleaning of the machine.

Using distilled water is recommended due to having to clean the impurities out of the reservoir, rather than avoiding contamination.

After discussing this thread with the respiratory specialist when changing my mask out this morning, he said whether you have success with tap water depends on the hardness of your water, so that determines whether you need to soak the tank in vinegar every day, every week or never. Using distilled water just has the minerals and other heavier particles in it that will create a sediment - vinegar will remove that.

His end opinion was that - whatever works for the individual is just fine. That's what I see from this thread - everyone has their own way of managing their humidifier tank refilling/cleaning and no one mentions getting ill from their own method.

Thanks for all the posts - it gives a newbie like me plenty to consider and as a germophobe I might try them all!

Xena

Nothwithstanding relative humidity in the bedroom or the user's personal preference, I suspect that higher pressure settings and in particular, high rates of mask leakage will result in much higher consumption of water from the humdifier. Higher air velocity = greater evaporation.

Personally, I run my humidifier at the "II" setting always and keep refilling the same empty one liter Aquafina bottle (which I keep on the night table) from my countertop RO tap about every five days. I top up the reservoir every other night and only rinse it about every six months whether it needs it or not. (My hose has never been washed in twenty months but I do wash my mask regularly every month or so.

Aside from an annoying twitch over my right eye (during daylight), an irregular spasm in my left leg (only while lying down), the buzzing in my left ear (before lunch), and my general inability to hold down solid foods ......... I don't see the necessity for improved sanitation of the equipment. Since I finally got around to changing the air filter, that embarrassing drooling ended, although I do I miss the continual smell of burnt toast.

I average 8.5 hours of sleep per night. I use the heated tubing. I fill the humidifier once before getting into bed and refill it once more during the night after about 4 hours sleep. I have no idea why the humidifier is using so much water. I live near the ocean and the relative humidity is not really low (76% last night).

Anyone have an idea?

I was using 1 tub full every 4 or 5 days. Now that I use a climateline hose I use 1 full tub every 2 days.