Wanted - Lab Rats...

WARNING......To any new users reading this thread who might get the inclination to add things to their heated humidifier tank, I have one word of advice........DON'T!!!

The questions have come up dozens/hundreds of times over the years and the answer is always the same.
If you don't believe me, just go up to the forum Search line and put it one of the following and start reading:

"salt AND humidifier" or "Vicks AND humidifier" or whatever else you might be thinking about.

Water vapor will NOT carry anything out of the humidifier tank......including salt, Vicks, germs, bacteria and viruses.
(hint: they're too heavy for the vapor molecules)


Den

Wulfman... wrote:WARNING......To any new users reading this thread who might get the inclination to add things to their heated humidifier tank, I have one word of advice........DON'T!!!

The questions have come up dozens/hundreds of times over the years and the answer is always the same.
If you don't believe me, just go up to the forum Search line and put it one of the following and start reading:

"salt AND humidifier" or "Vicks AND humidifier" or whatever else you might be thinking about.

Water vapor will NOT carry anything out of the humidifier tank......including salt, Vicks, germs, bacteria and viruses.
(hint: they're too heavy for the vapor molecules)


Den

Excellent advice!

Hey, this appears to be a pretty good idea, at first blush! You have already seen a wide range of opinions here

Yes, the water gets evaporated in our humidifier, so salt is not carried into the air, unlike the nebulizers which thoroughly agitate the air and some particles of the liquid along with the salt could be carried on the jet stream. That said, even in our laid back air stream of the cpap humidifier, some molecules of salt can be carried along in the air, but I doubt any significant amount to have any effect.

However, I do believe that the observers are getting real relief! How can that be? Well last week a medical study result was published that the placebo effect was real, even when the receipient of the medicine know apriori that it was sugar like pill that they were taking!! Most of us had about the placebo effect before, and most thought it was by fooling us into thinking that we were getting a proven effective medicine. But this study turned that idea on its head! So the power of the mind over body appear to be very real, and based on that I predict about 30 to 70 % of the people who try will achieve a real benefit!!

BTW, since the salt does not evaporate significantly, it will build up. May I suggest, that you add a second trial to your study, where the salt amount is halved every month, and if your really want it blind study, let somebody else do it, and see if the benefits continue. That way you could reduce the problem of the salt build up too,,, just a thought

Happy holidays!

Den, in a theoretical world, I would agree with you. But there seems to be something else going on here...

When you test the condensate out of the end of your hose, do you find that you have nothing but pure water?

Thanks for the search topic but when I reviewed the posts all I saw was theoretical discussion. I could not find anyone that actually took the time to measure the output from their humidifier. If I missed something, please point it out.

Feeling better, If everyone found relief from their nasal congestion and soreness using a placebo, I would be all for it. The actual purpose of starting this post was to see if it helped anyone else and to explore the possibility that it is only a placebo effect.

No need to half the amount of salt. We started with half the amount and it didn't work.

I just finished the test at reduced air flow. I taped up my nasal pillows and just collected the condensate from the escape vent. The reduced air flow also reduced the amount of salt coming through, but it did not eliminate it. I ended up with a PWT of 138.9.

To finish up the testing I cleaned everything and ran some plain distilled water through the humidifier. This time the water came in at 12.4.

HoseCrusher wrote:I just finished the test at reduced air flow. I taped up my nasal pillows and just collected the condensate from the escape vent. The reduced air flow also reduced the amount of salt coming through, but it did not eliminate it. I ended up with a PWT of 138.9.

To finish up the testing I cleaned everything and ran some plain distilled water through the humidifier. This time the water came in at 12.4.

Did you thoroughly clean your hose and equipment, and measure the results PRIOR to running the test with salt in your humidifier? If not, your result could be caused by contaminated equipment.

My humidifier tank is also stainless steel, but my darling is still using the aluminum reservoir that Resmed thinks is good enough for us Yanks.

chunkyfrog wrote:My humidifier tank is also stainless steel, but my darling is still using the aluminum reservoir that Resmed thinks is good enough for us Yanks.

Hi chuckyfrog, this is a bit of a side discussion. I am interested to learn more about your humidifier. So your tank is stainless steel? I went to the Resmed site and read their complete spec, it says .... injection molded plastic, seals, and stainless. About a year plus ago when there was this long discussion on bipap in humidifier, there was no humidifier I could find that did not have a plastic tank, and all major manufacturers admitted, after lengthy coaxing, that their tank was plastic with bpa. At that time all major ones were redesigning their products, while claiming there was no harm.

So I am curious: is your water tank stainless steel with no plastic in the water circuit? Is this humidifier tightly integrated to work with a specific cpap unit, or can this be used as an external humidifier with many cpap units, even with Respironics machines? Very eager to get the info. [BTW, I am one of those very few, who had designed and used a home-made glass jar humidifier, to avoid the plastic and used it for 8+ months. But jar broke, and I have not built a second unit yet ]

Hose Head, I usually end up with a value of about 10 after cleaning my hose and mask but this time it came in at 12.4 so it wasn't as clean as I usually strive for. Still, its in the ball park.

Feeling better, just to clarify, my tank is plastic except for the bottom that rests against the hot plate. The bottom plate of the tank is the only part that is stainless.

gvz, is that an earwig I see in your humidifier tank?

Gvz, your video shows that the water is moving around quite a bit. I think that when the air flow is reduced, the movement is reduced also, but there still seems to be enough turbulence to get the salt water into the air flow.

Just to maintain perspective on this, we are talking about adding .2 grams of salt in a liter of water and using that water to fill the humidifier. The PWT measures very small amounts. The levels involved in the testing are below the amount of salt that you can taste.

The idea is that if you suffer from nasal irritation or have sinus problems, you can use your neti pot and spray, but adding this very small amount of salt to the humidifier water should help throughout the night. The plan is to wake up when you are finished sleeping and not because of nasal irritation. The amount of salt used is far less than you would use in the neti pot and also less than is used in nasal sprays. In fact if you run the water completely dry, there isn't enough salt to form a deposit on the side of the tank.

While technically, evaporation of salt, or ions of salt, cannot occur in a humidifier, clearly, Hosecrusher has demonstrated that the turbulence of a CPAP system generates some aerosolization of salt.

While technically, evaporation of salt, or ions of salt, cannot occur in a humidifier, clearly, Hosecrusher has demonstrated that the turbulence of a CPAP system generates some aerosolization of salt.

While technically, evaporation of salt, or ions of salt, cannot occur in a humidifier, clearly, Hosecrusher has demonstrated that the turbulence of a CPAP system generates some aerosolization of salt.

While technically, evaporation of salt, or ions of salt, cannot occur in a humidifier, clearly, Hosecrusher has demonstrated that the turbulence of a CPAP system generates some aerosolization of salt.

While technically, evaporation of salt, or ions of salt, cannot occur in a humidifier, clearly, Hosecrusher has demonstrated that the turbulence of a CPAP system generates some aerosolization of salt.

While technically, evaporation of salt, or ions of salt, cannot occur in a humidifier, clearly, Hosecrusher has demonstrated that the turbulence of a CPAP system generates some aerosolization of salt.

While technically, evaporation of salt, or ions of salt, cannot occur in a humidifier, clearly, Hosecrusher has demonstrated that the turbulence of a CPAP system generates some aerosolization of salt.

TYSFM.