Distilled water really needed ?

Eo wrote:I dumped out the water in the morning, but it's very difficult to wash/dry (ResMed something....) I have a busy and unpredictable life (and family) and I'm still figuring out how I'm going to fit this machine into it. Thanks for the info!

If you use distilled water, you don't need need to wash the tank daily. Once every six months will probably do it.

Drying is easy. Just run your machine for a few minutes. I use the mask fit feature for this. I'm not sure about the s8, but the s9's blower continues to put out a very slight breeze for quite a while after you hit the stop button. If the tank is still damp after an hour or so, try turning up the humidifier and running the machine again.

My morning routine goes something like this:
_ Get up. Use the bathroom, or at least wash my hands.
_ Dump the tank and put it back in the machine.
_ Start the "warm up" cycle.
_ Wipe my mask cushion with Citrus II mask wipes (without disassembling the mask).
_ Hang the mask and hose from the headboard. Turn on "mask fit".
_ Brush my teeth.
_ Stop "mask fit".
_ Rub oil/lotion into my hands.

The CPAP-related chores add three minutes, maybe less.

Just an update - I turned my humidifier up to 3 last night and discovered it really does work! I woke up with my face soaking wet and promptly turned the humidifier off - slept fine the rest of the night. I am noticing that the ache that has been with me every morning for the last 10+ years is missing (and I don't miss it!) I'm only 2 days in, so I'm cautiously optimistic.

Thanks for the info on humidifier maintenance! I feel much better about managing it now.

> Do you spend money on distilled water ??

Barely. It only costs around 6-7 cents per night.
So I guess the answer is ... yes, but essentially no.

Dump the remaining water out every morning.
(Yeah, you're "wasting" 3 cents!)
Let it dry in between uses.
Wash once a month in 1) vinegar followed by 2) free and clear soap.

The actual period between washings should be determined by how much dust is in the house (that gets by the filters).

Also by how often you change the soft (inside) filter (e.g., once a month at least) and how often you rinse out the foam (outer) filter (e.g., once a week).

If your skin itches under the mask, increase the frequency of cleaning.

If you see anything "growing" in the humidifier, wash immediately and increase the frequency of cleaning.

> In theory, crud in the humidifier tank doesn't matter that much

Not only is that not true, it's far from true.

Or, as they say in the sciences, "That's the difference between theory and practice."

No one's ever presented any evidence the normal crud in the humidifier water is bad for your health.

I'm still going to be sure to keep my tank and water clean.

Crud will grow in tap water straight from the tap. I've found green stuff growing in a sealed reusable drinking bottle that I had filled with city water and accidentally left somewhere.

As to airborne spores from stuff in the water, I don't think it really works that way unless you've got mats of stuff with fuzz growing on the surface or a misting effect that creates droplets.

I use distilled water because it's pretty cheap, easy for me to get, and I don't see any crud in the tank even if I go a few weeks between dumping and cleaning the tank. I'd use tap water if I needed to, but I'd dump the water and/or clean the tank a lot more often. I would make sure to change the water and clean the tank before it starts to look or smell bad.

I'd be a lot more paranoid if I had one of those tanks that can't be opened and cleaned. Get real, ResMed and stop that nonsense.

Otter wrote:

archangle wrote:Interesting question about too much humidity. If it's not uncomfortable or doesn't rain out, is there any health problem from too much humidity in the breathing air?

Ambient humidity is at 100% when there is fog, and I've never heard of anyone being rushed to the hospital after jogging on a foggy morning. "He was jogging in the fog, doctor. He's got water vapor in his lungs!" We evolved to deal with humidity, hence if there is a problem, the humidity will annoy us, and we'll move or turn down the humidifier. Our airways and lungs are pretty wet to begin with, though, so I doubt breathing humid air is going to do any harm.

High humidity in general can increase the risk of fungus problems on the skin, "heat rash", etc. Our mouth and the insides of our noses and airways are pretty much saturated all the time, so it doesn't seem like there would be any extra risk there.

Maybe you can get some sort of skin problems from humidity on the nose or face from constant humidity. Or from a damp mask being in touch with your face all night long.

Maybe people with irritation on the face from the mask would want to try less humidification and see if it helps. In general, I doubt we need to worry about too much humidity.

As a still-newb, can I suggest putting this in the wiki? I see it in a couple of places, but a blow-by-blow for-and-against would be more helpful in making a decision on whether or not to attempt the tap.

archangle wrote:As to airborne spores from stuff in the water, I don't think it really works that way unless you've got mats of stuff with fuzz growing on the surface or a misting effect that creates droplets.

Most free floating critters are neutrally buoyant and will occasionally surface. Also, anything sticking to the side of the tank near the waterline will be exposed as the water evaporates. I think that's probably enough to cause problems for some people. There may even be some folks who have trouble when there is no visible growth. I know someone who is very prone to sinus infections, and he cleans his tank every day. Maybe that's excessive, but he doesn't think so. If one out of 10,000 people is this sensitive, you could do a well-designed experiment and not pick up on it even if you had a large number of participants. But if you're one of the few who gets infections very easily, it will be obvious that you can't afford to have anything at all growing in your humidifier.

archangle wrote:

Otter wrote:Maybe you can get some sort of skin problems from humidity on the nose or face from constant humidity. Or from a damp mask being in touch with your face all night long.

Maybe people with irritation on the face from the mask would want to try less humidification and see if it helps. In general, I doubt we need to worry about too much humidity.

Good point. It would make sense to turn down the humidity at the first sign of jungle rot.

Has anyone ever posted about fungal skin infections from setting the humidifier too high? I haven't run across anything like that, but I've only been at this a few months.

I use distilled water. With a 3.0 setting on my H5i and 6-7 hours of sleep a night, 1 tank will last a week. Which times perfectly with me cleaning the tank once a week with distilled water and vinegar.


That's all I got.

I used well water for a while with my Remstar M100 for a while, then changed to distilled water. The well water built some faint calcium skim in the tank. Finally, the county ran water to our subdivision and life was better. Tap water is filtered and chemically sanitized, but can create some chlorine outgasses that accumulate in the tank while it is off. Except for that, tap water, in our neighborhood is fine and I get no accumulation of anything detectable. I do wash the tank frequently just for general sanitation purposes.

As Archangel said previously, a heated humidifier causes evaporation and the water vapor rises into the therapy tubing, similar to the distilling process, which boils water, captures the steam in an inverted V shaped tube, and allows it to run downward into a catch container. Unless there's something floating that could get blown in the air stream, there shouldn't be a problem. In two years, I've not had scum grow in my tank and only clean it once a month or so. Tap water is fine if yours doesn't scum up or create a heavy chlorine odor.

Distilled water is best, but expensive and a pain to lug home and store.

EO wrote:I'm a cpap newbie with one night under my belt... I mean mask. I have a ResMed unit with heated humidifier and this is the thing that concerns me most about cpap therapy. My DME rep told me I need to use distiller water and wash out the tank every day. I don't mind the distiller water, and I certainly don't want to breathe moldy water (ack!) but I was hoping a user could tell me if changing out the distilled water is really necessary every single day, because I see some posts that show different. Is distiller water less likely to get scummy?

EO, search for posts on Escape vs Autoset and S8 vs S9. You got snookered by the DME when you were given the S8 Escape. It's an old machine, and cheap, for which the DME receives same payment as the newer and data capable machines. Your ability to monitor your own therapy has been sacrificed in favor of your DME's profits. Since you have just gotten it fight like h*** to get an S9 Autoset. The Escape will give you no real data about your therapy.