Humidifier: Distilled Water...How often do you change?

I don't bother with distilled water.

I use filtered water. If I can. Sometimes I am lucky just to have tap water.

I'll wash things out once a week if I am where I can wash things out.

I clean the mask off with wipes everyday.

SleepOly wrote:If the water you use in your humidifier has harmful microorganisms you have bigger problems. I would assume it is tap water, and unless you have a private well, it needs to be sanitized to be potable. You would be drinking the organisms, and more relevant, be breathing them in while showering.

I'm not that worried about microorganisms in tap water either. However, if you are worried about microorganisms in tap water, boiling will kill them, and will not make the mineral problem much worse.

I wouldn't let tap water sit for a long time even after boiling. Bacteria can multiply in it, especially if you concentrate it by topping off the humidifier tank. Letting it sit also allows the chlorine to evaporate. If you let tap water sit out for a long time, it will get disgusting, even in a sealed container.

I have been using my apap for one year. I just top off my tub every night with distilled water. I have cleaned the tub only twice and both times I am thinking to my self " Why am I cleaning this, it's looks brand new".

I talk to myself a lot.

I let it empty through humidification before refilling it. I never empty it. if it is low enough to warrant it, I add more. I clean it every so often, but it is distilled water after all.

As for using distilled, I always use distilled when possible, I do travel for business which makes that more difficult to do but I clean it EVERY NIGHT if I'm forced to use tap or bottled or even RO.

Alshain wrote:I let it empty through humidification before refilling it. I never empty it. if it is low enough to warrant it, I add more. I clean it every so often, but it is distilled water after all.

I thought the RT at my DME told me I could damage my humidifier if I didn't keep enough water in it so it would dry out in the middle of the night. Maybe it differs by machine, but they did suggest that I pay attention to how much boiled down in an average night and only fill it a little more than that - that way if I followed the prescribed schedule of dumping it every day, I wouldn't be wasting much water.

I use a Brita filter and NYC tap water.

Leaving the Brita in the refrigerator over night, with the spout opens, lets the water gass-off and removes the chlorine.

I paid for a ResMed chamber that can be taken apart, and I wash the parts every day with Ivory dishwashing soap, let them air dry.

Each night, I put a put an eight-ounce, glass measuring cup filled with the Brita water in the microwave for one minute, just before sleeping. Heats the water so I don't have that "cold start" with refrigerated water.

--------------------------------------------

Do the hose once a week, just pour some Ivory dishwashing soap into it, connect it directly to my faucet (it's a perfect, snug fit), let 3 minutes of hot water wash it clean.

Connect the hose back to the ResMed unit, let it blow dry. Works well for the mask too.

As for the mask, it gets oily from my skin, so I wipe down the silicone parts (that touch my face) nightly.

England wrote:I'm wondering how often you really have to change the distilled water in your humidifier? Do you really have to change it daily??? That seems a bit excessive...but I'm new to this, so what do I know

Like BleepingBeauty - I top up each day with distilled water that I know is truly distilled (cos I distilled it )

A couple of months back I wanted a 10 litre container to hold my distilled water (My distiller produces 4l per night when I use it). The best buy at Wal-Mart equiv, was a 10L container with a tap that screwed off so I could reload + it had handle on top & handle at end for easy carrying & was square for easy storage.

It came filled with 10L of 'pure drinking water' - well says I, lets use that up 1st rather than toss it out. Well after 3 weeks the calcium deposits were so bad I had to do a major clean-up on my H/H - when I use my distilled water I do that about every 3 months just for the heck of cleaning it as it is always so clean.

The distillers are dirt cheap & can be ordered over the net. I paid less than 1/2 what is quoted in this link - http://www.vitality4life.com/au/water-w ... iller.html

Cheers DSM

dsm wrote:It came filled with 10L of 'pure drinking water' - well says I, lets use that up 1st rather than toss it out. Well after 3 weeks the calcium deposits were so bad I had to do a major clean-up on my H/H - when I use my distilled water I do that about every 3 months just for the heck of cleaning it as it is always so clean.

Some purified drinking water has minerals deliberately added back after they've been removed during the purification process. The right minerals in drinking water make it taste better and may even be good for you to drink. Unfortunately, what's good for drinking isn't necessarily good for CPAP.

I add enough distilled water to last a few days. Before it's completely empty I discard what's left, rinse with a small amount of distilled water, and refill. So far everything looks like new, but it's only been a few months.

I figure that the only stuff that gets into the tank has to come through the cpap's filter first and then be absorbed by the water as the air stream passes over it, so there's not a lot. By not letting the water evaporate completely what does get in is concentrated only a little, but then is diluted by a huge amount when I empty and rinse the tank.

FizzyWater wrote:

Alshain wrote:I let it empty through humidification before refilling it. I never empty it. if it is low enough to warrant it, I add more. I clean it every so often, but it is distilled water after all.

I thought the RT at my DME told me I could damage my humidifier if I didn't keep enough water in it so it would dry out in the middle of the night. Maybe it differs by machine, but they did suggest that I pay attention to how much boiled down in an average night and only fill it a little more than that - that way if I followed the prescribed schedule of dumping it every day, I wouldn't be wasting much water.

Mine doesn't dry out. I've learned how much water I use per night and by the end if the night there is a very very thin layer of water along the bottom. I use more on weekends cause I tend to oversleep. It probably is better to empty that out, but I don't.

I go out of town every weekend, so generally on Friday mornings and Sunday mornings, my water gets dumped and I dry out the chamber as well as I can before refilling at my destination.

We're on a well and my pet's water dishes and the shower get a pink scum.

That has nothing to do with well water... That's a common bacteria. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serratia_marcescens

ParanoidAndroid wrote:I'm so timid about things... how do you clean the hoses? I was going to submerge the big hose in a casserole dish of vinegar and water for, say, an hour, and then flush tap water through them until the vinegar smell was gone, and then air dry them.

Whenever I clean mine, which is about once every two, or three, or four, months I just take it into the shower with me. Fill the hose with water and shampoo and swish it back and forth several times, holding my thumbs over the ends. Then just rinse it out and hang it up to dry when I get out. By doing it in the shower I can splash water in and around the hose to my heart's content, and not have a mess to clean up afterward!

archangle wrote:

dsm wrote:It came filled with 10L of 'pure drinking water' - well says I, lets use that up 1st rather than toss it out. Well after 3 weeks the calcium deposits were so bad I had to do a major clean-up on my H/H - when I use my distilled water I do that about every 3 months just for the heck of cleaning it as it is always so clean.

Some purified drinking water has minerals deliberately added back after they've been removed during the purification process. The right minerals in drinking water make it taste better and may even be good for you to drink. Unfortunately, what's good for drinking isn't necessarily good for CPAP.

archangle,

Yup figured that would have been the case. It did no harm thankfully and the container I got from the exercise is just spot on for storage & use.
I can't recall if the moisture tasted good while the H/H was operating - 10L lasts so long that I was at last able to pack the distiller away much to the delight of wife who now has more kitchen bench space.

DSM

dsm wrote:.

The distillers are dirt cheap & can be ordered over the net. I paid less than 1/2 what is quoted in this link - http://www.vitality4life.com/au/water-w ... iller.html

Cheers DSM

I have that distiller. I threw away the collection bottle that it comes with because it contains BPA.
Seeing that the distilled water that comes out is at first, fairly warm, that increases BPA contamination.
I got a nice plastic jug from Wallyworld that is BPA free, it was only $2 (US dollars) and it fits perfectly.

Vader wrote:

dsm wrote:.

The distillers are dirt cheap & can be ordered over the net. I paid less than 1/2 what is quoted in this link - http://www.vitality4life.com/au/water-w ... iller.html

Cheers DSM

I have that distiller. I threw away the collection bottle that it comes with because it contains BPA.
Seeing that the distilled water that comes out is at first, fairly warm, that increases BPA contamination.
I got a nice plastic jug from Wallyworld that is BPA free, it was only $2 (US dollars) and it fits perfectly.

Vader,

Thanks for that suggestion - I still have the original plastic container. I'll do some looking for some safer material.

DSM