What's wrong with using tap water?

Ditto what gasp said. I use distilled in my tank, wash everything with baby shampoo and tap water, rinse and air dry. Two years doing this and have not had a problem. Oh...forgot when I wash my tank I soak in vinegar and water first, then wash and air dry (maybe every month or so).

gasp wrote:

NateS wrote:I use distilled water in my tank, but first I use soapy tap water to clean my tank and to clean my nasal pillows. Then I rinse them both off with distilled water and fill the tank with distilled water.

Is this a mistake? Am I defeating the purpose of using distilled water by first cleaning the tank and the nasal pillows in soapy tap water?

Should I avoid tap water even for the basic cleaning step?

I would appreciate the opinions of those who fill with distilled water.

Thanks,

Nate

I wash with tap and then air dry. The very small residue from the tap water left in the tank isn't a consideration for me. Then I fill my thoroughly air dried tank with distilled water. I have two tanks. One to air dry while the other is in use.

Thanks for your reply. Sounds like you have a good system going.

Regards, Nate

NateS wrote:I use distilled water in my tank, but first I use soapy tap water to clean my tank and to clean my nasal pillows. Then I rinse them both off with distilled water and fill the tank with distilled water.

Is this a mistake? Am I defeating the purpose of using distilled water by first cleaning the tank and the nasal pillows in soapy tap water?

Should I avoid tap water even for the basic cleaning step?

I would appreciate the opinions of those who fill with distilled water.

Thanks,

Nate

Nate, I use the same procedure as you. I believe that the distilled water rinse after tap water wash and rinse is sufficient. Plus no water spots! Bacteria flourish in a warm damp environment so the regular washing and air drying is critical regardless of your rinsing preferences.

Suz

Suz

Suzjohnson wrote:

NateS wrote:I use distilled water in my tank, but first I use soapy tap water to clean my tank and to clean my nasal pillows. Then I rinse them both off with distilled water and fill the tank with distilled water.

Is this a mistake? Am I defeating the purpose of using distilled water by first cleaning the tank and the nasal pillows in soapy tap water?

Should I avoid tap water even for the basic cleaning step?

I would appreciate the opinions of those who fill with distilled water.

Thanks,

Nate

Nate, I use the same procedure as you. I believe that the distilled water rinse after tap water wash and rinse is sufficient. Plus no water spots! Bacteria flourish in a warm damp environment so the regular washing and air drying is critical regardless of your rinsing preferences.

Suz

Suz

Thank you, Suz!

Nate

I'm paying $2.75 a gallon for distilled water here in New Hamsterdam. Paying $259 for a device to distill my own seems logical. This is getting to be a real pain in the ass. So many flies to swat.

But after a month and a half on xpap; the benefits far outweigh the minor annoyances. Until they come up with something better, I am sold on this therapy [cue embarassing stomach rumble and weird percussive chain gun farts in the morning].

I am not particularly fussy about stuff, but I would never dare trash my humidifier with tap water mineral deposits. This machine is a lifeline to normal human existence for me. Results have been fantastic in so many dimensions: Alertness, memory, energy, back pain, coughing, erectile function...

51, 6'2", 253 lbs and dropping, former athlete. Snored since I was a kid, but it got serious about 5 years ago. But I refused to acknowledge my severe OSA problem. Take good care of your machine, no matter how much you hate it. Somebody else might need it.

I would be most concerned if your tap water is disinfected with chlorine gas or a hypochlorite salt, then the formation of trihalomethanes (THMs) becomes a concern as these gaseous by-products are known carcinogens...forced respiration of the off-gas from chlorinated water would concentrate these and accelerate their uptake as they would be presented to the alveoli under pressure. This type of disinfection has safety limits on THMs but doesn't envision folks directly breathing the concentrated evaporate under pressure, which is precisely what a PAP + humidifier would do.

Is is enough to cause a problem? I don't know, I'm a business major, not a doctor or chemist. I only know about them because I used to sell water treatment systems in another life.

Of lesser concern would be if the tap water was disinfected via chlorine dioxide as any organic matter would be oxidized and not chlorinated, despite the fact that the molecule used is chlorine compound. The residual here would be a miniscule amount of chlorite, which is a solid.

The hardness of the water would also lead to scale, which would provide a nice reef-like structure for microbes. Hard water is great for drinking and one's health, but bad for evaporating, generally speaking.

The easiest solution would be to use distilled water whenever it's available.

I'm new to using the machine and I'm noticing my throat is feeling burnt by the air in the morning. I have the same unit as pictured in the thread (page1). I set my unit to humitiy level 6.. maybe thats too high? I'm using tap water right now, could the flouride they put in the tap water be burning my throat?

I am gonna get distilled water tomorrow.. trying the unit dry tonite to see if there's much of a difference.

I am surprised that no one has mentioned purified water (from a home kitchen reverse osmosis filter system) as an alternative (if you don't want to use tap water). I have had a water purifier for years well before I started CPAP.

1) It's cheap (you can buy them at Home Depot and other places) about $150, http://www.homedepot.com/p/GE-Reverse-O ... /202073853

1A) you can install it yourself if you want.

2) it's very effective and is actually slightly purer than distilled water (not by much, about 1 ppm less impurities).

3) It's convenient (no trekking to the store in the snow - or even in the heat! )

4) It's there when you need it, in the amount you need. No ongoing cost as it uses your house "TAP" water which it then purifies.

5) No more heavy bottles of water to carry around or store.

and so on.....

Either Distilled, Tap or purified work... Take your pick.

Fever wrote:I'm new to using the machine and I'm noticing my throat is feeling burnt by the air in the morning. I have the same unit as pictured in the thread (page1). I set my unit to humitiy level 6.. maybe thats too high? I'm using tap water right now, could the flouride they put in the tap water be burning my throat?

I am gonna get distilled water tomorrow.. trying the unit dry tonite to see if there's much of a difference.

Fever, you'll get more responses if you start your own thread, and we'll be better able to help you if you'll register your equipment.

I can tell you it's highly unlikely that it's the tap water that's causing your throat irritation. Start a new topic, register your equipment (read the thread called "Pugsy's pointers" for more information on how) and I assure you that those more knowledgeable than myself will be able to set your mind at rest and help you find a solution.

Fever - it's more likely you're mouth breathing once asleep (using a nasal mask?), and losing Cpap air that way that dries you out. You might want to consider trying a full face mask instead that allows your mouth to open but doesn't lose the Cpap air.

I don't use tap water because I don't like the spell of minerals and chlorine. Your experience will vary depending on your local tap water.

When using filtered water in a humidifier I got a bunch of really wild needle-shaped black things growing. Iron filings! Our water is really quite chunky here, and the corrosion is pretty amazing. (When I moved into my house there was a tub faucet which had a hole halfway down that was as big as the hole at the end...) And, no, my hair never really feels clean.

So, yes, distilled water for me!

JeffL wrote:I don't use tap water because I don't like the spell of minerals and chlorine.

Don't use water from Hogwarts!

archangle wrote:

JeffL wrote:I don't use tap water because I don't like the spell of minerals and chlorine.

Don't use water from Hogwarts!

as long as it's not coming from slytherin it's probably ok.

gasp wrote:Boiling water does not purify water. Heavy metals, pesticides, herbicides, and pharmaceuticals among other things may still remain. I'm with those who endorse erring on the side of being safe and using distilled - plus I don't like to deal with deposits in my humidification chamber.

Boiling it does not purify it, but evaporating it does, and that is exactly what the humidifier module does. For any contaminant in the water to make it into the evaporative vapor would violate the physical laws of the universe. So, that does not happen.

The hydrological cycle happens on a molecular level, meaning that the chemistry of the molecules does not change. When water is contaminated it contains molecules of water mixed with molecules of contaminants. But the contaminants never change the physical or chemical nature of the water molecules, just the entire solution. The water molecules are still water molecules.

Think of a jar of red jellybeans as individual molecules of contaminants, and a jar of blue jellybeans as molecules of water. If you pour the two together you don't get purple jellybeans, you get a mix of blue (water molecules) and red (contaminant molecules). If you take a handful of the mixed jellybeans and eat them, you are eating both pure molecules of water and pure molecules of contaminants. But if you "evaporate the water", the blue jellybeans turn into vapor leaving the red jellybeans behind.

Bottom line, the only thing going up the hose, regardless of the quality of the water in the tub, will only be clean, perfectly clear and uncontaminated water molecules.