CPAPtalk.com

The humidifier tank will say distilled water only. I choose not to use tap due to chlorine and other chemicals that must be used to treat and to keep it safe, flowing down rusty pipes. But everyone has their own free will to use what they please.

Actually we did stop by Wally World and pick up a couple 88 cent jugs of distilled so I did run the humidifier last night. How often should I dump distilled water? Every couple days? Once a week?

NotLazyJustTired wrote:Actually we did stop by Wally World and pick up a couple 88 cent jugs of distilled so I did run the humidifier last night. How often should I dump distilled water? Every couple days? Once a week?

I top mine off every morning & dump it only once a week when I clean the tank.

But you will find there are many opinions with different degrees from doing nothing to doing too much.

The instructions call for daily water disposal.

cosmo wrote:The instructions call for daily water disposal.

But, ResMed said if I signed their waiver, I could do anything I wanted!

NotLazyJustTired wrote:How often should I dump distilled water? Every couple days? Once a week?

Every time we get a new batch of newbies we go through the same discussion about cleaning regiments and it goes from daily scrubbing with a toothbrush and strong disinfectant to "never mess with it".

Lots of links and discussion here and you can search for more recent discussion using the forum search. The routine involved varies between the individuals. Some are hard core "by the book" and some of use are just lazy and have found that we won't die if we don't go by the book.
viewtopic.php?p=567264#p567264

Do what you feel comfortable with. You will likely start out probably very rigid. I did but that got old real quick.
Unless you have some serious health issues with a compromised immune system...a little laxity isn't going to hurt you.
Now if it really bugs you...do whatever you are comfortable with.

I typically use up all my water in the tank each night. Very little is left so I just top it off and wash the tank every couple of weeks. Sometimes longer. The other stuff..hoses and such...again figure out what suits your needs.
There really aren't any hard fast rules and the daily stuff that manufacturers recommend...to me that is over kill but some people just have to go by the book and that's fine. The more we fiddle with things the greater the chance we break something and get to go buy a new one. Guess who wins when that happens.

I do use distilled water though. Mainly because I am lazy and our water has so much mineral content that it doesn't take long for the plastic tank to have a nice little crust in it from the limestone in the water. I could remove it with vinegar easily enough but I don't like the way vinegar smells...besides that means more work and I am lazy...it's easier to just use distilled water since I have to add water each night anyway. In a pinch I will use tap water though.

So you decide what suits your needs the best with all the different regiments out there that are being done.
Do what eases your mind. Not what I do or someone else does.

StuUnderPressure wrote: But, ResMed said if I signed their waiver, I could do anything I wanted!

Better check your life insurance policy. Mine stated that if I didn't use distilled water and I was found dead from waterborne parasites, my family would not see the $5,000 I'm insured for and contract would be void.

I try to dump mine before the inhabitants become sentient.

cosmo wrote:

StuUnderPressure wrote: But, ResMed said if I signed their waiver, I could do anything I wanted!

Better check your life insurance policy. Mine stated that if I didn't use distilled water and I was found dead from waterborne parasites, my family would not see the $5,000 I'm insured for and contract would be void.

Hummm, my life insurance is a lot more than that, my wife is the beneficiary, and SHE is the one who prodded me to sign the waiver.

Pugsy wrote:

NotLazyJustTired wrote:How often should I dump distilled water? Every couple days? Once a week?

Every time we get a new batch of newbies we go through the same discussion about cleaning regiments and it goes from daily scrubbing with a toothbrush and strong disinfectant to "never mess with it".

The last time I said that, I got chewed out and the person that asked the question told me she wanted to hear what everyone said anyway...

Sheriff

Sheriff Buford wrote:The last time I said that, I got chewed out and the person that asked the question told me she wanted to hear what everyone said anyway...

Well I totally missed that one or I would have given her a lot of reading to do.

This is one time I wish we had some sort of sticky thing we could refer people to because every time we get into the "cleaning" thing..People tend to think that the way they do it is the ONLY way it should be done and anyone doing anything else is stupid or lazy or whatever.
I admit....I am lazy but I am far from stupid (hopefully).
Then we get into the fights about germs and microbes hitching a ride on the air molecules or fight about germs we ourselves put on the equipment...and then more fights because everyone is "right". Or mold growing and how it will kill us.
After 4 years on the forum and the exact same fights being repeated every month or so...it gets old.

This is just a partial list of just the polls related to cleaning and humidifier water use.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=59134&p=556104&hili ... ll#p556104

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=60053&p=564508&hili ... ll#p564508

This poll has 9 pages of responses
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=45288&st=0&sk=t&sd= ... clean+poll

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=50163&p=460694&hili ... ll#p460694

this one has 11 pages just on what do you put in the tank
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=42773&st=0&sk=t&sd= ... clean+poll

There's more than these....and there's never anything new.

Sorry folks; I certainly didn't mean to stir up a hornets nest! I think Pugsy's articulate response saying that everyone should go their own way on this makes sense. I guess it would be like trying to standardize the way we brush our teeth or take a shower and how often and with what kind of soap or what time of day, etc. etc. Wanna really get this going? Let's talk about the 5 second rule! The guys on Myth Busters pretty much proved that one false. Though I am not a germophobe, I will not eat anything dropped on the floor, but if you do, that is your business and I guess that is the whole point. Your body, your decision. 'nuff said?

No hornets nest at all. Stick around a while and you will see what I mean.
We can do that all by ourselves without any prodding from a newbie.

Doesn't matter that I gave you a truckload of reading material...people will still chime in and repeat everything.
I don't care really....I do get tired of the bickering though and we seem to have had a surplus of that lately.

The forum's search function needs a lot to be desired but there are never any new questions...everything anyone ever asks has been asked hundreds of times in the past and always with the exact same responses.

Some of the old timers used to get real testy about it. Sometimes I just let everyone say what they are going to say and don't even chime in like I did with this one. Sheriff got rebuked (which was uncalled for) for suggesting someone do a bit of reading....some people are just that way. There were some old timers that would just have told her to "use the search function" and that would be all they would have said.

I swear, the topic of distill water and cleaning is the most heated on here Those who regularly clean their items are outnumbered 500 to 1 from my unofficial counts.

Read some old cleaning and drying threads for some fun times

I'm going to start washing my humidifier daily, had been doing it weekly. Should only add 1 minute to the daily cleaning routine. Excuse me while I fly away to avoid getting punctured by the pitchforks I see at the bottom of the hill coming for me.

NotLazyJustTired wrote:Sorry folks; I certainly didn't mean to stir up a hornets nest! I think Pugsy's articulate response saying that everyone should go their own way on this makes sense. I guess it would be like trying to standardize the way we brush our teeth or take a shower and how often and with what kind of soap or what time of day, etc. etc. Wanna really get this going? Let's talk about the 5 second rule! The guys on Myth Busters pretty much proved that one false. Though I am not a germophobe, I will not eat anything dropped on the floor, but if you do, that is your business and I guess that is the whole point. Your body, your decision. 'nuff said?

Around here, we follow the 10-second rule or "if you can beat the cats," so I think I've dumped my water for the last time!

Pugsy, I have a feeling you and I would get along just fine IRL!