Sticky: Distilled Water vs. bottled water vs tap water

ZipZap wrote: ↑

Thu May 03, 2018 6:22 am

The problem with vinegar is that the smell lingers (at least for me).
For a breathing device that is intolerable and I hate the smell of vinegar.
What else do folks use to clean?

Then learn to rinse it well.

Others have reported using citric acid.

palerider wrote: ↑

Tue May 01, 2018 5:36 pm

This comes up over, and over... It oughta be a sticky.

In other countries, where distilled water is not as cheap and plentiful as it is in the states... you know what the cpap manuals say to use?

"WATER"

Just plain, ordinary "water", not bottled, not distilled, not mineral, not purified... just "water".

Just use tap water. When it's heated and vapor evaporates off of the water in your humidifier, that's the first step in distillation anyway... and that's why any minerals in the water end up left behind in the tank... Clean them out with vinegar, or even citric acid.

I decided to make it a sticky. Tired of people not using the search function and tired of answering same question over and over again.
I did clean up the thread a bit...lots of off topic chit chat muddying up things.

At home I use reverse osmosis water. On business travel I use tap water from hotel. I’ve never had an issue

How did this thread get unlocked?

chunkyfrog wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 11, 2024 11:10 am

How did this thread get unlocked?

I don't recall ever locking this thread. Just because it is a sticky doesn't mean it has to be locked.

But I am old and forgetful. I could have done it and forgot.
If people start going off on a wild tangent and showing their ignorance and being ugly to people who think differently than they do ....I will lock it.

Yes, it was locked.
I believe it is because many people are not aware of how incredibly hard local water can get,
and yet be completely safe to drink--even healthy, because, minerals.
Minerals which gunk up your cpap tank, water system, and your steam iron.

We're talking about a buildup of calcium or whatever in the reservoir. But what about the rest of the machine? Does it go right from the reservoir into the tube that goes to your mask, or does it go through the machine at all and builds up garbage in there.

Every 6 months I think I get a new reservoir from Lincare and I'm not even using the water right now, being in Delray Beach but I'm starting to think it wouldn't be a bad idea to start using the reservoir and distilled water because I think I'm waking up dry even in my jaw. That's if this goes away you know within a few minutes after I get up.

Right now I have the S9 and I don't think that was too great with water. I'm not even sure if it'll work correctly so I stopped using it. I would think that 10 years later or almost 15 since they designed the S9, things have gotten better. I heard there was a hiccup with the air since 11 but I'm now hearing that that's been solved.

So once again the question is, it's one thing to calcify your reservoir that you can clean with vinegar or user replacement, but if it gets into the machine then that calcium will never come out. So does it go further than the reservoir to the tube to the mask is that the only path?

alancalan wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 20, 2024 12:33 pm

We're talking about a buildup of calcium or whatever in the reservoir. But what about the rest of the machine? Does it go right from the reservoir into the tube that goes to your mask, or does it go through the machine at all and builds up garbage in there.

alancalan wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 20, 2024 12:33 pm

So does it go further than the reservoir to the tube to the mask is that the only path?

alancalan wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 20, 2024 12:33 pm

if it gets into the machine then that calcium will never come out.

So.....how could the water get inside the machine itself???

Look at the path of the air coming into the machine and finally make it into the long hose and mask? How would the water get from there to inside the machine (except by obvious tilting over and spilling the water into the machine which if that happened then mineral build up would be the last of your problems...water and electronics don't play nice together.)

Hi all,

My father and I have been using a home distilling machine that we purchased online to distil water for my mother's bipap machine (a ResMed Lumis 150 VPAP ST).

The distilling machine we purchased uses carbon filters as part of the process, does anybody know which part of the distilling process the carbon filter performs? Is it the removing of the minerals, or are the minerals removed in the boiling/steam collection process of distilling?

The reason I am asking is that I have noticed some black coloured grime at times in the humidifier tray of her bipap machine, along with a few small black specs and a patchy thin film type substance on top of the remaining water in the humidifier tray and in the mask of a morning after a night's use (kind of similar to what I was noticing in her previous Philips Bipap machine that was recalled).

I am suspecting it may be related to the black carbon substance in the filter we use for distilling, however I am not sure.

After we finish a distilling run, we take the carbon filter out of the distilling machine and let it dry on some paper towel, I have noticed that it stains the paper towel a black colour, as whatever material is inside the carbon filter does leak out (We have also had an issue one time where the carbon filter bag ripped open and we had to replace the filter), I am assuming it is some kind of black carbon material in the filter, I don't know if this is dangerous or not if it is in the humidifier tray water.

Once we bottle up our distilled water it looks very clean/pure aside from the odd specs of dust, so perhaps I am wrong that the carbon filter is causing issues.

Sorry for the long over-explanation, but in summary I was wondering if I remove the carbon filter from the distilling process would it still effectively be distilled water, or would running the distiller without this filter make it no different from just boiled tap water?

Thank you for any help

Distilling removes minerals.
Carbon removes volatile compounds--including odors.

I am not worried about the water tank because that get's replaced every 6 months and what I do is used filtered and then boiled water that I use for drinking. However, since the AR11 is a new machine with some problems, I am using only distilled water in case something goes wrong. I am not really happy with the way the tank fits into the body of the machine. It may be nothing but it's not in tight and I know how to firmly close it. Is that true for the air sense 11 too?

The other problem with not using distilled water is that the minerals in the water can get into parts of the machine. I'm not sure of that is correct, so does anyone know? Does the water or steam bypass everything and go right into the tube?

Alan

alancalan wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 11, 2024 12:18 pm

I am not worried about the water tank because that get's replaced every 6 months and what I do is used filtered and then boiled water that I use for drinking. However, since the AR11 is a new machine with some problems, I am using only distilled water in case something goes wrong. I am not really happy with the way the tank fits into the body of the machine. It may be nothing but it's not in tight and I know how to firmly close it. Is that true for the air sense 11 too?

The other problem with not using distilled water is that the minerals in the water can get into parts of the machine. I'm not sure of that is correct, so does anyone know? Does the water or steam bypass everything and go right into the tube?

Alan

Water cannot get into the machine itself unless you spill it inside the machine.
Look at the circuit and where the water is. It can't go backwards with normal use.

alancalan wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 11, 2024 12:18 pm

what I do is used filtered and then boiled water that I use for drinking.

Boiling water for the CPAP water is completely unnecessary and actually increases the percentage of mineralization

alancalan wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 11, 2024 12:18 pm

The other problem with not using distilled water is that the minerals in the water can get into parts of the machine. I'm not sure of that is correct, so does anyone know? Does the water or steam bypass everything and go right into the tube?

For the same reasons that dirt and rust in your car's tailpipe, can't work its way back into your engine cylinders. Minerals can't work its way back into your device.

I just use regular tap water and clean the tank every couple of weeks with vinegar. Is that ok? I'm too lazy to mess with any other types of water.