Left Over Distilled Water

Occasionally I have a bit of Distilled Water left in my Water Tank. Is it okay to reuse it, along with additional Distilled Water?

Like many things dealing with CPAP, this is a decision you must make for yourself. I only empty ours once a month when I clean the water reservoirs. Otherwise, we top off the reservoirs every night before going to bed. Others here empty their reservoir every morning and let it dry out during the day. It boils down to what ever you are comfortable with.

I changed the water in my cpap every week for more than a decade with no problems. I rent and shared a house with a guy that used a lot chemicals, febreeze, pesticides, adhesives. Suddenly the water started turning funny colors and then clumps of growth - boiling, vinegar rinses couldn't get rid of it. I had to buy a new humidifier. I change the water every day on my new machine and clean the pillows and reservoir with soapy water daily!

If you use distilled water, you don't have to empty it ever unless you SEE something in the tank that needs cleaning.. big waste otherwise!

Another member makes her own distilled at home, and only empties out the water in the tank when she "thinks biology may have happened in there".

(I love that line).

medlabtech.miracle wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 05, 2019 1:58 pm

I changed the water in my cpap every week for more than a decade with no problems. I rent and shared a house with a guy that used a lot chemicals, febreeze, pesticides, adhesives. Suddenly the water started turning funny colors and then clumps of growth - boiling, vinegar rinses couldn't get rid of it. I had to buy a new humidifier. I change the water every day on my new machine and clean the pillows and reservoir with soapy water daily!

*bleach*.

palerider wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 05, 2019 2:11 pm

medlabtech.miracle wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 05, 2019 1:58 pm

I changed the water in my cpap every week for more than a decade with no problems. I rent and shared a house with a guy that used a lot chemicals, febreeze, pesticides, adhesives. Suddenly the water started turning funny colors and then clumps of growth - boiling, vinegar rinses couldn't get rid of it. I had to buy a new humidifier. I change the water every day on my new machine and clean the pillows and reservoir with soapy water daily!

*bleach*.

I agree - use something that kills off that "Biology",

Also if you have to change a behavior that has been working for over 10 years, and the only thing that has changed is environmental I would look into that. what sort of funny colors? was it pink slime? or was it moldy? The pink slime stuff would be an airborne bacteria that grows on services just near water. Think of places like around the tub and sink drain, water line of your toilet etc... your water chamber if you leave it full is just like that standing water that presents an environment for "Biology" to happen. Just means you suddenly have more "Biology" in your environment then you did 5+ years ago.

Did you recently move in to this house with the guy that cleans all the time? Did the guy who cleans all the time move in recently? what changed? If you hadn't had to clean your water chamber in like forever and then in a short amount of time it turned into a petri dish I would be concerned that some sort of "Biology" has entered my home and the water chamber is just an indicator of it's presence. The biology may still be harmless but non the less... I suspect ether you moved to a new place, or something new moved in with you.

If your using real distilled water and not some tap water falsely marketed as distilled "honestly this shouldn't be a problem if your buying your distilled water from a reputable place" - you should be able to just leave it in your water chamber and top it off the next night. Just keep in mind that as I said in other posts about cleaning, external environmental factors may come into play, if you have a larger amount of "Active Biology" in your home it's going to get sucked into the air intake and what ever makes it past the filter may start growing in your water chamber, you may have to empty it or clean it move often... if you're lucky and you don't have a lot of airborne critters in the air in your home, you can get away with a lot more and not clean or worry about it.

Best of luck.

I used to empty and clean my water chamber daily. Six or 7 months ago, I switched to once per week I empty and clean, and in between time I just add whatever amount of water required for each night.

Been fine for me . . .

I also make my own distilled water. I dump what is left in the tank back into my supply bottle. Of course I could possibly introduce some biology back into the supply bottle. If that would happen, then I would dump the supply bottle and make a new batch of water. It works for me. YMMV.

Gryphon wrote:

palerider wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 05, 2019 2:11 pm

medlabtech.miracle wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 05, 2019 1:58 pm

I changed the water in my cpap every week for more than a decade with no problems. I rent and shared a house with a guy that used a lot chemicals, febreeze, pesticides, adhesives. Suddenly the water started turning funny colors and then clumps of growth - boiling, vinegar rinses couldn't get rid of it. I had to buy a new humidifier. I change the water every day on my new machine and clean the pillows and reservoir with soapy water daily!

*bleach*.

I agree - use something that kills off that "Biology",

Also if you have to change a behavior that has been working for over 10 years, and the only thing that has changed is environmental I would look into that. what sort of funny colors? was it pink slime? or was it moldy? The pink slime stuff would be an airborne bacteria that grows on services just near water. Think of places like around the tub and sink drain, water line of your toilet etc... your water chamber if you leave it full is just like that standing water that presents an environment for "Biology" to happen. Just means you suddenly have more "Biology" in your environment then you did 5+ years ago.

Did you recently move in to this house with the guy that cleans all the time? Did the guy who cleans all the time move in recently? what changed? If you hadn't had to clean your water chamber in like forever and then in a short amount of time it turned into a petri dish I would be concerned that some sort of "Biology" has entered my home and the water chamber is just an indicator of it's presence. The biology may still be harmless but non the less... I suspect ether you moved to a new place, or something new moved in with you.

If your using real distilled water and not some tap water falsely marketed as distilled "honestly this shouldn't be a problem if your buying your distilled water from a reputable place" - you should be able to just leave it in your water chamber and top it off the next night. Just keep in mind that as I said in other posts about cleaning, external environmental factors may come into play, if you have a larger amount of "Active Biology" in your home it's going to get sucked into the air intake and what ever makes it past the filter may start growing in your water chamber, you may have to empty it or clean it move often... if you're lucky and you don't have a lot of airborne critters in the air in your home, you can get away with a lot more and not clean or worry about it.

Best of luck.

How does one tell if its real distilled water?

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It happened after I moved in the house. Febreeze went through my filters and my air purifier, and I would have to wake up at night, clean everything and wait for it to dry before going back to bed. There was some pink, some yellow and then there started to be yellow mounds. Bleach did not work on this one.

Unfortunately, I became an asthmatic, it's really hard on the body to have those chemicals going through a cpap machine. He had 20 febreeze plug ins indoor and out and sprayed around the perimeter of the house with 3 different pesticides weekly.

medlabtech.miracle wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 05, 2019 6:02 pm

It happened after I moved in the house. Febreeze went through my filters and my air purifier, and I would have to wake up at night, clean everything and wait for it to dry before going back to bed. There was some pink, some yellow and then there started to be yellow mounds. Bleach did not work on this one.

Unfortunately, I became an asthmatic, it's really hard on the body to have those chemicals going through a cpap machine. He had 20 febreeze plug ins indoor and out and sprayed around the perimeter of the house with 3 different pesticides weekly.

Have you moved out?

medlabtech.miracle wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 05, 2019 6:02 pm

It happened after I moved in the house. Febreeze went through my filters and my air purifier, and I would have to wake up at night, clean everything and wait for it to dry before going back to bed. There was some pink, some yellow and then there started to be yellow mounds. Bleach did not work on this one.

Unfortunately, I became an asthmatic, it's really hard on the body to have those chemicals going through a cpap machine. He had 20 febreeze plug ins indoor and out and sprayed around the perimeter of the house with 3 different pesticides weekly.

OMG! 20 smelly plugins? Did he have bodies hidden under the floorboards? Get the heck out of that house! Or get the guy some professional help. I have allergies and some minor chemical sensitivities. That many plugins would make it so I couldnt breath through my nose at all with in 10min or less of being there. No wonder your tank water was changing colors. It was probably slowly trying to turn into a febreeze plugin.

If you've attributed the onset of asthma to the house and the air with in ether make the guy get rid of 4/5ths of the air fresheners or move soon as you can. That many air fresheners isnt healthy. And if hes spraying with pesticides and doesn't know what the hell hes doing, 20 plugins makes me think he's a "more is better" kind of guy and the poisons outside and inside are probably making you sick. I'd move out of there pronto. Wish you well.




As to how you'd know if your distilled water was rebranded tap water. It would be if you saw a lot of mineral deposits left in your tank after a few nights of use. Distilled should leave nothing behind but maybe over months you'll see some deposits of mineralized organics that were sucked into your machine and mixed with the water in the chamber. Fake distilled or tap/spring water will quickly start to form a ruff surface of mineralized deposits on the metal surfaces of your water chamber with in days not months or years like with distilled.

Best of luck with your living situation.

Rest well,
Gryphon

Yes, I was sitting in my college class crying. Lab partner knew of a place I could stay and moved that day into their little mother in law pad. It was at the point of being an emergency move.

You tell if it's real the same way as with anything else you pay for... sometimes you just need to trust stuff until you have evidence it's not 'real'.