Water for Heated Humidifier

NeurosurgeryNP · Post by **NeurosurgeryNP** » Sat Mar 12, 2005 1:37 pm

Just wondering what you are all usinf for your humidifier. Are you using distilled water and then boiling it or are you putting it right in from the bottle? Any one had problems with the ladder?

wading thru the muck! · Post by **wading thru the muck!** » Sat Mar 12, 2005 1:49 pm

Distilled water, right from the bottle. Unless you have your machine on a high shelf you shouldn't need to use a ladder.

Mikesus · Post by **Mikesus** » Sat Mar 12, 2005 2:18 pm

Don't need to boil water... Just get distilled water. No nasty stuff growing if you use distilled... If you want biology experiments, use tap water or spring water... You will end up with some kind of scale on the sides of the humifier with either tap or spring water.

Zees Pleez · Post by **Zees Pleez** » Sat Mar 12, 2005 4:03 pm

Store brand of distilled, straight out of the bottle. Boiling is likely to introduce an impurity; it would be sterile, but might have food in it after boiling. Then stuff could grow. But if you are changing and cleaning often, it really seems like it wouldn't matter much.

rock and roll · Post by **rock and roll** » Sat Mar 12, 2005 4:10 pm

Only distilled right from the bottle. I find I never have to clean humidifier if I use just this water. I do travel so am always patting my humidifier dry before transport so it looks like brand new.

rested gal · Post by **rested gal** » Sat Mar 12, 2005 4:52 pm

I use distilled water available in any supermarket, straight from the bottle. I almost never empty or clean my humidifier chamber (I'm talking months at a time.) I just add more distilled water as needed each morning, to be ready for the night. Stays crystal clear. Have had no problems so far...knock on plastic. I do keep the funnel I use for just that one purpose - adding water - scrupulously clean.

eblack · Post by **eblack** » Sat Mar 12, 2005 4:57 pm

Sometimes it is frustrating how you hear completely different info from different sources. Both my MD and DME told me that tap water is fine. I have been using tap water for over 1 year, and with constant cleaning and rinsing I still had to replace the chamber on my humidifier. Since the new chamber I have been using distilled water and there is no residue or corrosion. My vote goes for using distilled water.

wading thru the muck! · Post by **wading thru the muck!** » Sat Mar 12, 2005 5:16 pm

eblack,

This is one of the reasons I'm with rested gal on this one. Seems foolish to go to the trouble to use distilled water and then wash and rinse the chamber out with tap water. I just attempt to put enough distilled water in for one night and then if any is left I just top it off for the next night.

shazzer · Post by **shazzer** » Sat Mar 12, 2005 8:01 pm

Iwas just wondering if anyone has a problem with a dry cough while using Cpap. It is quite annoying. It does not occur every night, but it does happen quite often.

Thanks,

Shazzer

Yoga · Post by **Yoga** » Sun Mar 13, 2005 1:22 am

How often do you change your filters? On my Remstar Pro w/cflex, I wash the black (permanent filters) once a week. I check the white (disposable filters) each week and change them if dirty.

Medicare allows 2 white filters a month & 1 black filter every 6 months.

When I first got my machine, I did not realize this for a few months and had the urge to cough.

heretolearn · Post by **heretolearn** » Sun Mar 13, 2005 8:24 am

Now, Wader, best be careful about "topping" things off or you just might have to get that ladder for sure!!!

wading thru the muck! · Post by **wading thru the muck!** » Sun Mar 13, 2005 9:02 am

heretolearn wrote:Now, Wader, best be careful about "topping" things off or you just might have to get that ladder for sure!!!

Thanks for acknowledging my feeble attempt at humor. I should be the last one to pick on anybody about miss-spelling.

sgrol · Post by **sgrol** » Sun Mar 13, 2005 9:28 pm

I have used tap water for 5 years. I empty and let air dry every morning and fill before going to bed. Have had no ill effects and saved money too. I use a stainless steel water pan and it does have deposits on it but the water vapor you breathe is pure no matter what kind of water you put in it.

snamvar · Post by **snamvar** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 12:03 am

Just topping it off with distilled water makes so much sense. Rinsing and washing with tap water every night does not.
Getting CPAP therapy to a perfect art

Hugh Jass · Post by **Hugh Jass** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 7:23 am

I use a stainless steel water pan and it does have deposits on it but the water vapor you breathe is pure no matter what kind of water you put in it.

Wouldn't this only be true if the water was brought to the boiling point killing any bacteria ?

Also, some contaminants that have boiling points lower than that of water could carry over into the steam, which is why most water distillers are equipped with a volatile gas vent, a feature which removes most of these contaminants.

Our hoses do not have this gas vent so we could be breathing contaminents all night long using only tap water.

I use distilled water, but tend to do what rested gal and wader do, just top it off every day as needed.

I do change it completly every 4-5 days however and rince it out with tap water.

Regards