Smartwater

I've been using regular distilled water in my humidifier for years but recently tried Smartwater. As I understand it, it's glacier water, vapour distilled. My question is this, has anyone else tried this water in their humidifier? The reason I ask is that the bottle shows "trace amounts" of minerals and electrolytes. I'm no water expert so is it still ok to use in my humidifier. It's a little more expensive than regular distilled water but I find the bottle size is more convenient to store and now, much easier to find in stores.

m1k2s31984 wrote:I've been using regular distilled water in my humidifier for years but recently tried Smartwater. As I understand it, it's glacier water, vapour distilled. My question is this, has anyone else tried this water in their humidifier? The reason I ask is that the bottle shows "trace amounts" of minerals and electrolytes. I'm no water expert so is it still ok to use in my humidifier. It's a little more expensive than regular distilled water but I find the bottle size is more convenient to store and now, much easier to find in stores.

You're wasting your money on it. You can't beat plain-old-regular-distilled-water.

The trace minerals that you note in the "Smartwater" are not desireable and eventually can cause a build-up of scale in your humidifier. I note that you've not provided their definitions of "trace", but this could mean anything from almost undetectable to what are actually quite high concentrations.

The trace minerals and electrolytes are added. So, they have distilled water, and then add salts.

Not only does it cost more, it's no better or no worse than generic store distilled water. It may even be worse, because it's specifially marketed for consumption, which means it needs more salt and minerals.

Hose_Head wrote: You're wasting your money on it. You can't beat plain-old-regular-distilled-water.

The trace minerals that you note in the "Smartwater" are not desireable and eventually can cause a build-up of scale in your humidifier. I note that you've not provided their definitions of "trace", but this could mean anything from almost undetectable to what are actually quite high concentrations.

MagicCityDawg wrote:The trace minerals and electrolytes are added. So, they have distilled water, and then add salts.

Not only does it cost more, it's no better or no worse than generic store distilled water. It may even be worse, because it's specifially marketed for consumption, which means it needs more salt and minerals.

Inconvenient Truths.

m1k2s31984 wrote:...glacier water, vapour distilled...

Marketing hogwash at it's finest!

If you like the glacier water bottle as a convenience - buy it, drink the water, rinse the bottle thorougly with vinegar (to get all those nasty minerals etc. out), then wash again in hot soapy water, rinse well - then fill from a 1 gallon bottle of el-cheapo distilled water for around $0.80/gal and use that to fill your humidifier.

xena

Last time I was at WalMart, they had distilled water for $0.67/gallon.

I bought lots!

Weezy

Just curious about how much that "Smartwater" costs?

Save the fancy water for drinking. Distilled water is super cheap (since it's not ideal for consumption), and it's what all humidifiers call for. I have an el cheapo home humidifier that I've put tap water in and after two years it has this creepy yellow scaley stuff on parts and a sticky almost-oil-like deposit in other parts. I wouldn't want an expensive CPAP machine to be ruined like that in a few years.

bradb wrote:and it's what all humidifiers call for

Outside North America most instructions from xPAP vendors just state "clean water", or similar. The fixation on distilled water in North America is a cultural thing.

Cheers,

Bill

billbolton wrote:

bradb wrote:and it's what all humidifiers call for

Outside North America most instructions from xPAP vendors just state "clean water", or similar. The fixation on distilled water in North America is a cultural thing.

Cheers,

Bill

I think that's due to the fluoride we add to our water. It serves a purpose.

Hey Bill, just curious, What water do you use?? Sydney water?? I used to live in Sydney, and I think the chlorine smell would be too much for me. Maybe I've been spoilt by living on tank water.
I'm heading to Sydney shortly, and was wondering what to do about water for my humidifier - probably just buy a couple of small bottles of drinking water for the few days I'll be there. Any suggestions??
Thanks

Dimples wrote:What water do you use??

If the tap water where I am is safe to drink, I usually use that.

Dimples wrote:I used to live in Sydney, and I think the chlorine smell would be too much for me.

There's no smell of any sort in the water out of my taps at home....... and in any case, any disolved chlorine will evapourate if you let water stand in a bowl or jug for an hour or so.

Re tank water... how long since you've had your's analysed?

Cheers,

Bill

billbolton wrote:Re tank water... how long since you've had your's analysed?

Interesting question . . . I'm waiting to have our tanks cleaned at the moment, so I'm not using tank water in my humidifier.
Our water is filtered before it gets into the tanks, then filtered between the pump and the house pipes, and then I filter the water we drink (and usually put in my humidifier) using a "sub micron ceramic filter". Never had any water related problems with the family, but at the moment I'm using a packaged water from the supermarket, which is actually recommended for CPAP use.

I hate smart cars. I don't want to even think about smart water.