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Can I use tap water in the humidifier?
#21
RE: Can I use tap water in the humidifier?


EVERYBODY: Thanks

I have learn a lot with your answers.

Ralph.


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#22
RE: Can I use tap water in the humidifier?
(08-13-2016, 08:16 AM)natyprueba Wrote: EVERYBODY: Thanks

I have learn a lot with your answers.

Ralph.

Now all you have to do is decide which of us idiots you are going to take the advice of.
Laugh-a-lot Laugh-a-lot Laugh-a-lot Laugh-a-lotLaugh-a-lot
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#23
RE: Can I use tap water in the humidifier?
One last comment.
My water comes from a well. It is so hard, showering is like being sand blasted clean. So, we have a water softener to take out the minerals but that adds salt. I use distilled water not for germs, mold, etc. but because it's soooo cheap and my tank stays clean ans maintenance free.
CPAP is a journey like “The Wizard of Oz”. It’s a long slow journey. You will face many problems and pick up many friends along the way. Just because you reach the poppies, it doesn’t mean you are in Kansas. 
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#24
RE: Can I use tap water in the humidifier?
I use tap water since I'm drinking quite a bit of it daily and it hasn't killed me yet. When I was growing up, everyone at home and at school drank from the same dipper, but I digress.

Cleaning my humidifier has never been one of my important issues and I do it when needed (i.e., once in a while). Worrying about my humidifier has never kept me awake nights like some of the other issues associated with apnea does.

Dude
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#25
RE: Can I use tap water in the humidifier?
I started using distilled water but switched to tap water about 4 months ago. I thoroughly rinse out my tank with hot water then fill with cold tap water. I use a little over half a tank in one night. I have very hard water but get no mineral build up. This also makes travel easier as I don't need to transport water.

Rich
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#26
RE: Can I use tap water in the humidifier?
Not all tap water is the same. Where I live we pipe out of lakes that result from drainage from a rain forest. Since it's basically rainwater it is very low in mineral content, though not as low as distilled water. Probably that water would be fine.

But if you live in a continental interior and you get your water from a river a long way from it's source or a lake that is fed by very long rivers, your water will contain lots of minerals and be "hard". I learned about "hard" water when I lived in Toronto and found that soap curdled in my bath! Also well water will generally be "hard". If I still lived in T.O. no way would I use that water in my humidifier.

Paradoxically "hard" water is actually better for you because of the mineral content.

In general the further your water runs in rivers or lakes before it gets to your tap the harder it will be because it has lots of time to accumulate dissolved minerals. Also, anything in a bottle labled "mineral water" will have, surprise, a lot of minerals in it.

At least this is how I understand things.
Ed Seedhouse
VA7SDH

Part cow since February 2018.

Trust your mind less and your brain more.


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#27
RE: Can I use tap water in the humidifier?
(08-13-2016, 09:18 PM)eseedhouse Wrote: Not all tap water is the same. Where I live we pipe out of lakes that result from drainage from a rain forest. Since it's basically rainwater it is very low in mineral content, though not as low as distilled water. Probably that water would be fine.

But if you live in a continental interior and you get your water from a river a long way from it's source or a lake that is fed by very long rivers, your water will contain lots of minerals and be "hard". I learned about "hard" water when I lived in Toronto and found that soap curdled in my bath! Also well water will generally be "hard". If I still lived in T.O. no way would I use that water in my humidifier.

Paradoxically "hard" water is actually better for you because of the mineral content.

In general the further your water runs in rivers or lakes before it gets to your tap the harder it will be because it has lots of time to accumulate dissolved minerals. Also, anything in a bottle labled "mineral water" will have, surprise, a lot of minerals in it.

At least this is how I understand things.
If you've never had San Pellegrino water, you need to give it a try. It picks up minerals over a long journey and becomes naturally carbonated. The company also adds some carbonation. It is an excellent mineral water.

I use distilled because the water here is very hard with enough minerals to turn my shower stall chalky white within a week or two.

I learned the lesson using my waterpik. The wand clogs up after a few months with tap water. There's no way to clean it so it has to be replaced. Even running vinegar through it doesn't work.

On a cautionary note, if you use tap water, and it clogs the machine internally, the manufacturer could deny a warranty claim.

If you begin to see mineral deposits in the tub, there are lots of products that will remove it. There's seldom any need to replace it.

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#28
RE: Can I use tap water in the humidifier?
(08-13-2016, 08:26 AM)Ockrocket Wrote:
(08-13-2016, 08:16 AM)natyprueba Wrote: EVERYBODY: Thanks

I have learn a lot with your answers.

Ralph.

Now all you have to do is decide which of us idiots you are going to take the advice of.
Laugh-a-lot Laugh-a-lot Laugh-a-lot Laugh-a-lotLaugh-a-lot
Hello Ockrocket.
I take very serious this forum because when I began over here 2 months ago and I didn't know nothing about this new world. I don't have any kind of medical education and in this forum there are a lot of guys and ladies with a lot of knowledge about the mask, the
machines, software, etc.
In this particular case I reach my goal. Is better for me to be 100% in the safe side and use distilled water, but that doesn't mean that if I run out of water I can use tap water with out problem or remorse.
ralph.
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#29
RE: Can I use tap water in the humidifier?
Thanks for this info, Payton. Great-info

(08-12-2016, 11:13 PM)PaytonA Wrote: For anyone that is interested, there is a difference between distilled water and the water vapor that comes from your humidifier. Most distilled water is steam distilled which means that the water is going to the condenser as steam. Do you see steam in your hose? Since with steam distillation the water is boiled it can take larger things with it as well as the boiling being able to actually throw some things out of the water to get taken up by the steam.

In the humidifier, no boiling is going on and it is dependent on the partial pressure of the water at the temperature at which it is maintained to get water molecules to go into solution in the air passing by. Humidity is water molecules in solution in the air. It is similar in appearance to when you dissolve a little salt in water. You can not see the dissolved salt. Since it is one water molecule at a time going into the air the size of anything that can go with it is much smaller than with distillation of water. For this reason "algae or microscopic amoeba" will not be carried over from the tank although they can grow in the tank. There are some organic chemicals that have a high enough partial pressure at humidifier temperatures to go with the water vapor.

Best Regards,

PaytonA

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#30
RE: Can I use tap water in the humidifier?
(08-13-2016, 10:52 PM)Jim Bronson Wrote: On a cautionary note, if you use tap water, and it clogs the machine internally, the manufacturer could deny a warranty claim.

If you begin to see mineral deposits in the tub, there are lots of products that will remove it. There's seldom any need to replace it.

Agree with most of your comment, but the only component that could be affected by mineral deposits is the humidifier tub. That said, my assertion that I have always used tap water is facilitated by the fact I have always had access to good quality tap water with relatively low hardness. Municipal water supplies must add calcium or magnesium to increase hardness if water is very soft. Extremely soft water tends to be corrosive to pipes, which is what carried lead from supply lines, to the tap in places like Flint.
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