RE: Humidifier
I have used nothing but tap water since early 2008. My original humidifier chamber in my old M-series auto lasted 6 years and was still going when I retired the machine. Most treated water in the U.S. is clean and free of bacteria, viruses, parasites, and has low levels of minerals. Water is required to pass rigorous testing for stringent maximum concentration limits of toxic metals and bacteria. While some supplies have excessive calcium, it can easily be removed using CLR or vinegar. I have never had a problem with deposits.
I am amazed at the perception of risk people have from the use of clean tap water in a humidifier. Compared to almost anything else you do all day it is negligible. How much water vapor do you inhale while taking a hot shower? Automotive exhaust from that highway 2-miles away is far more harmful. Anyway, have fun with your bottles of distilled water. You can have them.
RE: Humidifier
True enough Payton. I don't know at what levels the ammonia could cause problems with some of the plastics. Most likely, you'd throw it away for other reasons before it would break down any of the plastic/rubber components. Ammonia can cause a fogging of certain plastics.
One easy thing to do is to just put it in an open container and let it off gas a couple of days prior to use. The chlorine will certainly dissipate, the ammonia not so much, but as you say the levels are very low. I know we had people complain of the odor of ammonia after a conversion to chloramines. Some people are just more sensitive than others.
As to the deep water kind. We are working hard trying to get the boat ready to get out of this marina $$$$$ ASAP and hopefully over to the Tuamotus for some more great diving. Looks like our last package should arrive next week and we should be out of here and off to Fakarava....can't wait...
RE: Humidifier
Disclaimer: The 'Advisory Member' title is a Forum thing that I cannot change. I am not a doctor and my comments are purely my opinion or quote my personal experience. Regardless of my experience other readers mileage may vary.
RE: Humidifier
I used distilled water (pass over) at home and while traveling in the U.S.
Distilled water is more difficult to find in Europe so sometimes I use bottled water when there. The place to find distilled water in Europe is in the ironing section of department stores and in the automotive section (for car batteries) in hardware stores (haven't tried that source though).
RE: Humidifier
We have a well and have extremely hard water. So far I've been using distilled water just because I don't want to deal with the hard water deposits if I used well water. I haven't figured out what I'm going to do when we travel though. I've ordered a spare humidifier chamber so I may just dedicate that to non-distilled water use.
RE: Humidifier
Short term use of municipal water won't hurt anything. As Payton says, empty the tank after use and refill. The only problem I've had with using other than distilled water is some systems are pretty heavily chlorinated and the smell is not all that great when first masking up. But, after awhile, once the chlorine gas takes over, everything seems fine and I go dark.
RE: Humidifier
SailingAway I hope you will provide some in depth reviews of your experiences with a CPAP machine on a boat. Do you maintain a sailing blog? If so where. (if posting this isn't Hoyle would you please PM the URL to me?) We eventually lost our last boat after a storm and decided not to refit. It looks like I will be in late sixties before we can cruise again.
I love the taste of watermaker (RO) water and going back to municipal water supplies on the Nature Coast or Ohio made me realize how awful is the product of most central water supplies.
A little info for those who are new to the idea of living on a sailboat -"Cruising" or boating in general.
boat is an acronym for Bring Out Another Thousand.
a boat is a hole in the water in which you throw money.
Cruising is HARD work.
Cruising is "Boat repair in exotic places"
Kids who grow up on a cruising boat are AMAZING people.
Sailing a beam reach in the trades is way better than drugs to quite one's ADHD monkey mind.
The incredible sky view from a sailboat away from land is something one must see to believe
A sundowner with a loved one and an amazing sunset makes it all worthwhile :grin: