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Humidifier (distilled vs. tap water)
#51
RE: Humidifier (distilled vs. tap water)
I'm also using distilled water for my humidifier. My best option. =) Hope this helps.
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#52
RE: Humidifier (distilled vs. tap water)
I use reverse osmosis water from the small unit we have for drinking water.

Never leaves any sediment.
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#53
RE: Humidifier (distilled vs. tap water)
I use distilled water and don't see the build-ups at all. If I do see them, I use a little bit of vinegar and let the tank sit for an hour or so and then clean it.

BTW, lemonade Kool-Aid works as well as the Lemi-Shine and it is a heck of a lot cheaper. Use it all the time in the dishwasher.

Homer
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#54
RE: Humidifier (distilled vs. tap water)
I am a chemist and 15+ year cpap user. If you stop and think for a moment, the water vapor coming off your humidifier has just evaporated from the tank. Essentially, it is distilling itself as you breathe. The principal reasons to be concerned about the quality of the water you put into the tank are:

1) narsty beasties growing in the tank (think respirable mold particles),
2) crusty mineral residue left behind when the water evaporates,
3) volatile solutes distilling off individually (a temporary condition, while the water comes to temp, and briefly thereafter),
4) solutes that co-distill (google the word "azeotrope") Right: where did say you got this so-called "water?"

Note: steam distillation will only occur at humidifier temperatures if you are dead and were very, very naughty during your life... Or, perhaps, if you live in an active volcano.

So, a night or 2 of using tap water, followed by a rinse should be okay. Unless your tap water is vile beyond imagining.

For the past 13 years, I have brought home 16 liters of 2-Megohm (Reagent Grade) DI water about every 6 weeks. Our system at work will produce DI water fast enough to fill a swimming pool in a couple of days and gets used pretty much every day, so it doesn't get stagnant and harbor anything horrendous. If it did, the conductivity of the water would go up and the system's alarm would trigger. So, anyway, I rinse the jugs well (with the DI water), fill them and keep them in my bedroom at ambient temperature and light. I am careful not to leave the caps off any longer than necessary, while filling the humidifier tank, so mold spores don't land in them, but I have never done anything to sterilize the jugs. For 13 years. I trust the very low osmolarity of the DI water to kill pretty much anything living: osmotic pressure will force the DI water across the cell membrane and explode the cells (Does not apply to viruses, 'course, on account-a they ain't got no cells). Long story short: 13 years in, I'm still not dead. (The extra heads are good company, mostly, except they all snore.) As long as your grocery store sells enough water that it doesn't get a chance to go bad, I wouldn't think twice about pathogenic organisms.

DI water, distilled water, purified drinking water from the grocery store should all be adequate, though the latter may leave mineral deposits. Think vinegar. Short term, in a pinch, I have used hotel water, bottled water, dive boat water generator water, etc. In my experience and opinion, you should be much more concerned about what is living in your tubing -- stuff you are exhaling into it -- if you aren't doing a weekly vinegar rinse. Well, okay, at least monthly, unless you have TB or are, like Aqualung, coughing up pieces of your broken lung. One solution is to be sure to drink enough alcohol, periodically, that the ethanol vapor in your breath will kill -- or at least stun -- the little buggers.

Zoroaster.

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#55
RE: Humidifier (distilled vs. tap water)
I have really enjoyed this thread, especially the sailing and diving part. I too am/was a professional chemist. I spent time in larger corporation QA labs and then as a consultant for a lot of years. I won't rehash all of the good information others have provided. I am very adverse to even the residual odor of vinegar so I will never clean my humidity tank with vinegar, I would rather go to the expense of replacing the tank.

One thing though (actually a few things), every couple of weeks I have to clean out the residual residue in my coffee mug with steel wool. Wink Public water systems in the US are very strictly regulated by big brother and is very safe. I don't go out of my way to use bottled water (think of all of the stuff that leaches out of the plastic bottle before you drink the water!) I do buy the bottled distilled water for my humidity tank but I don't drink it.

v/r
Jeff
Sleep is worth the effort.
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#56
RE: Humidifier (distilled vs. tap water)
I just remembered another water item that I found significant at work a couple of weeks ago.

I have a private bathroom in my office at work. The toilet started running for a long time after flushing. It is one of those toilets that sounds like a small jet going by when it flushes. The thing would go for a long time after flushing, as long as twenty minutes! Being the good conservationist, and not wanting to hear the thing all day, I had my co-worker call in a service order. The next day a plumbing repair person shows up and replaces a diaphragm in the toilets innards. As he was leaving, I commented that it was wasting a lot of the Army's water. He then gave me a chemistry lesson on water and told me that, "You can't waste water"! As a chemist and conservationist, my anger level went up, but due to being in my touchy feely stage of life Wink, I merely told him that folks in California wouldn't agree with him. He didn't have a clue.....

Jeff
Sleep is worth the effort.
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#57
RE: Humidifier (distilled vs. tap water)
I used Evian in Europe as I could find no distilled water. Had to descale the humidifier when I got back Smile
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#58
RE: Humidifier (distilled vs. tap water)
(07-26-2015, 11:45 AM)wordjoy Wrote: I used Evian in Europe as I could find no distilled water. Had to descale the humidifier when I got back Smile

Well, Evian is advertised as "mineral water".
Ed Seedhouse
VA7SDH

Part cow since February 2018.

Trust your mind less and your brain more.


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#59
RE: Humidifier (distilled vs. tap water)
I use reverse osmosis water in mine. Two things to think about are mineral build up in your humidifier tank and that many municipalities have unsafe water at some time during the year, usually following flooding or early spring thaws.

For an immune suppressed person inhaling cysts and aeomeba can be deadly. The reason distilled water can pull minerals from your body is it is acidic/ low ph. Your body must maintain the ph balance of your blood at all costs so if you drink large quantities of soda pop, much lower ph than distilled water, your body will pull minerals from your bones.

The tiny amount of distilled water you breath in is quit low compared to one coca cola.
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#60
RE: Humidifier (distilled vs. tap water)
(07-28-2015, 07:43 PM)jingo Wrote: .........The reason distilled water can pull minerals from your body is it is acidic/ low ph. Your body must maintain the ph balance of your blood at all costs so if you drink large quantities of soda pop, much lower ph than distilled water, your body will pull minerals from your bones.

The tiny amount of distilled water you breath in is quit low compared to one coca cola.

Highly purified water (whether by distillation or reverse osmosis) is exactly neutral. After exposure to air for a period of time it will dissolve some of the CO2 from the air and become *slightly* acidic.

I would like to see some reference that shows that carbonated drinks decalcify one's bones. If the acid from carbonated drinks cause decalcification what does the stronger acid that is native to your stomach do?

Bewst Regards,

PaytonA

Admin Note:
PaytonA passed away in September 2017
Click HERE to read his Memorial Thread

~ Rest in Peace ~
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