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Speaking of Distilled vs. Tap Water.
#41
RE: Speaking of Distilled vs. Tap Water.
(01-28-2014, 06:08 AM)philiptd Wrote: Hi All,

I'm brand new to the forum and this is my first post, so, please forgive me if this is a silly question, or, if it has been answered already - I did search, but didn't find any pertinent results.

What do you guys think about using bottled water such as Evian? It's really convenient when traveling because most hotels have it, and it eliminates the hassle of dealing with the gallon jugs of distilled water.

Thanks

Evian and spring water in general still has minerals that are preserved (which is good for drinking) that can cause mineral deposits in the machine. Personally I don't think it would do any harm in the short term, but if you used it everyday for 5+ years you would get more build up in the machine than using distiller water.


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#42
RE: Speaking of Distilled vs. Tap Water.
(01-27-2014, 06:50 AM)DocWils Wrote: Unrefrigerated distilled water, once opened, can develop growth quickly enough - there is ALWAYS a growth medium somewhere, be it on the cap, in the air itself, a speck of dust that floats in, whatever.

So Doc, would it be advisable to add a teaspoon of chlorine to a gallon of distilled water at the time it is first unsealed? No room in the fridgeUnsure
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#43
RE: Speaking of Distilled vs. Tap Water.
(01-28-2014, 06:56 AM)JimZZZ Wrote:
(01-27-2014, 06:50 AM)DocWils Wrote: Unrefrigerated distilled water, once opened, can develop growth quickly enough - there is ALWAYS a growth medium somewhere, be it on the cap, in the air itself, a speck of dust that floats in, whatever.

So Doc, would it be advisable to add a teaspoon of chlorine to a gallon of distilled water at the time it is first unsealed? No room in the fridgeUnsure

No idea - never tried anything like that. Not something we need to do here. Anyway, even a teaspoon would be too much for distilled water. The chlorine is introduced into drinking water to kill off contaminates that are already existing - here you are acting in a preventative measure, since there are no contaminates. I wonder what happens once the chlorine is aerosolised, or if it even gets aerosolised. I guess the question would be how fast you go through a gallon of water. If that is a week's supply, you certainly don't need to do anything except keep the bottle sealed and out of the light. If you are talking about three weeks to a month's usage, then you would be advised to find a way to keep it cooler or introduce something to inhibit any growth. However, I cannot guess at your needs for a variety of reasons, not least being that store bought bottles of distilled water will have different levels of cleanliness to start with, depending on the manufacturer. Because I distil my own and autoclave my bottle, I don't need to worry about this ever, and a 4 litre bottle lasts me around sixteen to twenty days (I don't use a lot in my humidifier - less than 1/4 full in fact, since my humidifier is set at 2) - I tested the left over from the fridge and found no significant growth, so I never have to worry about that.

Again, the big deal of using distilled water is to protect your machine and tubing, and we suspect there may be some health benefits - it is more of a safe than sorry attitude, but it still needs to be addressed. Keeping the bottle cool, sealed and away from the light is enough for a week or more. If you get more than a week's (and a bit) usage, though, you do need to consider ways of inhibiting animalcule growth (that was the term Leeuwenhoek used when he saw bacteria and microscopic life in what he took for clean, pure water - I love it and still use it, although strictly speaking it refers to protozoa).

Alternately, by smaller bottles ;-)



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#44
RE: Speaking of Distilled vs. Tap Water.
(01-28-2014, 06:46 AM)SnuffySleeper Wrote:
(01-28-2014, 06:08 AM)philiptd Wrote: Hi All,

I'm brand new to the forum and this is my first post, so, please forgive me if this is a silly question, or, if it has been answered already - I did search, but didn't find any pertinent results.

What do you guys think about using bottled water such as Evian? It's really convenient when traveling because most hotels have it, and it eliminates the hassle of dealing with the gallon jugs of distilled water.

Thanks

Evian and spring water in general still has minerals that are preserved (which is good for drinking) that can cause mineral deposits in the machine. Personally I don't think it would do any harm in the short term, but if you used it everyday for 5+ years you would get more build up in the machine than using distiller water.

Thanks very much for your response.
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#45
RE: Speaking of Distilled vs. Tap Water.
(01-28-2014, 06:56 AM)JimZZZ Wrote: So Doc, would it be advisable to add a teaspoon of chlorine to a gallon of distilled water at the time it is first unsealed? No room in the fridgeUnsure

Oh please do not do that. Doc's advise on this subject is, as always, very right on.

When we treat water with chlorine we have many tools available to insure the residual does not get above certain levels. That is of course to insure safety if you drink the stuff. I'm not convinced chlorine at any aerosolized level is a good thing to breath. Our lungs really don't like that stuff much.

Also, as Doc so aptly pointed out. a teaspoon full in a gallon of water would be too much even as a disinfectant. Chlorine is a very powerful disinfectant in water. Anytime someone decides to add it on their own, you can pretty much be assured they will use too much.
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#46
RE: Speaking of Distilled vs. Tap Water.
(01-28-2014, 06:15 AM)herbm Wrote: We have a water purifier; will be interesting to see how that water works as I am not likely to also buy distilled water (and lug it home.)

Unless your water purifier is also a distiller, it's not the same.

Distilled water is water that has had the minerals removed from it. The minerals occur naturally. They don't travel with the water in steam so leave behind a white residue. Like if you boil all the water out of a pot, you'll see a white layer on the bottom. Depending on the water source, that white is either very noticeable or not at all.

Quote:Here they change their tune for United States, same question but different answer (maybe to do with lawsuits)

Zonk, this is because a lot of the water here in the states is "hard", meaning it has high mineral content. But it can vary widely.

And like someone else said, it comes down to common sense. But that is sorely lacking. Add in that far too many people follow the rules like the sheep they really are, and the water distillers here in the US are going to be in business for a very long time.
PaulaO

Take a deep breath and count to zen.




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#47
RE: Speaking of Distilled vs. Tap Water.
Without our water softener we quickly build up a nasty residue on the bottom of the tea kettle. Vinegar removes it.

With our water softener and reverse-osmosis filter we never have to clean the tea kettle. We can look inside and the bottom is shiny clean.

Makes a big difference in the bathroom, dish washer, and laundry, too. Although in those cases the water is only softened, not reverse-osmosis filtered. Same for my CPAP tank.
Sleepster

INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED AS MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEB SITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.
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#48
RE: Speaking of Distilled vs. Tap Water.
(01-28-2014, 01:35 PM)retired_guy Wrote:
(01-28-2014, 06:56 AM)JimZZZ Wrote: So Doc, would it be advisable to add a teaspoon of chlorine to a gallon of distilled water at the time it is first unsealed? No room in the fridgeUnsure

Oh please do not do that. Doc's advise on this subject is, as always, very right on.
Don't worry, I won't. I am convinced that I must find room in the fridge. Thanks for the help.
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#49
RE: Speaking of Distilled vs. Tap Water.
I would like to weigh in on a couple of things that have come up in this discussion. First, I use distilled water only as a matter of personal preference and not wanting to need to clean the residue out of the tank regularly.

Distilled water. Distillation kills many bacteria and viruses so distilled water is not unhealthy from the germ standpoint.

Demineralized water being labelled not safe for human consumption. If the water was "de-mineralized" by de-ionization, there is a reason that it might not be healthy for some people. If the water is run through cation and anion exchange columns it will have replaced (hence the name ion exchange) the cations and anions with sodium chloride which some people need to avoid as much as possible. The other potential problem could be that ion exchange does not remove organics. I guess the other question is, if you are breathing the water vapor are you really consuming it? I do not know the answer to that one.

Water softening. Water softening does not reduce the mineral content of the water it just makes it more soluble so that one does not get as much scale formation from it.

For whatever it is worth.

PaytonA

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~ Rest in Peace ~
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#50
RE: Speaking of Distilled vs. Tap Water.
(01-30-2014, 12:11 PM)PaytonA Wrote: Water softening. Water softening does not reduce the mineral content of the water it just makes it more soluble so that one does not get as much scale formation from it.

That's not my understanding. Commercial and residential water softeners use the ion-exchange process you described earlier in your post. The water passes over beads of resin that attract the hard water ions (calcium and magnesium). Periodically a salt water solution is used to clean off those beads, exchanging the calcium and magnesium ions for sodium ions.

I realize that there are other types of water treatment systems that behave the way you described, and they do refer to them as water softeners also.

My understanding is that they are only marginally effective, and that ion exchange is still the gold standard for water softening.
Sleepster

INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED AS MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEB SITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.
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