Water for humidifier

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Permalink Reply by David on December 11, 2012 at 19:35

Hi Christine . I've used boiled water for over a year with no problems and during our fortnight holiday in the outer Hebrides I used it straight from the tap with no problems because we were in hotels. more important is to wash the tank out weekly to stop bacteria growing in the warm wet atmosphere. Could you not get one on the NHS for nothing?

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Permalink Reply by Christine Woods on December 11, 2012 at 20:17

Thanks David
My husband has had his NHS CPAP since about 1996 but now we are retired he is finding it so heavy and cumbersome to take on holiday. The NHS would not change his CPAP saying he woulde need to break his in order to get another. Thanks to the forum and talking to Kath and everyone about CPAP and travel my husband has now bought a private lighter CPAP. For his NHS CPAP he has used always used boiled tap water (the CPAP separate chamber has been replaced a few times over the years by the sleep clinic without question ).
This new CPAP has an integrated water chamber so my husband wants to look after it correctly from the start-hence my asking for guidance.

David said:

Hi Christine . I've used boiled water for over a year with no problems and during our fortnight holiday in the outer Hebrides I used it straight from the tap with no problems because we were in hotels. more important is to wash the tank out weekly to stop bacteria growing in the warm wet atmosphere. Could you not get one on the NHS for nothing?

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Permalink Reply by Terry Vella on December 11, 2012 at 22:05

Christine, distilled is supposed to be the best, you can boil it and some people even use tap water but empty it each day, I always use distilled because with boiled and tap water you dont know what chemicals are in them and then what you are breating in. I'm fairly sure your Chemist over there sell distilled water and some of your supermakets. I buy 2 lts for $1.39 and it last me two weeks.

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Permalink Reply by Christine Woods on December 11, 2012 at 22:30

Thanks Terry
Once on a cruise we were given 2 bottles of distilled water for CPAP use but for hotels I have usually packed a travel kettle and boiled water for each night. Tomorrow I will ask around locally and see if we can buy distilled water-our local chemist does not stock DW. Amazon UK sell distilled water and also machines to make it. I am reading you cannot drink distilled water so there must be a difference between purified (eg Brita) and distilled machines. >

Terry Vella said:

Christine, distilled is supposed to be the best, you can boil it and some people even use tap water but empty it each day, I always use distilled because with boiled and tap water you dont know what chemicals are in them and then what you are breating in. I'm fairly sure your Chemist over there sell distilled water and some of your supermakets. I buy 2 lts for $1.39 and it last me two weeks.

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Permalink Reply by Lisa on December 11, 2012 at 23:47

Hello Christine,

You should be able to get distilled water through your pharmacy. I am getting it from my local pharmacist  in 5 litre containers. The label on container says it comes from Ultra Pure Laboratories , Shraheen, Foxford, Co. Mayo, Ireland. You should be able to get it on prescription.

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Permalink Reply by Christine Woods on December 12, 2012 at 10:50

Hi Lisa have just phoned our local Boots chemist and they can't help for a distilled water supplier. Good news is I have heard back from new CPAP supplier who say we can use our own Scottish tap water as it is soft. Have also been told my husband can clean the reserviour in the dishawasher providing it is on the glass cycle. This will make such a change as the NHS chamber cannot be washed this way.
Thanks for all your guidance, I will look at also buying DW online for when we travel to rest of UK that has harder water.

Lisa said:

Hello Christine,

You should be able to get distilled water through your pharmacy. I am getting it from my local pharmacist  in 5 litre containers. The label on container says it comes from Ultra Pure Laboratories , Shraheen, Foxford, Co. Mayo, Ireland. You should be able to get it on prescription.

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Permalink Reply by Christine Woods on December 13, 2012 at 19:37

Hi the new CPAP has just arrived so hubby is reading all about the amazing functions compared to his NHS model!
I spoke to a friendly chap from Scottish Water today , he tells me that the Glasgow water( from Loch Katrine) has very low hardness at 15 milligrams per litre. Thought I would share if anyone with CPAP visits our area.
I spoke also to our Doctor's surgery and have been told that distilled water is not on prescription. Notice that Amazon is selling distilled water plus machines to make it. The Scottish Water rep says that Scottish bottled water has a much higher hardness level so should not be used for the CPAP.

Christine Woods said:

Hi Lisa have just phoned our local Boots chemist and they can't help for a distilled water supplier. Good news is I have heard back from new CPAP supplier who say we can use our own Scottish tap water as it is soft. Have also been told my husband can clean the reserviour in the dishawasher providing it is on the glass cycle. This will make such a change as the NHS chamber cannot be washed this way.
Thanks for all your guidance, I will look at also buying DW online for when we travel to rest of UK that has harder water.

Lisa said:

Hello Christine,

You should be able to get distilled water through your pharmacy. I am getting it from my local pharmacist  in 5 litre containers. The label on container says it comes from Ultra Pure Laboratories , Shraheen, Foxford, Co. Mayo, Ireland. You should be able to get it on prescription.

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Permalink Reply by Kath Hope on December 14, 2012 at 0:45

Thanks for the info Christine.  The interesting thing is that I've been speaking to one of our other forum members lately about distilled water, and she's in Scotland and gets it on prescription for her child.  I'll ask her to come and confirm on here.

Hope your hubby likes his new machine

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Permalink Reply by carol murphy on December 14, 2012 at 9:56

Hi

My almost 3 year old uses cpap and we got distilled water through our community nurses Baxter H2O ref : UKF7114 it is sterile water for irrigation 100ml bottles it isnt in the prescription formula but can be prescribed as a "Special" which means the gp surgery pay the levy out of there budget so it may depend on the area etc you could always contact your PCT to see what they say

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Permalink Reply by Christine Woods on December 14, 2012 at 14:24

Thanks Carol
My husband used tap water for his new CPAP (takes about 350mls) so your guidance is really appreciated. I will talk over with our GP to see if they could treat my hubby as a 'special'. Seemingly no-one at the sleep clinic has ever given water quality/ distilled water guidance, Hubby has had his NHS CPAP for around 16 years , the Resipronics chamber has been changed quite a few times with no problems (depostis were gathering on the base and once there was a small hole in it! )/>

carol murphy said:

Hi

My almost 3 year old uses cpap and we got distilled water through our community nurses Baxter H2O ref : UKF7114 it is sterile water for irrigation 100ml bottles it isnt in the prescription formula but can be prescribed as a "Special" which means the gp surgery pay the levy out of there budget so it may depend on the area etc you could always contact your PCT to see what they say

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Permalink Reply by Jonathan on December 15, 2012 at 11:46

Hi,

I used to buy "Purified Water BP" from the chemist.  My local Sainsbury's pharmacy sold it in 1 litre bottles, but eventually I found a pharmacy who sold it in 5 litre bottles.  You can find it on-line, but bear in mind that it weighs 5kg.  Then I tried Highland Spring water from the local supermarket which worked pretty well.  The doctor at the sleep clinic was happy for me to use either.

When I had my kitchen refitted I installed a whole-house water softener, and now I just use water out of the tap.  That works really well, and must have paid for itself compared to buying purified water!  As I live in London with very hard water, it's also great that the shower doesn't gum up with lime scale etc :)

When travelling, once I've got through airport security the first thing I do is buy a bottle of water so I know I will be able to use the machine at the destination.

Whenever the CPAP reservoir gets a bit chalky, I wash it out with neat vinegar.

Jonathan.

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Permalink Reply by Christine Woods on December 15, 2012 at 12:09

Hi Jonathan, pleased to hear the ping of the Ipad with your words. Following Lisa's and Carol's guidance I am awaiting our local Boots to help with a price for Baxters H2O. The new CPAP rep phoned hubby last night and said again that tap water was OK and mentioned the vinegar rinse.
The CPAP humidifier booklet is a bit vague re type of water required -we have also been advised not now to put the chamber in the dishwasher but use vinegar. This also is new to us. Do you use white vinegar , would not imagine the malt for fish and ships was ideal but maybe hubby would enjoy !
We used to live in Enfield so know the hardness of the water there. All forum help is appreciated


Jonathan said:

Hi,

I used to buy "Purified Water BP" from the chemist.  My local Sainsbury's pharmacy sold it in 1 litre bottles, but eventually I found a pharmacy who sold it in 5 litre bottles.  You can find it on-line, but bear in mind that it weighs 5kg.  Then I tried Highland Spring water from the local supermarket which worked pretty well.  The doctor at the sleep clinic was happy for me to use either.

When I had my kitchen refitted I installed a whole-house water softener, and now I just use water out of the tap.  That works really well, and must have paid for itself compared to buying purified water!  As I live in London with very hard water, it's also great that the shower doesn't gum up with lime scale etc :)

When travelling, once I've got through airport security the first thing I do is buy a bottle of water so I know I will be able to use the machine at the destination.

Whenever the CPAP reservoir gets a bit chalky, I wash it out with neat vinegar.

Jonathan.

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