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Just heard from a sleep tech that her sleep center, located within a  highly prestigious hospital in one of America's largest and most affluent metropolitan centers, fills patients humidifiers with tap water on CPAP titrations.  furthermore, a 7 year-old child contracted Legionnaires Disease and died from being titrated with a CPAP humidifier filled with tap water.

Make sure you insist on distilled or reverse osmosis/ purified bottled water for your CPAP titrations in the sleep center.  The life you save may be your own.

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      Thanks, Enrique.

       I think, after reading the comments on this thread, that I'll definitely make it a point to use the germicide every 10 days or so.



Enrique Gomez said:

ZS,

Your cleaning process for hose and machine is sound. If any CPAP/BiPAP user is suffering from repeated sinus infections and/or URIs, then I would zero in on the causes and my first impulse would be to check how clean the water reservoir looks.

Enrique


ZolliStar said:

I try to give my tank a vinegar and water "bath" every two weeks or so to kill off possible bugs.

I rinse it out daily in VERY hot water and allow it to air dry. Now I'm beginning to think that I should follow the baby-shampoo and tap water cleaning routine followed by a final distilled water bath.

fwiw. I also keep a mixture of white vinegar (one part) and water (10 parts) in a small bottle and reuse it every other day or two in my hose. I pour the solution down one end (holding the other end up so that it doesn't spill out) then hold each end of the hose and move the vinegar-water up and down the entire length a few times before I re-pour the solution into its bottle. This kills bugs (I hope!) and I think is a more economical use of the white vinegar. (I'm the Queen of Cheap.)

As I recall Legionnaire's outbreaks are usually caused by things like condensation water in AC units, etc. I have never heard of Legionnaire's Disease being caused by tap water.

how would you make distilled water ?

Wade Hampton said:

Hello everyone,

It says right on my S9 water tank to use only distilled water.  This is in plain English 

imprinted on the tank.  Can't people read?  Also it is not difficult to make your own

distilled water.  

Thanks  H. Hampton

Well maybe it says it on yours, but it sure doesn't say it on mine. As far as making distilled water, I would just buy it at the drugstore. Those machines that distill water can get pretty pricey.

these are all excellent plans,ideas on disinfection if you boil water you should only boil it once for the stated time of ten minutes as further boiling concentrates the minerals and heavy metals

i was looking at emergency water EG water that is only available like stream or muddy water in event of water failures

said filter all sediment out and for every gallon of water put sixteen drops of sodium hypochlorite unpurfumed leave for half an hour and then smell if you can smell the chlorine all well and good if not repeat with another sixteen drops fi that fails discard water

i was looking also at a different approach as follows

The CPAP Guardian Duffel Travel Bag is not only a stylish and spacious travel bag that is ideal for carrying your CPAP machine and equipment, but it also houses the most effective CPAP sterilizer available. The built-in Ozone Disinfector will safely and effectively sterilize your equipment from the inevitable build-up of bacteria lurking inside your system.

Boiling water and cooling the steam in a separate vessel. Home distillers start at $399.00 on Amazon, so as someone said above you either purchase distilled water at the supermarket or drugstore. However, if you know a moonshiner, they might be able to make distilled water for you in their spare time.

Ernestine Webster said:

how would you make distilled water ?

Wade Hampton said:

Hello everyone,

It says right on my S9 water tank to use only distilled water.  This is in plain English 

imprinted on the tank.  Can't people read?  Also it is not difficult to make your own

distilled water.  

Thanks  H. Hampton

Has anyone uncovered a media or academic report on the 7 year old contraction legionellosis from tap water in a sleep lab?

I'm looking on the CPAP.com website and they have "dishwasher safe" humidifier chambers. I would have never believed you could put one of those in the dishwasher.


Don't think your links working properly 99, but did you mean the CPAP Disinfector from this company http://www.cpapguardian.com/ ?  I've been sent a sample to try it out from them, but not got round to it yet.  Has anyone else used it?


99 said:

these are all excellent plans,ideas on disinfection if you boil water you should only boil it once for the stated time of ten minutes as further boiling concentrates the minerals and heavy metals

i was looking at emergency water EG water that is only available like stream or muddy water in event of water failures

said filter all sediment out and for every gallon of water put sixteen drops of sodium hypochlorite unpurfumed leave for half an hour and then smell if you can smell the chlorine all well and good if not repeat with another sixteen drops fi that fails discard water

i was looking also at a different approach as follows

The CPAP Guardian Duffel Travel Bag is not only a stylish and spacious travel bag that is ideal for carrying your CPAP machine and equipment, but it also houses the most effective CPAP sterilizer available. The built-in Ozone Disinfector will safely and effectively sterilize your equipment from the inevitable build-up of bacteria lurking inside your system.

http://www.eu-pap.co.uk/

link for duffel travel bag

They've stopped these now + sell the little devices which go inside any bag (see the link I posted).

99 said:

CPAP.com also says you should replace your humidifier chamber every 6 months, so maybe you might as well use tap water (Sarcasm)

Having worked in the industrial water treatment industry, you will never go wrong playing safe. Use distilled water as instructed. Clean out your chamber every so often or replace them if your budget allows you to do so. You are breathing the vapor into your lungs, and you have taken enough precautions to use use a humidifier! Use some common sense, please.

Nunya Bizness said:

I'm looking on the CPAP.com website and they have "dishwasher safe" humidifier chambers. I would have never believed you could put one of those in the dishwasher.

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