Do you use a humidifier for your CPAP machine? I’m sure you then wonder whether you can use regular tap water. The truth is, it’s not the best option for you or your machine.

Tap water can leave mineral deposits in the machine’s chamber. Boiling tap water will kill microbes, but it will not remove minerals or chemical contaminants. But what about filtered water? Filtered water may remove some of the minerals but it won’t remove organisms or other chemicals in the water.

These minerals in tap and filtered water, make the water "hard" including calcium, magnesium, iron, and others. If they are present in the water and put in the humidifier's water chamber, over time a scale will develop that discolours the container and could damage the machine. The evaporation from the machine could also lead to mould growth.

Distilled Water or Purified Water

It is important that you try to use distilled or purified water every time you fill up your humidifier water chamber as there will be little to no minerals in the water to damage it.

Distilled water goes through a distillation process where they boil regular water, the pure water turns into steam which is captured through a small pipe. The water then flows through to a separate compartment and cooled, the water in the new compartment is distilled water and the remainder is the contaminants which are minerals and metals. Distilled water is the purest form of H2O.

Purified water is very similar to distilled water, however, they use different processes such as reverse osmosis, ion exchange, ozonation and filtration. Both are free from bacteria and most impurities, yet the difference is in the price and the percentage of purity.

You can buy distilled water from us in a variety of container sizes or in bulk. If you buy in bulk you will save money in the long run. However, if you are travelling and can’t find distilled water, most grocery stores sell distilled bottled water if you don't have access to safe water and cannot find any in grocery stores, you may consider trying to use the CPAP without the humidifier instead.