RE: Plane travel and the water for your CPAP
(09-11-2019, 07:35 AM)bluesboybob Wrote: On the other hand, if you are OCD like I am, an easy alternative is purified drinking water such as Aquafina which is purified by reverse osmosis. It's easy to get anywhere and easy to travel with. I get 2 nights from a 16 oz bottle. It may be unnecessary, but if I didn't obsess about humidifier water it would just be something else.
I'm as OCD as the next guy, but if you take showers you're defeating the purpose. You'll likely breathe in more "unpurified" tap water during a shower than if you put it in your CPAP humidifier. The distilled water is just to prevent mineral deposits in your humidifier.
(09-11-2019, 10:45 AM)mesenteria Wrote: You avoid the encrustation by simply discarding the remaining water each morning, rinsing once, and then refilling for the next night's use. Very simple, very effective. And cheap. 
That's why I use CND 97¢ 4-liter jugs of distilled water from Walmart. I'm too lazy to even do that every morning.
RE: Plane travel and the water for your CPAP
Last summer I flew from Nova Scotia to British Columbia on Air Canada .I went through the security check and showed them my Cpap and 2 bottles of distilled water .There was no issue with me carrying them on the plane whatsoever .
RE: Plane travel and the water for your CPAP
Brian, I believe that to have been a very serious brain fart on their part. Who was to prove that the contents that were purported to be 'distilled water' wasn't something that the rules were meant to avoid?
RE: Plane travel and the water for your CPAP
I flew from Montreal to Paris with my CPAP machine and a whole thermos full of distilled water, no problem. Nobody tell the terrorists -- if they get wind of this they might end up ruining things for all us traveling CPAPers.
RE: Plane travel and the water for your CPAP
Thanks to everyone that replied.
My concern is that when I got my CPAP 5 years ago, I was told to NEVER use tap water in my system and to always used distilled water. The way it was explained to me is that even though it might be safe to drink there's always stuff in tap water or bottled water and that this stuff doesn't exist in distilled. There's too many weird things that can get you and I would be concerned about using tap water. Any other ideas since I'm going somewhere where I have no idea of the condition of the water?
RE: Plane travel and the water for your CPAP
Absolutely no issue using non distilled water. Bottled water or TAP water is fine, the only issue is minerals that will be left in the water tub. These may need to be cleaned off with vinegar when you return home.
In the manuals for the eu they just say use water. not Distilled water like in the US
09-12-2019, 12:05 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-12-2019, 12:05 PM by Big Guy.)
RE: Plane travel and the water for your CPAP
(09-12-2019, 11:43 AM)jaswilliams Wrote: Absolutely no issue using non distilled water. Bottled water or TAP water is fine, the only issue is minerals that will be left in the water tub. These may need to be cleaned off with vinegar when you return home.
In the manuals for the eu they just say use water. not Distilled water like in the US
If I were to travel out of the USA, then yes, I might have some concerns as to the quality of the water I sourced for my CPAP machine.
But, if I
NEVER have to fly commercial again in my life, it will still be too soon. And, I just don't feel strongly enough about my CPAP machine, that I'd have to take it with me and use it every night while away from home.
I suppose if I were going to be away for several weeks, then yes, I would take it with me. But, anything under 2-3 weeks, it's staying right on my bedside stand.
RE: Plane travel and the water for your CPAP
It's s fairly common belief that tap water contains pathogens that will cause serious infections is inhaled. If that were true any of us who showers would have died from infection already. We inhale a lot of aerosolized water as we shower and all the "stuff" it contains. The water from the humidifier is evaporated and we inhale the vapor only. Any bacteria and other "stuff" are left behind. There may be a little aerosolization but it is much less than what is generated by most of our other common uses of water. Another fallacy is that the inexpensive distilled water we buy by the gallon at supermarkets is sterile. The production and packaging of high purity sterile distilled water is very expensive and it is usually priced at $20 or more per liter.
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RE: Plane travel and the water for your CPAP
When I was stationed in Europe way back in the mid 70's while in the military, we were warned about drinking water from sources not familiar to us.
Back then, you had to pay for water if you wanted it with a meal in a restaurant. Europe's ability to purify water in many cases, went unanswered.
In the three years I was in Europe, twice I got sick from the water there. I suppose things have improved greatly since then. I would hope so.
RE: Plane travel and the water for your CPAP
It depends where in Europe you are if the water is fit to drink happy days when in doubt use bottled in the UK TAP water should be fine to drink but it may taste different to your used too
