Uses for Extra Distilled Water

[rx77310]

So the recommendation that I received from the sleep clinic is that I only use distilled water in the heated humidifier and I clean the humidifier chamber daily. I've heard some people do the same and that some people feel bad about wasting that distilled water. For people who really don't like wasting things, I have an idea for a use for that distilled water.

I used to keep a venus fly trap which required that I provide two things for it to survive. I needed to provide a location with a ton of sunlight, and lots of distilled water. Apparently venus fly traps and carnivorous plants in general are very sensitive to water quality and normal water may kill them. Humidity for a venus fly trap may be an issue in dry climates, but not where I'm from.

I've also been interested in other carnivorous plants such as sundews, which I've heard are a bit hardier than venus fly traps, but still require distilled water. They are also less prone to abuse since they do not have such an energetic and dramatic trapping system. Sundews are found all over the world, whereas venus fly traps are only found in a few places in the entire world.

So how about starting a carnivorous plant garden with all the distilled water some of us pour down the drain in the morning?

[Mosquitobait]

I don't have enough flies to provide Venus fly traps. The cats get them. It's a cool idea though. I just pour leftovers in a container and use it to fill my iron (I sew).

[rx77310]

I don't have enough flies to provide Venus fly traps. The cats get them. It's a cool idea though. I just pour leftovers in a container and use it to fill my iron (I sew).

Venus fly traps actually don't need insects to survive or grow, but I do believe they grow faster when consuming insects. Is distilled water in an iron better than tap water in an iron?

[DocWils]

Depends on the iron - there are models that now prefer tap to distilled water, so check on the manufacturer's site for that. I was surprised when I bought my new iron and the salesman told me absolutely NOT use distilled water in it. Na ja, times change, technology advances. I have gotten pretty good at judging just how much water I need per night, so there is only a small amount left in the tank in the morning, enough to slosh around and rinse out the tank prior to dumping the water and putting the tank back in the machine to blow dry. I think only people who don't sleep more or less the same number of hours per night will not eventually get a good feel for just how full their tank needs to be to avoid wastage. Me, no matter what it is 5 hours and 50 minutes, no alarm needed.

[Sleeprider]

The quality of your tap water may dictate if you need distilled water in the humidifier or not. I've been using CPAP with humidifiers since 2008 and have never used distilled. You need distilled if you see significant mineral deposits on the humidifier chamber...nothing else comes in contact with the water. All evaporated water, including tap, is essentially distilled when it reaches your nose. You may feel better using distilled, or your water quality may dictate that you do it because of odors or minerals, but otherwise, just rinse and repeat with tap.

[sonicboom]

The only caution would be that if the machine manufacturer says use distiller water only and you don't and something happens to the humidifier (not sure what could possibly happen) you might void the warranty on it.

[Mosquitobait]

You can also use distilled water in your plants. Helps to reduce that lime buildup when your tap water is very hard. You can also add it to your fish tank. I used to buy gallons of the stuff to soften the water for my breeding fish.

Those irons that don't need distilled water don't hold up with highly mineralized water. But that water does make great beer. Anyway, according to Rowenta, you can use tap water if the hardness of your water is 12 grains or less. Mine is 16-18. Thus, when using my Rowenta iron, I do a half and half using distilled and tap. Otherwise the thing spits water instead of steams, which can ruin some fabrics. My Black and Decker just takes distilled.

[Mosquitobait]

Me, no matter what it is 5 hours and 50 minutes, no alarm needed.

Just reading that makes me tired. I don't get more than 10 minutes more sleep than you do, but I'm also a beginning cpapper. How the heck do you function with that little sleep? Do you take naps?

[TyroneShoes]

The quality of your tap water may dictate if you need distilled water in the humidifier or not. I've been using CPAP with humidifiers since 2008 and have never used distilled. You need distilled if you see significant mineral deposits on the humidifier chamber...nothing else comes in contact with the water. All evaporated water, including tap, is essentially distilled when it reaches your nose. You may feel better using distilled, or your water quality may dictate that you do it because of odors or minerals, but otherwise, just rinse and repeat with tap.

This may be the most common sense in a single post that I have seen here. When water vapor becomes airborne it does it one molecule at a time, and since a water molecule is just a molecule of water and nothing else, it is 100% pure water by definition. The act of distilling water does exactly what your humidifier does, which is to cause water molecules to become airborne, one by one, leaving all impurities behind. Which makes Sleeprider's statement absolutely true. But unless your water is so hard you can rap your knuckles on it, you don't need distilled water at all.

There is a downside, but never to your health, and that is that the impurities and minerals will precipitate onto the walls of the tub like barnacles on a ship. As the molecules leave the tub, the concentration of impurities and minerals increases in the remaining water, because they are all left behind and do not go up the hose, and some become solid and attach to the tub walls.

So it becomes a maintenance issue. To deal, first, try to fill as high as you can, so that the entire balance of minerals don't end up precipitating. Pour that water out every morning, rinse with fresh tap, and fill with fresh tap every night.

You have the option to let it dry, but I just let it soak in a large mixing bowl full of tap water all day, which helps melt the precipitate off the tub and back into the tap water.

Once a week or so, just fill the tub with white vinegar, let it sit for half an hour, and all the remaining precipitate wipes right out. Easy peasy. Costs you about a nickel; and less than that jug of expensive distilled water that you lugged in from your car.

[Mosquitobait]

Great thoughts Tyroneshoes. I'd use the tap water if I lived in Minneapolis or St Paul, because the water has far, far less mineralization there, but distilled water is cheap here. It's 89 cents at the grocery store and lasts a month. Less than the coffee I had to buy to stay awake this afternoon while running errands (the gas station coffee, I can't afford Starbucks). Keeps the humidifiers pristine. For me, ANY extra work in the morning means I have to not do something else.