bacteria and allergies?
in [Sleep Disorder]
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From: Kathy on 1 Aug 2008 20:20 > > I hope that you're not drinking that tap water. I've had no problems > at all with humidifiers having aluminium or stainless steel bases using > tap water from all over Europe and for that matter a number of places in > north America. No pitting, no corrosion, zippo. > > I would suggest taking the humidifier back because it should not corrode > with tap water. After all, aluminium kitchen utensils don't. Mine do - it's the reason I generally don't drink straight from the tap water in more than tiny sips... -- Kathy P.
From: Tiger_Lily on 1 Aug 2008 22:47 normc wrote: > Tiger_Lily wrote: >> Brenda wrote: >>> To all who replied, thank you. The nurse from my bipap provider told >>> me that bacteria can form from the water being heated and then being >>> left in the tank. I haven't seen any mold but that is an allergy of >>> mine so maybe there is something there as well as cleaning filters >>> more often. >> >> hmmmmmmmmm i have used a heated humidifier since ............. 2001? >> and i have never cleaned it out.......... i just top up the water >> every day > > Hi Kate -- You and me..... since 2000. > > Used to have a couple colds a year. have had 3 or 4 in last 8 years. > Used to have bronchial asthma. Took Singulair and used a couple > inhalers. Now I use nothing and breathe fine. >> >> very interesting opinion you got from her > > I view this as an urban legend. >> >> what do you need to look for to ensure bacteria hasn't formed? > > A microscope? >> >> boy, i'm a BAD CPAP'er oh, ya, 2000 is right! silly me :) glad to see you are back, Norm, i've sure missed you! -- kate
From: Andy Hall on 2 Aug 2008 00:32 On 2008-08-02 01:20:27 +0100, "Kathy" <kathybear(a)gmail.com> said: >> >> I hope that you're not drinking that tap water. I've had no >> problems at all with humidifiers having aluminium or stainless steel >> bases using tap water from all over Europe and for that matter a number >> of places in north America. No pitting, no corrosion, zippo. >> >> I would suggest taking the humidifier back because it should not >> corrode with tap water. After all, aluminium kitchen utensils don't. > > Mine do - it's the reason I generally don't drink straight from the tap > water in more than tiny sips... If it's that bad, I wouldn't be drinking it at all and would have lodged a complaint with the regulatory organisation controlling the supplier. Something is seriously wrong with a supply that does that.
From: Pope Pie (Sy Lehrman) on 2 Aug 2008 00:41 Andy Hall wrote: > On 2008-08-02 01:20:27 +0100, "Kathy" <kathybear(a)gmail.com> said: > >>> >>> I hope that you're not drinking that tap water. I've had no >>> problems at all with humidifiers having aluminium or stainless steel >>> bases using tap water from all over Europe and for that matter a >>> number of places in north America. No pitting, no corrosion, zippo. >>> >>> I would suggest taking the humidifier back because it should not >>> corrode with tap water. After all, aluminium kitchen utensils don't. >> >> Mine do - it's the reason I generally don't drink straight from the >> tap water in more than tiny sips... > > If it's that bad, I wouldn't be drinking it at all and would have > lodged a complaint with the regulatory organisation controlling the > supplier. Something is seriously wrong with a supply that does that. > I have one of those aluminum Italian espresso pot which, if it is left uncleand for a few days after using (you can't see inside so if it's clean on the outside you forget to take it apart and clean it) you will find lumpy white corrosion of some sort on the metal and I have seen one that ate away some of the stem that goes down near the bottom. All this is aluminum. This has old coffee, not distilled water, but it shows that you can get corrosion with aluminum. In this case there may be an acid in the coffee but in the warm humidifier I don't see why it should be impossible to get a similar effect. You could probably ask the local water company. They would know the mineralization of their water which is highly variable from place to place and they would likely know if it was likely to be a problem for the aluminum and why. It's something they can do little about so they would have no motivation to keep it secret. If you have sulfur water that's what you have, if you see what I mean.
From: Andy Hall on 2 Aug 2008 03:09
On 2008-08-02 05:41:36 +0100, "Pope Pie (Sy Lehrman)" <laojim(a)spam.cox.net> said: > Andy Hall wrote: >> On 2008-08-02 01:20:27 +0100, "Kathy" <kathybear(a)gmail.com> said: >> >>>> >>>> I hope that you're not drinking that tap water. I've had no >>>> problems at all with humidifiers having aluminium or stainless steel >>>> bases using tap water from all over Europe and for that matter a number >>>> of places in north America. No pitting, no corrosion, zippo. >>>> >>>> I would suggest taking the humidifier back because it should not >>>> corrode with tap water. After all, aluminium kitchen utensils don't. >>> >>> Mine do - it's the reason I generally don't drink straight from the tap >>> water in more than tiny sips... >> >> If it's that bad, I wouldn't be drinking it at all and would have >> lodged a complaint with the regulatory organisation controlling the >> supplier. Something is seriously wrong with a supply that does that. >> > I have one of those aluminum Italian espresso pot which, if it is left > uncleand for a few days after using (you can't see inside so if it's > clean on the outside you forget to take it apart and clean it) you will > find lumpy white corrosion of some sort on the metal and I have seen > one that ate away some of the stem that goes down near the bottom. > All this is aluminum. Coffee is very corrosive. Cola is even worse - makes a great cleaning solvent apart from the sugar. > This has old coffee, not distilled water, but it shows that you can get > corrosion with aluminum. In this case there may be an acid in the > coffee but in the warm humidifier I don't see why it should be > impossible to get a similar effect. I wasn't suggested that aluminium can't corrode. If it does so with plain tap water, then there is an issue with the tap water. > > You could probably ask the local water company. They would know the > mineralization of their water which is highly variable from place to > place and they would likely know if it was likely to be a problem for > the aluminum and why. It's something they can do little about so they > would have no motivation to keep it secret. If you have sulfur water > that's what you have, if you see what I mean. Here they are required to provide a detailed analysis on request and this is checked by Ofwat, the regulator. Actually, there have been cases of results being fiddled, but if caught, they are heavily fined for doing so. Leaving this aside for a moment, even if corrosion of the aluminium base plate of a humidifier were to be taking place in tap water, it is easily avoidable by the manufacturer by use of anodised material or aluminium-silicon alloys as are used in heat exchangers. Better yet, they could avoid any possibility of any issues at all through the use of stainless steel. Presumably, the manufacturer is using plain aluminium in order to achieve a small cost saving. Then to say that the customer needs to spend money on distilled water (at substantial cost and loading the cost to the customer) seems unreasonable to me. I am then left wondering about where else they have cost compromised on their products. |