British Snoring & Sleep Apnoea Association

Clarification please, I have been advised to use vinegar to de-scale the water chamber of my heated humidifier with a 5% acidity level. I read somewhere that white vinegar is best presumably because of staining from brown. However, local supermarkets only sell white and brown vinegar with malt - the question is the malt a problem or is it posiible to order from a local pharmacy - seems unlikely but worth asking. Steralising is not a problem because I use Milton tablets but they do not de-scale. Any help would be appreciated.

Hi again,

Firstly do not use milton tablets they will rot any rubber or silicone parts.
White vinegar from the supermarket will be fine for the humidifier chamber.
1 part vinegar to 10 part water .

Regards,

Sent from HTC One X

Hi,

Try using lemon juice diluted in water. Works a treat.

Look in the "value" area of the supermarket, (by your feet usually). The bigger stores are likely to have a cheap clear vinegar in a plastic bottle, circa 30p per liter. not the best for your chips or salad, but ideal for de-scaling humidifiers (or kettles). Dilute with warm water about 1 vinegar to 10 water (not critical). If scaling is bad, run the machine for an hour or so, venting directly to your room making sure you stop well before you run anything dry, then throw away vinegar & rinse well (do all this well away from the bedroom, you don't want to smell vinegar all night). If you have let scale build up unreasonably you may need to repeat with fresh vinegar / water mixture.

Frequency of de-scaling depends on your water quality. Distilled (de-ionised) water is cleanest and therefore best but costs, and needs storing: clean cooled water from a kettle is generally OK, but in Brighton I use straight tap water in my machine, and de-scale about once every two to three weeks, and that works for me. Do fully empty any remaining water from the chamber every day (what remains after a night's use has a concentration of solids, and theoretically at least could become a breeding ground for bugs), and refill with clean water for the next night.

Thanks to everyone who responded, I will take the info on board and use. I apologize for the delay in getting back due to internet access problems - I do appreciate the forum and its users.