I have been surprised at the variation in the amount of water used by the humidifier when it remains on the same setting.  I had thought it was when I switched from mask to nasal pillows, but then talking to someone else who is new, the amount of water she uses varies a lot also.  Just curious, does anyone know why this is happening?  

Also my humidifier has a line, they say to fill it to that line and throw away excess the next day.  I strongly suspect they have stock in a distilled water firm as I get about 3 nights out of one fill to the line.  Does it humidify less when the water level is low?

Thanks -- Judy

The fill line is a maximum, not minimum.  If you routinely use only 1/3 of a tank, then just fill half full.  If your like me, you will wake if it runs dry......ah, the aroma of sizzling aluminum....better than an alarm clock.  I suggested saving the old water for the steam iron in chat once, only to be told, nobody irons anymore,LOL...
  On nights you use more water, you may be having mouth, mask leaks.  An empty humidifier is a good indication of mouth breathing.

Thanks Okie.  That fits with my experience, in that when I used more was when I used the mask which I did feel leaked more on me.  I thought maybe, though, that the mask used more air as it is filling up a bigger area.  Seems to me that the pillows are more efficient.

I actually have just been using the same water for 3 nights as I get annoyed taking out the container -- doesn't glide very smoothly and you need two hands for pulling and one hand to hold down the lever.

Ummm, I iron when I absolutely must but my iron says not to use distilled water -- probably because they want to sell me a new iron faster.  That is a good usage.  You know when people are on oxygen they actually bubble the oxygen through the water, that seems like it would be better than just running the air over the top.

Judy

When I received my cpap machine I thought I remembered the tech telling me that the water should last in the humidifier for 3 nights.  I go through a half-filled water tank EVERY NIGHT.  Is there something wrong with my unit?  I see here that some of you only have to add water every few nights.  Oxygen is bled into the unit via a plastic tube, because my O2 levels went really low during the sleep test.  Could having the O2 flowing into the unit cause the water to evaporate more quickly?

Nancy

You could check your humidifier setting and see whether you really need it that high.  I was using a tank for 3 nights at the setting of 2, but when I went up to 2.5 it just lasted for 2 nights.  I'm not sure I can tell the difference either so I am going to go back to 2 and see whether I can differentiate.