[TommyWires]

Just wondering what everyone uses in theirs. I know some coolers get mineral buildup if you use regular tap water, but I’m not sure if that’s a big deal with the Glacier Breeze. I’d rather not buy distilled water all the time if I don’t have to. Does it clog up the system or anything? Just trying to figure out what to expect before I grab one.

[Jordan Writes]

Tap water has worked fine in mine for about four months now. I just dump whatever’s in the sink, run it a few times a week, and nothing’s clogged up or smelled weird. A quick rinse every so often seems to handle any buildup before it becomes a thing. Maybe it shortens the life somewhere down the road but I haven’t seen it yet.

[Priya Shah]

I’m still deciding on one myself, but the manual phrasing matters here. If it specifically says distilled, I’d follow that since the tank is small and hard to scrub. Tap might be fine for a while, but I’d rather not deal with crusty buildup in something I can’t easily rinse out.

[Jessie Travels]

I’ve been using tap water in mine since spring and it’s still going strong. I do dump it out and let it dry whenever I remember, which probably helps. If you’re somewhere with really hard water it might be different, but mine’s been fine.

[Luna Sketch]

Mine got crusty, so I stick with bottled now.

[Tom Bill]

Tap water’s fine, minerals aren’t gonna kill it.

[Sarh_Kompress]

I’ve only ever run mine with the filtered water from my fridge dispenser, mostly because I already keep a pitcher of it around anyway. It’s been through a whole summer and the inside still looks clean, no chalky film or weird smell building up. My old cheap humidifier turned white and crusty within a couple months using straight tap, so I just carried that habit over. Filtered isn’t as pure as distilled but it’s a lot easier to keep on hand than buying jugs constantly. I don’t know if the Glacier Breeze is actually picky about it or if I’m just being cautious for no reason. Either way it hasn’t caused me any problems so far.

[Chris Writes]

I use tap water in mine but I do run it with the ice chamber a lot, and the little tray gets a cloudy film after a while. Doesn’t seem to hurt anything, it still blows cold. I just wipe it out when I notice it.

[Linda Morris]

I just use the water from my Brita pitcher since it’s already sitting there. The manual does say distilled but I figure filtered is close enough, and in the few months I’ve had it I haven’t seen anything crusty yet.

[Sarah J]

Distilled is safer if you want to avoid buildup later.

[Alex Fisher]

Tap water worked fine for mine, no issues so far.

[emily_r]

I’ve been using tap water in mine since spring and the tank hasn’t clogged or anything, but the pads inside did start smelling musty after a couple months. That’s the part nobody mentions. I switched to dumping it out after every use and the smell went away, so it wasn’t really the water.

[Kevin C]

Distilled only, less gunk to clean out.

[d4niel]

Tap water is fine for this thing. It’s a $40 evaporative cooler, not a humidifier you’ll pass down to your kids. I’ve run tap in mine for months and it still works. If it gunks up eventually, vinegar soak fixes it.

[Mike Casio]

Tap water is fine, but it depends on how hard your water is. I ran tap in mine for about two months and the pads turned crusty and stiff. Not clogged exactly, but they stopped absorbing water the way they should, so cooling got weaker. I didn’t notice until I pulled the pad out and it felt like cardboard. Swapped in a new pad and started using bottled water from the grocery store, and it stayed soft way longer. Distilled isn’t some scam, it does make a difference over time, but you’re not going to kill the thing overnight with tap. If your water is soft already you might never have an issue. Mine is hard as a rock, so that’s probably why it got bad so fast.

[Tom_Craig]

Tap water every time, no issues here.

[Tom in NYC]

Distilled only, unless you enjoy scrubbing mineral crust.

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