# Can I use boiled tap water in a sinus rinse? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 3, 2014, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-use-boiled-tap-water-in-a-sinus-rinse/697421 "2014-09-03T22:22:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2014, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-use-boiled-tap-water-in-a-sinus-rinse/697421/1 "2014-09-03T22:22:52Z")
Or does it have to be distilled bottled water? Thanks for your help. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2014, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-use-boiled-tap-water-in-a-sinus-rinse/697421/2 "2014-09-03T22:27:48Z")
Medical advice is best suited to IMHO. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2014, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-use-boiled-tap-water-in-a-sinus-rinse/697421/3 "2014-09-03T22:40:44Z")
IANAD! When I had sinus surgery in 2002, the post-op care involved boiling water for about 5 minutes (to get rid of bacteria and such), then adding saline to create the rinse solution. Now, I’d prefer to buy distilled or sterile water and add the saline to that. People have died from sinus irrigation that contained fungus. ---
**Author:** ![janeslogin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@janeslogin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janeslogin)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2014, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-use-boiled-tap-water-in-a-sinus-rinse/697421/4 "2014-09-03T22:41:05Z")
> [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](#): > > Or does it have to be distilled bottled water? > > Thanks for your help. Boiled tap water is fine. My wife just uses tap water. Has done so for decades. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2014, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-use-boiled-tap-water-in-a-sinus-rinse/697421/5 "2014-09-03T22:42:17Z")
Thanks Y’all. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2014, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-use-boiled-tap-water-in-a-sinus-rinse/697421/6 "2014-09-03T22:57:49Z")
Ya gotta let it cool off first. Here’s your sign. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2014, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-use-boiled-tap-water-in-a-sinus-rinse/697421/7 "2014-09-03T23:02:22Z")
I’ll just add some ice. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2014, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-use-boiled-tap-water-in-a-sinus-rinse/697421/8 "2014-09-03T23:05:47Z")
> [@janeslogin](#): > > Boiled tap water is fine. > > My wife just uses tap water. Has done so for decades. tap water is susceptible to contamination from [brain-eating amoeba’s.](http://www.webmd.com/brain/brain-eating-amoeba) ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2014, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-use-boiled-tap-water-in-a-sinus-rinse/697421/9 "2014-09-03T23:34:15Z")
I use regular tap water and I’ve done it every morning for years. When I originally brought up the possibility of bacteria to my doctor, she laughed and said that the likelihood is so low that it’s not worth worrying about. She said the cases where people got the bad bacteria were extreme outliers. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2014, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-use-boiled-tap-water-in-a-sinus-rinse/697421/10 "2014-09-03T23:45:49Z")
[stay out of Louisiana](http://www.freep.com/article/20140828/NEWS07/308280137/Louisiana-brain-eating-amoeba). ---
**Author:** ![tsarina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f4b2a3/32.png) [@tsarina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tsarina)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2014, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-use-boiled-tap-water-in-a-sinus-rinse/697421/11 "2014-09-03T23:46:33Z")
Use distilled water. Tap water might contain brain-eating amoebas (they’re rare, but they’re out there) and depending on how hard your water is, the minerals in it may irritate the lining of your nose. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2014, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-use-boiled-tap-water-in-a-sinus-rinse/697421/12 "2014-09-03T23:47:37Z")
> [@janeslogin](#): > > Boiled tap water is fine. > > My wife just uses tap water. Has done so for decades. Same here. But I think it depends on your tap water. I have a deep well and think nothing brain eating lives down there. ---
**Author:** ![Kansas\_Beekeeper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@Kansas\_Beekeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kansas_Beekeeper)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2014, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-use-boiled-tap-water-in-a-sinus-rinse/697421/13 "2014-09-04T00:22:13Z")
> [@interface2x](#): > > I use regular tap water and I’ve done it every morning for years. When I originally brought up the possibility of bacteria to my doctor, she laughed and said that the likelihood is so low that it’s not worth worrying about. She said the cases where people got the bad bacteria were extreme outliers. Same here. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2014, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-use-boiled-tap-water-in-a-sinus-rinse/697421/14 "2014-09-04T00:50:19Z")
I use tap water every day for at least 3 years now. No amoeba yet. If I wasn’t livin’ on the edge, I think I’d use distilled water even though it costs more. I can’t imagine that I would have the patience to boil and then cool water properly every night. I can barely manage to brush my teeth some nights. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2014, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-use-boiled-tap-water-in-a-sinus-rinse/697421/15 "2014-09-04T00:55:01Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > tap water is susceptible to contamination from [brain-eating amoeba’s.](http://www.webmd.com/brain/brain-eating-amoeba) ::: sigh::: Did you read your cite? > [@](#): > > Naegleria can’t live in salt water. It can’t survive in properly treated swimming pools\*\* or in properly treated municipal water.\*\* (Bolding mine for the reading comprehension impaired) ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2014, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-use-boiled-tap-water-in-a-sinus-rinse/697421/16 "2014-09-04T01:10:03Z")
> [@Rick](#): > > ::: sigh::: > Did you read your cite? > > (Bolding mine for the reading comprehension impaired) Article states it won’t live in treated municipal water, but can live in untreated municipal or well water. OP didn’t specify his source. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2014, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-use-boiled-tap-water-in-a-sinus-rinse/697421/17 "2014-09-04T01:58:10Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > tap water is susceptible to contamination from [brain-eating amoeba’s.](http://www.webmd.com/brain/brain-eating-amoeba) You can’t see the difference between tap water is susceptible to contamination from brain eating amoebas and what the cite actually said, which is it can’t live in properly treated water? I don’t know about where you live, but when I turn on my tap, I don’t get swamp water. **Magiver** ’s cite didn’t say if you don’t have properly treated municipal water you could be susceptible to this amoeba, it said tap water is susceptible PERIOD. We are supposed to fighting ignorance here, not promoting it. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2014, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-use-boiled-tap-water-in-a-sinus-rinse/697421/18 "2014-09-04T02:05:57Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > If I wasn’t livin’ on the edge, I think I’d use distilled water even though it costs more. I can’t imagine that I would have the patience to boil and then cool water properly every night. I can barely manage to brush my teeth some nights. Since I usually boil water for tea in a kettle and there’s almost always water left over I’ve been thinking about using that rather than just out of the tap, although I have used it just out of the tap, from our well, and no sign of brain rotting yet. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2014, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-use-boiled-tap-water-in-a-sinus-rinse/697421/19 "2014-09-04T02:57:37Z")
I do it right from the tap but am always concerned because I do it from the HOT tap - my understanding is that the amoeba is more likely to live in my water heater? Please tell me it isn’t so. I shall continue to do it, but feel bad about possibly leaving my infant son motherless, otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![SeldomSeen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@SeldomSeen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeldomSeen)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2014, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-use-boiled-tap-water-in-a-sinus-rinse/697421/20 "2014-09-04T03:23:56Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > I do it right from the tap but am always concerned because I do it from the HOT tap - my understanding is that the amoeba is more likely to live in my water heater? Please tell me it isn’t so. I shall continue to do it, but feel bad about possibly leaving my infant son motherless, otherwise. If it’s any consolation, that’s the way I do it too. AFAIK, nothing’s eating my brain… any missing brain cells have met with other fates. This is the first I’ve heard of amoeba living in a water heater. It seems unlikely they could withstand the high temperature produced by most home water heaters, but of course the water isn’t boiling, so … [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-use-boiled-tap-water-in-a-sinus-rinse/697421.md?page=2)