can't find distilled water? What can I do?

[Janknitz]

Hmmm, my husband has a "wort chiller" leftover from his beer brewing days. I bet we could use that!

[CPAP2017]

I traveled for a living until recently and found from experience that bottled water that says "purified" on the label leaves little to no residue in the heat tray, same as distilled. Also, as has already been said here, the humidifier's water vapor is on the downwind side of the machine and goes directly into the hose so it never interacts with the fan or machine internals.

[beautifuldreamer]

Hi. I'm in So Cal, USA. For weeks, I have been unable to find any distilled water for my CPAP in stores. In desperation, I bought six small bottles on Amazon for $24 !!!

Does anyone have an idea what I can do?

Thanks.

When I was on travel in Southern California (in Mid-March), and it was extremely difficult to find Distilled Water, I was able to find Distilled water at a Liquor store!

[First World Problems]

The worst thing that will happen is you get a bit of mineral build up in the water chamber but it is easily removed with a bit of vinegar or lemon juice.

This may be a silly question, but what is the best method to remove the buildup with vinegar?

• Splash it on, or soak the chamber? If soaked, how long?

• Straight vinegar? Or diluted?

• Any best practices for rinsing to avoid an aftertaste?

[Pugsy]

The worst thing that will happen is you get a bit of mineral build up in the water chamber but it is easily removed with a bit of vinegar or lemon juice.

This may be a silly question, but what is the best method to remove the buildup with vinegar?

• Splash it on, or soak the chamber? If soaked, how long?

• Straight vinegar? Or diluted?

• Any best practices for rinsing to avoid an aftertaste?

Soak the chamber...how long? Long enough to dissolve the mineral deposits which will depend on how much accumulation is present and if you use straight or diluted.
Straight or diluted...I have done both. Straight works faster but you can dilute it if you wish but remember the more it is diluted the longer it takes to dissolve the minerals. Straight vinegar...might get the job done in 5 minutes.
How to avoid the aftertaste....you won't taste it but you will smell it unless your rinse, rinse, rinse it thoroughly.
If you are like me and you don't really care for the smell.....use some lemon juice (the bottled kind) instead of vinegar. Smell is much more pleasant if you don't get it rinsed totally away.

[Goofproof]

The worst thing that will happen is you get a bit of mineral build up in the water chamber but it is easily removed with a bit of vinegar or lemon juice.

This may be a silly question, but what is the best method to remove the buildup with vinegar?

• Splash it on, or soak the chamber? If soaked, how long?

• Straight vinegar? Or diluted?

• Any best practices for rinsing to avoid an aftertaste?

Soak the chamber...how long? Long enough to dissolve the mineral deposits which will depend on how much accumulation is present and if you use straight or diluted.
Straight or diluted...I have done both. Straight works faster but you can dilute it if you wish but remember the more it is diluted the longer it takes to dissolve the minerals. Straight vinegar...might get the job done in 5 minutes.
How to avoid the aftertaste....you won't taste it but you will smell it unless your rinse, rinse, rinse it thoroughly.
If you are like me and you don't really care for the smell.....use some lemon juice (the bottled kind) instead of vinegar. Smell is much more pleasant if you don't get it rinsed totally away.

Straight or Diluted, Vinegar comes already diluted, usually full strength vinegar contains 6% acetic acid, and double strength vinegar contains 10% acetic acid. Regular 'white' vinegar only contains 5% acetic acid, and that's the stuff responsible for the cleaning aspect of vinegar. So the higher the % of acetic acid, and warmer the faster it will de-lime.

Pugsy's Lemon Juice idea is good too, however Distilled water, removes the need for de-liming in the first place. Jim

This may be a silly question Or if you don't like to clean it they will sell you a fresh new one, a spare is a good idea.

[Pugsy]

Pugsy's Lemon Juice idea is good too, however Distilled water, removes the need for de-liming in the first place. Jim

Of course distilled water eliminates the need for de-scaling but the topic at hand is that maybe for some reason distilled isn't available...what to do when the obvious isn't available.

I have two or three options in the small rural area that I live in for bottled water of any kind...a small WalMart where even before all this COVID crap happened it was a common occurrence to see an empty spot on the shelf where you bought something you liked last week...or a the limited inventory of gas stations or one Dollar General store with a very small inventory of any bottled water much less distilled.

I ran out of distilled....and all the other options I had also had totally bare shelves for any bottled water of any kind...distilled or drinking.
Cold hard fact of life. It is what it is. Now I could risk driving 20 something miles to see if any store in the next small town had some distilled and spend a lot of money on fuel to buy 88 cent per gallon distilled water with no guarantee I could find distilled...or I could use tap water until I got distilled and if I got much mineral build up I can use either vinegar or lemon juice to remove it...and I already have both those products in my pantry. I am not going to risk exposure to the virus and carry it home to my already frail 87 year old mother just because I am out of distilled water. It simply isn't going to happen.

It is NOT a life or death matter to not use distilled water. It simply isn't that critical. Hell, it's not a life or death matter to let some minerals accumulate either. It looks yucky but it won't hurt you even if you don't clean it or toss it in the trash and get a new one.

In an ideal world people wouldn't have to make these choices....but as everyone is now aware....this is far from an ideal world at this time and I don't look for us to ever go totally back to the way things were. Adapt to the new normal or spend an inordinate amount of time bitching and complaining about it...which accomplishes nothing and is a total waste of precious energy IMHO. I don't have an infinite amount of time or energy to go wasting on crap that I have zero control over.

Choices are these if someone prefers distilled water and can't find it or doesn't want to go looking for.. it for any number of reasons.
1...use tap water and just let the minerals build up..it won't damage the machine
2...use tap water and de-scale with vinegar or lemon juice if you hate the vinegar smell like I do
3...buy a new water chamber and toss the old one if the yuck factor is simply too annoying to a person and they don't want to mess with the de-scaling thing.
4...make your own distilled water if you just HAVE to use distilled for your own peace of mind.

We have choices...always have had choices....some we might not like for various reasons but we have options available.

[Goofproof]

Pugsy's Lemon Juice idea is good too, however Distilled water, removes the need for de-liming in the first place. Jim

Of course distilled water eliminates the need for de-scaling but the topic at hand is that maybe for some reason distilled isn't available...what to do when the obvious isn't available.

I have two or three options in the small rural area that I live in for bottled water of any kind...a small WalMart where even before all this COVID crap happened it was a common occurrence to see an empty spot on the shelf where you bought something you liked last week...or a the limited inventory of gas stations or one Dollar General store with a very small inventory of any bottled water much less distilled.

I ran out of distilled....and all the other options I had also had totally bare shelves for any bottled water of any kind...distilled or drinking.
Cold hard fact of life. It is what it is. Now I could risk driving 20 something miles to see if any store in the next small town had some distilled and spend a lot of money on fuel to buy 88 cent per gallon distilled water with no guarantee I could find distilled...or I could use tap water until I got distilled and if I got much mineral build up I can use either vinegar or lemon juice to remove it...and I already have both those products in my pantry. I am not going to risk exposure to the virus and carry it home to my already frail 87 year old mother just because I am out of distilled water. It simply isn't going to happen.

It is NOT a life or death matter to not use distilled water. It simply isn't that critical. Hell, it's not a life or death matter to let some minerals accumulate either. It looks yucky but it won't hurt you even if you don't clean it or toss it in the trash and get a new one.

In an ideal world people wouldn't have to make these choices....but as everyone is now aware....this is far from an ideal world at this time and I don't look for us to ever go totally back to the way things were. Adapt to the new normal or spend an inordinate amount of time bitching and complaining about it...which accomplishes nothing and is a total waste of precious energy IMHO. I don't have an infinite amount of time or energy to go wasting on crap that I have zero control over.

Choices are these if someone prefers distilled water and can't find it or doesn't want to go looking for.. it for any number of reasons.
1...use tap water and just let the minerals build up..it won't damage the machine
2...use tap water and de-scale with vinegar or lemon juice if you hate the vinegar smell like I do
3...buy a new water chamber and toss the old one if the yuck factor is simply too annoying to a person and they don't want to mess with the de-scaling thing.
4...make your own distilled water if you just HAVE to use distilled for your own peace of mind.

We have choices...always have had choices....some we might not like for various reasons but we have options available.

Times are tough, since the lock down, I have had to have the sewer 4 inch line inside my house repaired $ 500, today the door broke off the refrig freezer, limited on what I can get, no delivery no install, another $ 1500, and I have to find people to move it and hook it up, they won't deliver and set up due to the virus. I hope it was made before the virus. No doubt it's built in China. Times are trying for sure. Jim

Note only took the one year warranty, on the fridge, probably more than enough.

[Jas_williams]

The worst thing that will happen is you get a bit of mineral build up in the water chamber but it is easily removed with a bit of vinegar or lemon juice.

This may be a silly question, but what is the best method to remove the buildup with vinegar?

• Splash it on, or soak the chamber? If soaked, how long?

• Straight vinegar? Or diluted?

• Any best practices for rinsing to avoid an aftertaste?

I put a kitchen towel inside the Humidifer tub pushed into the edges of it then soak the towel in vinegar or lemon juice whatever your preference (Use less this way)

[Gator5000e]

It’s back in my local Publix stores and Crystal Springs sells it by the case.

[PaJoe]

Target has Distilled Water - 1gal - Good & Gather™ about .85 - new style bottle not as easy to use as older bottles

Target Drive Up (curbside pickup) at some stores. Order using the Target app Android & Apple, they will bring it out and load it into your vehicle.

[chunkyfrog]

One b3 opened that way--not going back until I can WALK IN.
If Target is the same way, no point driving there either.
If I had to buy DW I would use tap water and delime the tank as needed.
Done it before.
Equal parts water and vinegar in microwaveable container.
Nuke until it parties, then pour into tank
Let it rest on the counter until cool.
Wash and rinse normally.
Save vinegar water for next time--or nuke and pour down a drain over baking soda.
More party--and a fresh drain.

[PaJoe]

Sorry for the confusion, of course you can walk into Target, but for those that wish to avoid physical contact there is the option to have it loaded into your trunk

I rarely need to clean our tanks but prefer using food grade citrus acid, the same as I would for descaling a coffee brewer.

[palerider]

I rarely need to clean our tanks but prefer using food grade citrus acid, the same as I would for descaling a coffee brewer.

That is another good option, and of course, doesn't smell like vinegar

[Kerry]

I have a water filter pitcher and I use that water for the humidifier. It greatly lowers the amount of buildup in the humidity tank, but it does build up a little. I periodically take out the humidity tank and put vinegar in to remove the buildup, but I haven't really noticed a difference with humidity when there is buildup. I've used tap water with no problems except buildup. I've taken it on trips and used hotel water (most times there is some kind of odor in the humidity, not sure what in the hotel water).