Shortage of distilled water in NE US (Connecticut)?

I'm just wondering if this is just a bad coincidence, or if there maybe is a single manufacture of distilled water that supplies all the brands,
that went down for whatever reason.

The last few days, I stopped at the following places (Sorry, probably only NE US people will know the names):

2 different CVS pharmacies
1 Right-Aid phramacies
1 Walmart all-in-one store
1 Stop-and-shop grocery (food) store
1 local grocery store chain (Big Y)

None of them had distilled water in stock, and in some I didn't even find the shelf tags for it.

Any idea what's going on here? I am finding a new thing: "baby water" that's "pure" and "enriched with minerals". (Hey there's a lot of extremely stupid and gullible people in the world, why not make money from them, right?). My theory is that who ever is making the distilled water decided that they could just add minerals to their distilled water (minerals are very inexpensive) , and then sell the same thing as "purified baby water".

Well, for now it's bottled drinking water that goes in my CPAP humidifier. (And, yes in my case, it _is_ superior to my tap water). I don't think it will make a big difference.

Again, this is very strange - it seems like a very sudden thing that happened beginning the last week or so here.

You could just boil your tap water...it will not be distilled, but it will take impurities out.

That depends on your definition of "impurities".

And I doubt they add minerals to distilled water...

I'd guess it's just a local shortage.

I use drinking tap water which is better than the polluted air we breathe into our lungs daily from cars exhaust fumes and the food we eat which been sprayed with pesticide.

Baby water is not new. You didn't say where you are - we bought 4 gal. yesterday in Wallingford Wal*Mart. How much is it worth to ya? lol ... j/k They had plenty.

I noticed the same thing a couple years back. There seems to be a demand at times. Now I don't go below 1 gal. and haven't had a prob since.

Has all your snow melted?
If not, scoop up a bunch of snow and melt it......then filter it through a cloth or coffee filter or something like that to remove the particulates. That should be fit to use in a humidifier tank......heated or unheated.


Den

Wulfman... wrote:Has all your snow melted?
If not, scoop up a bunch of snow and melt it......then filter it through a cloth or coffee filter or something like that to remove the particulates. That should be fit to use in a humidifier tank......heated or unheated.


Den

Great idea....Den you are wise beyond your years

Larry - If you need snow I have that too FREE

GumbyCT wrote:

Wulfman... wrote:Has all your snow melted?
If not, scoop up a bunch of snow and melt it......then filter it through a cloth or coffee filter or something like that to remove the particulates. That should be fit to use in a humidifier tank......heated or unheated.


Den

Great idea....Den you are wise beyond your years

Larry - If you need snow I have that too FREE

In my youth......the 1950's......I remember doing that, so my mother would have a quantity of "soft" water to use in her steam iron for the rest of the year. So, I have had some experience with that sort of thing.


Den

I wonder how battery stores get theirs.
Don't they still need distilled water for batteries?
Maybe you can find a distilling machine--
Sears used to sell a tabletop model--we bought one a long time ago.
Maybe I'll dig it out if the shortage spreads.
Only works for water--didn't work for 'shine'.

I use distilled water when making herbal decoctions or coffee. I bought 2x 1 gallon MegaHome distiller a few years ago because I hated lugging the water containers home when I could find them. It comes in handy now for filling up the humidifier, and other projects when distilled water is called for.

The MegaHome gets great reviews on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Water-Distiller-C ... 00026F9F8/.

[quote="larry63"]
Well, for now it's bottled drinking water that goes in my CPAP humidifier. (And, yes in my case, it _is_ superior to my tap water). I don't think it will make a big difference.

I agree with you for using drinking water. If the chamber of your humidifier ever gets cloudy then replace it with a new one. It costs about $45.

The distilled water sold in stores is on the acidic side. The drinking water would be closer to saline in its tonicity.

i also live in ct and seem to have a hard time finding distilled water lately for my apap

Wulfman... wrote:Has all your snow melted?
If not, scoop up a bunch of snow and melt it......then filter it through a cloth or coffee filter or something like that to remove the particulates. That should be fit to use in a humidifier tank......heated or unheated.


Den

Make sure no yellow snow is collected. john

Maybe now that winter is in full swing (especially in Connecticut) people are purchasing distilled water to mix with antifreeze for their radiators.

I'm in NY and Stop and Shop had plenty of distilled water, Poland Springs @$1.00 a gallon. Go to the bottled water section there will be gallons containers of Poland Springs water. Look carefully at the labels as they are almost identical ( I missed it the first time) The top of the distilled water label is green with DISTILLED written on it. Good Luck.