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One more thing for me was the surprise to find out my insurance co pays for one new humidifier changer per year. Still on the original and just got my second spare in the mail.

I have found a product called Le Bleu ultra pure water at my South Carolina grocery store. It claims to be distilled water only. Curious, I visited their website and see they bottle the product in North Carolina and can be purchased in a growing amount of stores. It comes in quite a few sizes from a gallon down to a 10 fluid ounce bottle. It appears to be just distilled water with nothing added.

I am not sure they are selling distilled water. This is what it says...

Le Bleu Ultra Pure Bottled Water is...

Sodium Free
Oxygenated with Ozone

You know that fresh, clean smell of the air after a lightening storm? It's caused by the storm's lightening bolts literally electrifying the oxygen molecules of the air, which results in the formation of ozone. It can also be created artificially in water by the use of high-voltage electricity, which is how Le Bleu generates ozone to remove all impurities from our ultra pure water. This process is called "corona discharge".

Ozone is the most powerful water sanitizer and disinfectant available. It purifies water much faster than chlorine, functions as a clarifying agent to "polish" the water molecules, improves the clarity and clearness of the water and is the most powerful and rapid-acting purifier available. Ozone kills bacteria, toxins, mold, yeast spores, organic material, parasites and even viruses. Le Bleu uses ozonation as just one step in our 5-step purification process to provide you with the cleanest and safest bottled water possible.

If it was distilled would it need that "corona discharge"? Prob not.
It never says this water is distilled.

No matter what the salesman says, distilled will say "distilled".
That's the only way it is labeled.
Otherwise, it's something else.

Guest wrote:I am not sure they are selling distilled water. This is what it says...

Le Bleu Ultra Pure Bottled Water is...

Sodium Free
Oxygenated with Ozone

You know that fresh, clean smell of the air after a lightening storm? It's caused by the storm's lightening bolts literally electrifying the oxygen molecules of the air, which results in the formation of ozone. It can also be created artificially in water by the use of high-voltage electricity, which is how Le Bleu generates ozone to remove all impurities from our ultra pure water. This process is called "corona discharge".

Ozone is the most powerful water sanitizer and disinfectant available. It purifies water much faster than chlorine, functions as a clarifying agent to "polish" the water molecules, improves the clarity and clearness of the water and is the most powerful and rapid-acting purifier available. Ozone kills bacteria, toxins, mold, yeast spores, organic material, parasites and even viruses. Le Bleu uses ozonation as just one step in our 5-step purification process to provide you with the cleanest and safest bottled water possible.

If it was distilled would it need that "corona discharge"? Prob not.
It never says this water is distilled.

The La Bleu web site keeps espousing the benefits of distillation, but I had to search long and hard to find where they actually say they distill. However, I finally found this:

http://www.lebleu.com/filtered_vs_distilled.asp

"At Le Bleu, not only do we steam distill our water but we perform a 5-step purification process. Le Bleu ultra pure water is just that - ULTRA PURE. "

It would be interesting to see what the label says.

Apparently, a lot of distilled water producers use various means of cleaning the water before or after the distillation process.

My Walmart distilled water is labeled as "Processed by: Steam Distillation, Carbon Filtration, Reverse Osmosis, Ultraviolet Treatment, Microfiltration, Ozonation. Note that it doesn't actually say "and" or "or," but I presume it is filtered by all of those processes.

It probably makes sense to clean up the minerals, chemicals, and particulate matter before entering the boiler in a still because otherwise it would gunk up the boiler, requiring cleaning, and maybe requiring more heat input if scale builds up.

Note that some volatile chemicals can make it through the distillation process in varying degrees. For instance, in an alcohol still, you put in a water/alcohol mix and a water/alcohol mix comes out. You can't distill a water/alcohol mix to an alcohol concentration greater than 95%. If you're not careful, a still might actually concentrate the levels of certain volatile contaminants.

Some people have speculated that the US government allows bottlers to label water as "distilled" even if it's actually purified by other means, but I'm skeptical.

"Smartwater" brand bottled water is "vapor distilled", but they add minerals to it after distilling to improve the taste. I presume "vapor distilled" is just marketing for the normal "heat" distilled process.