Where to find distilled water in Paris

I suggest you email the pharmacies near your hotel or ask the concierge to help. Instead of writing the entire email in English, start with Bonjour and then write in French using Google Translate.

You’ll find in a supermarket by cleaning supplies.
“ eau demineralisee “

My husband has a Resmed CPAP. The dr. Said it was ok to use bottled water for a few weeks. There may be some mineral buildup but it can be removed or buy new tank. Distilled water just necessary for long term use.

Look for eau distillée on the label. Sometimes you find it in stores next to irons or near starch. Try asking at your nearest pharmacy. Most pharmacists that I have met in Paris spoke English but maybe not in the 12th so you may want to write the words on a piece of paper if you do not speak French.

Most people use demineralized water from the ironing goods section of the supermarket. It says not for CPAP on the label, but that's what people use. Be sure you don't buy a perfumed water like lavender scented demineralized water we have for our iron.

A cousin in Brittany uses tap water, per his doctor, because their water is soft.

Mont Roucous drinking water is the best of the bottled waters for a CPAP according to a doctor. It’s available at Monoprix, even the small neighborhood Monoprix.

Beware, the water in certain parts of France can be very hard, even for rinsing the CPAP parts. Where we are, I even buy 5 liter bottles of drinking water.

Thanks everyone. Yesterday we went to 4 pharmacies, two supermarkets and a hardware store with no luck whatsoever. I have not yet figured out how to copy and paste from google translate using my little bitty iPhone. Not staying in a hotel, rented an apartment, so no concierge. Thanks, Bets for the heads up about how hard the water can be in certain areas of France. We will definitely not use tap water. Because of recent experience, we know where in the store to locate demineralized water. We finally bought one bottle which we plan to boil before using in case we cannot find distilled water. The CPAP store in Paris Seemed to think a monoprix on or near ilse st Louis has Actual distilled water but we were unable to figure out where the store might be. Tried googling etc. Still hoping to find the real deal but realize that this may not be possible. But again many thanks.

Check this link, I think it's an example with a picture of what you're looking for:

"Eau Déminéralisée"

https://fr.rubix.com/fr/eau-demineralisee/p-G3007000017

In supermarkets you will find this product in the cleaning product sections, sometimes in the sections near electrical accessories or DIY for the home, also in the car accessories section under the name EAU DISTILEE (Distilled water).

Check if the label indicate that the product is not compatible with CPAPs

In French : "Pas compatible avec les appareil respiratoires"

Those gallons bottles of distilled water in the US are not sterilized either. The l'eau distillée, if even in stock in a pharmacy, is the sterilized water for medical use and ready to be hooked up to an IV. You are fine with the l'eau déminéralisée and an extra boil will make it even better.

Eau Déminéralisée

https://fr.rubix.com/fr/eau-demineralisee/p-G3007000017

In this link there is the possibility to click on its technical sheet (Fiche Technique).
This sheet is in French, it is specified: DO NOT use demineralized water in breathing apparatus.

The humidifier is not an essential part of CPAP. Is it possible your DH could just do without while traveling? That's what I do and it's been fine.

Eau déminéralisée will typically be sold in very plain bottles, stored next to things like ethanol and chlorhydric acid in the cleaning product section.
If you still struggle, Volvic mineral water has a much lower mineral content than Paris tap water, so it will probably be all right in a pinch! The aforementioned Mont Roucous would be even better, but is harder to find.

Maybe for the Monoprix near Ile Saint Louis, the pharmacist meant the Monop’ on Blvd Saint Germain near Rue du Cardinal Lemoine. I am having lunch tomorrow with a friend who should know where you find water for a CPAP machine in Paris. I’ll ask him.

I seem to remember going to a Target-sort of place in France for the same thing (nasal wash), but I don't immediately find a Target in Paris online. There must be local equivalents.

With the language difference, it's important to avoid lavender scented water prepared for steam irons.

Stay away from the stuff sold in grocery stores. It's chemically demineralized and not for CPAPs. It's more for rug cleaning machines etc. Just use the regular bottled water out of your hotel fridge or picked up at a store. It will leave a very minor 'scum' in the reservoir you can clean when home.

We bought a 1 liter bottle of distilled water at a pharmacy near our hotel in Paris in 2015. It took the pharmacist a while to dig it up in the store room. It had the type of cap that you'd jab a hypodermic needle through which was a devil to remove! The bottle was 5 euros. Considering at home a 4 liter jug costs 99 cents.... we paid 5 times more! Ouch.

We did eventually discover that the only reliable place for distilled water is at AutoParts stores... it's used in car batteries.

But go ahead and use whatever normal bottled water is most convenient. But stay away from the stuff in grocery stores.

There is a Monoprix on Boulevard St. Michel, just walking uphill from the big fountain near the river end of the street.
It's on the same side of the street, not far along.
At least, that's where I remember it being.

I’ve heard doctors here in France say to use l’eau déminéralisée. Here’s a link to a pulmonology practice. Their adviceis distilled or demineralized. One is sterilized, the other isn’t, as in the US.
https://csrsommets.ca/produits/quelle-eau-dois-je-mettre-dans-mon-reservoir-cpap/

However, given this discussion, I now have doubts about l’eau déminéralisée.

Thanks again, everyone. I don’t think I’m a very easily confused person but France, Much as I love it manages to do it to me!

demineralized vs distilled is a distinction without a difference. Its purpose in CPAP is to humidify the air for your comfort. It has no medical purpose. Both have had minerals removed, and thats so there is no mineral buildup in the machine. Which can be cleaned out anyway. Neither are necessarily sterile but that doesnt matter since as soon as you open a bottle and pour it into the reservoir, it would no longer be sterile. Neither is the air you breathe all day long, or the water you drink. Its all about keeping the reservoir clean.

Yes, I have discussed this thoroughly with the people who fit and service our CPAPs.