C-PAP water

I'm on CPAP with water, and have traveled through Italy with no problem using tap water for 2 weeks.

Once you get to France, you can easily find distilled water. Go to a large grocery store and look for "distillee eau" in France.

Remember that just about every item you have in the U.S., they have the same in Europe.

The idea is to eliminate the calcium/lime that would eventually gum up the machine. I think Evian, Contrex, and other quality bottled water would do fine. You might want to double check with the manufacturer of your machine to see if you really do need distilled water during this trip or if bottled water will do.

SJ What have you seen in posts about C-PAP water?

Distilled water in Europe is no different than distilled water here. The reason for using it is so you don't get mineral deposits, not a health reason. Not sure what you mean by saying you will "buy demineralized water and boil it", since "demineralized" is effectively the same as distilled.

Evian, Contrex and any other mineral water contains calcium. Calcium is one of the principal "minerals" in "mineral water". So they are just as likely to cause deposits as tap water, maybe more so.

It seems that you are concerned about the price of the distilled water more than anything else. For a total of 12 weeks, I would be very concerned about possibly destroying the CPAP machine by using the wrong water. I think you need to budget for distilled water. I'm sure it will be a very small percentage of the total cost of your trip. Today a euro cost $1.37. If you use a liter per week, that's less than $100 for the whole trip.

• As others have said, you might find distilled water cheaper at some of the Target-like supermarket stores than at the pharmacies. Monoprix or Carrefour would be good places to look -- especially in the baby section. Someone also suggested to me to try a gas station because distilled water is needed for car batteries. They bought it there for about 2 euro per liter. Wherever you go, if you don't see it, ask. The first liter I bought in Belgium was in the baby section, but it was hidden behind an aisle display and I would never have found it without help from someone who worked there.
• You know how much you need per week. I bought a total of 3 liters on our month-long trip to Belgium and the Netherlands last April, and my husband had quite a bit left over at the end. He uses more here in dry AZ than he does in wet Seattle due to the evaporation. Depending on the time of year and exact location, you might use more in Spain or Greece than in France.
• This is not on topic, but be sure there is a plug available at the head of the bed for your machine. Otherwise, you may have to get an extension cord. Sometimes the only way to find that out is to look at pictures of the bed or contact the owner of the apartment. We got a European cord with several plug receptacles at a supermarket in Bruges. It was somewhat pricey at 20 euro, but we figured we would use it many times. It fits just fine in the CPAP bag. If you got the same thing at the same price, it would cost you about 23 (euro) cents per night of this trip. Of course, every time you use it, the price per use goes down.

I am assuming the devices are rated for 220v/50Hz. I would be inclined to travel with the extension cord so you can enjoy your trip without shopping for such things: http://www.amazon.com/PowerFig-PFCEE7-71-0C1398A-Schuko-IEC60320-C13/dp/B007JWIOTG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1394168051&sr=8-2&keywords=schuko+extension+cord

As for the distilled water, since you are staying in apartments, ask the apartment owner if they can help you out. I know at less one vacation apartment owner in Europe who would be happy to provide the assistance, but you aren't going that way. Still I tend to believe that one owner is not unique.

Boiling does nothing to remove lime, but there might be a filter you can buy?

Thank you for all your replies. My understanding is that the water from the grocery store or gas stations in France is demineralized not distilled ...that the minerals are removed, but not the bacteria, etc. so that I why I thought boiling demineralized would do it. Distilled water is available only at the pharmacy. The point that distilled water from the pharmacy would cost about $100 is a good one. Perhaps that is what I should do to be safe. I will be in France 9 weeks...Spain 1 week and Greece 2 weeks...don't know about their distilled water in Spain or Greece.
The plug and extension cord...my reading on this from this forum sounds to me like the plain old "dumb" cord will do the trick. I have the adapter. Also that is why my C-pap medical supplier tells me. I did not believe it at first, but them read that post on cords by the resident electrical guy( can't remember his name).

About the extension cord -- my husband wanted multiple plugs possible on the same cord. He made the decision in favor of the European one. And, although he never used all of them at once I don't think, he was able plug the bedside lamp, his CPAP, his phone charger and his iPad charger all into the same one when needed. We have lots of adapters. Most of the places we stayed had only one plug near the head of the bed where the lamp was plugged in. Some had that and a plug on the wall to the side of the bed. The cord was long enough (usually) to reach that plug if needed.

As long as the water says l'eau distillée, agua distilada or apestagméno neró (απεσταγμένο νερό) it will be distilled. The translations above are from Google Translate. Try copying and pasting the French, Spanish or Greek translations into Google Images and you will come up with lots of pictures of distilled water bottles, some of which include the term in English. Many seem to be automotive in nature. In all cases, the bottles varied in size from 1 liter to more than I'd want to carry around unless I was lugging it to an apartment I was staying in for several weeks.

Thanks for asking this question. We are going to Greece in the fall and I would never have thought to look up the term in Greek without your question.

Forgive my ignorance here, but isn't distilled water effectively sterile, because... well, you have to boil it to make it?

BTW, it costs between €1-2 at grocery stores.

I thought there is one simple question that will answer this.
WHAT DO THE FRENCH PEOPLE USE? There are many studies from France
and they are even manufactured there. I have tried to get my supplier to find
out from France, but to no avail. The only distilled water in France is from the
pharmacy...otherwise demineralized is what you get. That is my understanding.

The only difficulty with finding liter and two-liter bottles of distilled water in Paris might be that "big-box" stores aren't as frequent "downtown" as they are in the environs and on the highway. That's a Real Estate issue that occurs in the USA as well.
I use distilled water for a different medical purpose, and I was able to buy it in a highway store in France last summer - not a pharmacy, but more like a giant Target-style place. I don't see why you couldn't use boiled water for a night or two until you can find bottled distilled water. I agree that tap water is likely to have fewer minerals than fine-bottled drinking water. I do remember (sorry if this makes you more nervous) finding perfumed distilled water in Belgian supermarkets, for steam irons! But it was in the household aisle, not the baby or drinking-water aisle.
If the C-PAP machine is not dual-voltage, I would make sure that your power converter is suitable for the machine. They used to make lightweight high-power (1000W) converters that were only good for things like hair dryers, which are now often dual-voltage by themselves. But a small transformer (heavy wall wart with no cord, often) which produces absolutely superb waveform electricity, may not have the power (Wattage) capacity for a machine with a motor in it. I have no personal C-PAP experience.

This question continues to intrigue me since we may have some of the same issues. Most of the information I found indicated that there is very little difference between distilled and demineralized water except for the processes. Anyone can Google "difference between distilled and demineralized water" and get the same results. However, I did find a little CPAP specific article about it: http://www.sleep-apnea-guide.com/demineralized-water-and-cpap.html. Please note that the person with the question probably meant non-potable rather than non-portable water.

Distilled water is no longer sterile once you open the bottle, assuming the bottle itself was sterilized, when it was filled at the factory. It is overkill to boil de-mineralized water. Boiling tap water temporarily sterilizes it, but does not remove the minerals, which are what you are trying to avoid.

Thank you Lo...that article is good.