# Distilled vs Purified Water **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 30, 2007, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/distilled-vs-purified-water/390140 "2007-01-30T17:59:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/distilled-vs-purified-water/390140/1 "2007-01-30T17:59:22Z")
Couldn’t find distilled water at COSTCO or Eckhart Pharmacy this morning. They both had “Purified” water. So I bought a 12-pack of it at the drug store. I have to do saline rinses of my infected sinuses and the directions call for distilled water. Might the “purified” be contraindicated? What’s the difference between the two? If no good for the rinses could I use the purified water to make a pot of coffee (just for the hell of it)? ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/distilled-vs-purified-water/390140/2 "2007-01-30T18:34:32Z")
I will leave the experts to answer this in full but yes to coffee, no to medical use. Distilled water is 100% pure. Purified water is just tap water, filtered. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/distilled-vs-purified-water/390140/3 "2007-01-30T20:04:14Z")
Distilled water is 100% pure H[sub]2[/sub]O, having been evaporated and then condensed in a still. Only the very rare solutes with a lower boiling point than 212 degrees would “contaminate” it. Tap water, well water, spring water, etc., is almost-pure water, but nearly always has _something_ dissolved in it owing to water’s properties as a near-universal solvent for any polar molecule. (Oils, fats, etc., are non-polar; almost every inorganic molecule or crystal, and many organic molecules, are polar.) If you live in a limestone or dolostone area, there’s dissolved CaCO[sub]2[/sub]; in a red-clay area, various clay-forming stuff including iron oxide; sulphates dissolve easily; etc. A municipal water system will attempt to combat microbial contamination by adding chlorine; many places fluoridate their water; some use alum to neutralize the pH value. “Purified” water, whether through a tap attachment or from commercial purposes, is water that has been run through activated charcoal and other filtration methods to remove the majority of solutes. But none are completely successful. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/distilled-vs-purified-water/390140/4 "2007-01-30T20:31:04Z")
[QUOTE=Polycarp] “Purified” water, whether through a tap attachment or from commercial purposes, is water that has been run through activated charcoal and other filtration methods to remove the majority of solutes. But none are completely successful. [/QUOTE] Actually, with the advent of decent membranes over the last 20 years, reverse osmosis systems are getting pretty good. RO water is [widely used in the pharmaceutical industry](http://www.fda.gov/ora/Inspect_ref/itg/itg36.html). ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/distilled-vs-purified-water/390140/5 "2007-01-30T20:41:49Z")
Thanks. You’re both invited over for coffee. Pick your water, 😃😃😃 ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/distilled-vs-purified-water/390140/6 "2007-01-30T20:42:51Z")
[QUOTE=BarnOwl] Thanks. You’re both invited over for coffee. Pick your water, 😃😃😃 [/QUOTE] You too, Squink. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/distilled-vs-purified-water/390140/7 "2007-01-30T20:45:51Z")
[QUOTE=BarnOwl] You too, Squink. :smack: [/QUOTE] Ahh, I’ve always wondered what’d happen if I put vodka in an expresso maker. Can I try it with your machine? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/distilled-vs-purified-water/390140/8 "2007-01-30T23:02:16Z")
[QUOTE=Squink] Ahh, I’ve always wondered what’d happen if I put vodka in an expresso maker. Can I try it with your machine? 😉 [/QUOTE] Hell, I’ll even buy a machine to try it! 😃😃😃 ---
**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/distilled-vs-purified-water/390140/9 "2007-01-30T23:20:12Z")
[QUOTE=BarnOwl] Couldn’t find distilled water at COSTCO or Eckhart Pharmacy this morning. They both had “Purified” water. So I bought a 12-pack of it at the drug store. I have to do saline rinses of my infected sinuses and the directions call for distilled water. Might the “purified” be contraindicated? What’s the difference between the two? If no good for the rinses could I use the purified water to make a pot of coffee (just for the hell of it)? [/QUOTE] My ENT said I could use tap water with table salt to do sinus rinses and it would be fine. I have been doing that and it works just as well as with distilled water. ---
**Author:** ![Impounded](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Impounded](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Impounded)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2007, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/distilled-vs-purified-water/390140/10 "2007-01-30T23:31:03Z")
I mistakenly bought distilled water, I could barely drink it, it tates horrible. I guess there is some sort of salts or other minerals in regular water that add to the taste.Never realized that before.