Ironing Water

picklepick

sophlowe45 wrote: »

I thought if you put tap water in your iron it caused limescale but using ironing water did not.

It depends if you live in a hard or soft water area!

SailorSam

I thought if you used tap water and boiled it first it was Ok for the iron.

kathie1101

I've always thought it was the norm to use tap water:question:
I remember 1st seeing ironing waters probably about 15 years ago and for quite a while I did use them (pre my MSE days) but then I realised I was spending a fortune on them so went back to normal tap water. I can't say either have caused my iron any problems as I have had this iron for about 7 or 8 years if not longer (tefal). We live in a soft water area though so that might help.

I must admit I liked the smell of the ironing waters, and have thought about just putting some oil in water, but sure I would put too much oil in and leave the clothes all greasy.

gibson123

I make my own by adding a drop of essential oil to the water before it goes into the iron, if I don't have any essential oils, I use a drop of lemon and occasionally perfume.

Doberwoman

I lurve ironing water and have been looking for a frugal alternative (not to mention all the plastic bottle waste from them).

I live in an uber-hard water area and used to work at a chemists where we sold deionised water which was snapped up by housewives; seems a bit of a faff for me though considering all the steam ironing I do.

My research so far has found:
* maybe risky to put essential oil in iron -clogging risk, dispersion probs, residue etc etc
* if you do use tap water (like moi), apparently every so often you can put diluted white vinegar in reservoir and stand upright (the iron, not necessarily yourself!) on continuous steam as a descale

My favourite finding though has been from the book 'the fragrant pharmacy' where the author uses essential oils for everything. She suggests sprinkling a couple of drops of essential oil in a damp tea towel then pressing this between the clothing and the iron. I get basic essential oils like lavender and lemon in large bottles on the internet; haven't done a proper cost calculation as I just love the smell!

allotrios

Good thread. Shows first when looking for cheap distilled water. Not sure if it was mentioned before but we use the water from the tumble drier condenser. Just need to find the perfect scenting agent.