Distilled water, do I really need this for my steam mop?

[Loveleopardprint]

Got a morphy Richards steam mop. Very excited after reviews in here but did not realise that I need to use distiller water. Is it really really necessary??

you can get deionised water in 5-litre plastic containers from the motoring shelves of your supermarket, or a motorists shop. Quite cheap.

Otherwise you will get limescale and other mineral deposits that will be left behind when the water has boiled away.

Ok thank you. I was just looking forward to playing with my new toy but now I have to go and get water first!

Is the water in the tumble drier reservoir distilled? I was thinking about using that.

Five litres of deionised water was £2.99 from Halfords, I haven't got a condenser drier so can't use that.

The water in the tumble drier is certainly condensed from steam but may not be that clean - could have fibres from clothes and traces of washing liquids. Given how cheap it is to buy distilled water and how expensive it would be to replace the steam mop if it gets gunked up, I would buy the proper stuff.

I have had a steam cleaner for years and always use tap water, seems to work for me

I've always chucked in normal water - I use my mop about 4 times a week for over a year....it's still going strong...

Apparently it can calc up and invalidates the guarantee. Got some for Robert Dyas and it lasts ages.

I use tap water with no issues at all. I figure I'll throw a descaling tablet in if I need to but never have had to.

Mine came with descaling tablets which I've yet to use. It's a Karcher.

I just use tap water for mine.

Disclaimer - we live in a soft water area.

I also bought the Morphy Richards steam mop and to be honest I was a bit underwhelmed.. It seemed to take ages to heat up not 30 seconds as it said on the instructions, and my bathroom floor still looks dirty (although to be fair it was manky). I will go over it again tonight but I'm getting the feeling that I've wasted £60