What is distilled water & why does my iron want it?

[Katymac]

I'm not sure I can be bothered, I'm sure boiled water isn't the same

It's probably to do with hard water - but I object in principal to buying water - I already pay for the stuff

Does it matter?

Imho... if your water is particularly hard, then you need it or your iron will get all furred up and won't work.

However, boiled water does just as well, or if you want a cheaper version of distilled water, it's cheaper to get from the motoring section of a major supermarket, or Halfords.

i've never understood what it is either, my dad always puts it in my car. how he distills it is anyone's guess

but if you live in a soft water area, then it doesn't really matter and you may as well do without.

I live in a hard water area and put water from the kettle in my iron, it is 9 years old and doing fine on the stuff. I dont see the point wither in buying water - when a tipple for me would be far better

Either - not wither... to much tipple

so is it just boiled water?

No, distilled water is the steam that comes from boiling water, which is then collected again and it has absolutely no impurities in it at all. Something like that, anyway!

distilled water is different from boiled water, but (again imho) boiled water does the job just as well.

argh what is the difference

Maureenmy love explains the differences well

Distilled water is the water produced when the steam from boiled water condenses again back into water.

I use it in my iron all the time (I get a 2litre bottled for 38p from savers so is hardly expensive) and stops all the chalky stuff from getting in the iron.

I think you can use the water that you empty out of condenser tumble dryers as well in irons

lol i get it now. brain obviously wasn't working saturday night

Doesn't filtered water suffice? I used a steam steriliser weekly (for DS1's nebuliser parts) and use filtered even thought it states distilled. Live in a hard water area but have had no probs with limescale builder up or similar in the steriliser.