Urgent! What does it mean when your iron is chucking out grainy water?

[BumperliciousNeedsToSleep]

I never iron, and now I remember why. My iron, new and barely used, is chucking out grainy water. Why is it doing this, and more to the point how can I stop it?!

stop immediately. Put iron back in cupboard and sit down. Make cup of tea / glass of wine and thank your lucky stars you had such a narrow escape.

Ironing is for fools.

It means that you need a new one...eithher that or your iron is having a 'dirty protest' at the fact that it is never used!!

set the steamer on full, hold it over the sink and rinse through the steam vents with the steam.

Refill with clean water and try again

Do you live in a hard water area?

I do and use something or other to alleviate the problem (wracks brains to remember the product)

LOL at OB! Fricking summer clothes made of linen!

Don't think it is hard water, but even if it was why would it make it leak? Will try nell's solution.

is it leaking whilst you iron?
mine does this sometimes if i have it set to no steam with water in it. don't know why i just whack the steam up and it stops
(althoug it has done this when i plugged iron in and forgot to switch the wall switch, so it wasnt even on and i trying to make it work

u need to use de-ionised water in your iron rather than tap water.

its like the scale on the kettle but in the iron

my iron has never had a drip of tap water in it, has been used regularly for 2 years and is perfectly scale free as a result!

it needs cleaning. you can buy iron "insides" cleaner to remove limescale from household shops.
It will need to be done every so often if you live in a hard water area