Monday, April 17, 2017

Leaky Iron?

This weekend I did a thorough cleaning of my work horse Bernina. Vacuum and cleaned and oiled to give her another round of sewing.

At the same time I also cleaned my Rowenta iron.

I never put water in any of my irons. I use a spritzer whenever I need to dampen my fabric. But as I was re-reading the directions for cleaning my iron I came upon this little hint -

Rowenta irons are designed to be used with regular tap water (up to 12 grains of hardness). If your water is harder than this, Rowenta recommends mixing half tap water with half distilled water. Never use 100% pure distilled water since this can cause the iron to spit and leak.

There are many types of household water softeners. Many of them are perfectly acceptable for use in an iron. HOWEVER, some types of softeners, particularly those that use chemicals such as salt, can cause the iron to leak or spit during use. If you experience this type of problem, we recommend that you try using inexpensive bottled spring water. NEVER USE 100% PURE DISTILLED WATER. Once you have changed water it will take several uses to correct the problem.

So peeps, just a word to the wise. These are suggestions from the Rowenta cleaning kit, but it may be applicable to other brands as well.

I hope this will make for some Happy Quilting :-)

9 comments:

Susan said...

Always good to take time to take care of our appliances. Thank you for the reminder, XOXO

Barb said...

I never thought about the hardness of my water and irons....could be one reason I go through so many. Thanks for the info... I also like the idea of spritzing.

Lady Locust said...

I use our tap water in my rowenta and it does fine. Older irons don't seem to be as finicky though.

ytsmom said...

I save leftover bottled water for my iron.

margaret said...

I am lucky that our water is soft so do not have to worry never hoovered my bernina it must be in such a mess inside but not a clue how to get into the workings which reminds me it is about time it went for a service

Lori said...

thanks for the information. I never use water in my iron either. Mine is an old, but hardy one I picked up at Target about 25 years ago

Jackie's Stitches said...

i never put water in my iron either and like you use a spray bottle. I'm convinced it has extended the life of my iron.

Allie-oops Designs said...

I have a cheap iron from Kmart, and use both steam and the spray bottle, lol. I ONLY use tap water. My favorite iron was the Black and Decker Classic, reminded me of an old tugboat [so cute] but it stopped getting hot after a year.

Motherdragon's Musings said...

I have one of those expensive Osilo? Irons, and just recently has started leaking. I am going to try your iron advice. Thanky you.