How to make Distilled Water for Irons

A hot topic of conversation when it comes to irons and using them is often about the water. Should I use tap water or should I use distilled water (purified water)? Well, that totally depends on the kind of iron you are using, some irons require tap water, some distilled, and others will work best with 50/50 distilled and tap water.

However, the majority of irons you see today will typically prefer distilled water, this is because it removes all microbes and minerals from the water itself, making it more suitable for ironing. If you do not use the demineralised water when required, you could perhaps run into a few issues.

For example, if your tap water is considered to be “hard water”, then the chances are your iron could easily develop rust deposits due to the high quantity of salt in the water. This can decrease the longevity of your iron tremendously, and can even stain some of your clothes due to the water become a somewhat brown color.

Acquiring distilled water is pretty easy, all things considered. You can either purchase your own from a shop or online or create the distilled water yourself. That is why this guide on how to make distilled water for irons has been created! Creating your own distilled water will make your ironing experience a lot better and will render much greater ironing results.

Why Should I Use Distilled Water for Irons?

Here are the two main reasons why you would need to use distilled water rather than drinking water:

1. As mentioned previously, if your tap water contains a high amount of salt then you risk your steam generator iron becoming rusty, including steam vents, and it can also change the color of the water to brown, and will subsequently stain your clothes. Distilled water contains no salts, the distillation process removes all salts from the water.

2. Not only does distilling your ironing water remove the unwanted salts, but it also clears the mineral deposits such as carbonates, calcium, magnesium, bicarbonates, and sulfates which can also cause clogging in the steam chamber of a steam iron. Meaning that your steam generator and steam holes will be safe from any unwelcomed build-up.

How do I Make Distilled Water for Irons?

The use of distilled water in irons has become much more important in preserving their longevity, as well as creating efficiency and better results from an ironing standpoint.

Despite recent studies suggesting that using half filtered water, bottled water, or distilled water with regular tap water, is good practice, it is still beneficial to learn how to distill water. The following steps will provide perfect guidance to complete the process of distilling your water!

Step 1 – Starting the Process

To start with you will need to fill a stainless steel saucepan with tap water, it depends on the size of the saucepan, but use a large size one to make this process worth the effort, and fill it halfway with tap water.

Step 2 – Placing a Glass Bowl

The next step involves the placement of a glass bowl inside the stainless steel pan. You have to let the bowl float and make sure it doesn’t touch the bottom of the pan. Any metal rack or a baking pan could also be placed at the bottom to secure it.

Step 3 – Begin the Process

Now turn on the hob and boil the water. The boiling water will remove the chemicals, like ethanol and methanol.

Step 4 – Condensation

In step 4, you need to invert the lid of the pot and fill it with ice. This hot or cold barrier would create a required condensation effect.

Step 5 – Steaming Water

The boiled water would now steam up to rise and condense onto the saucepan’s lid. Now you need to observe to see how the condensation from the lid of the pot drips into the glass bowl. After this, wait until the bowl starts getting filled.

Step 6 – Deionized Water

Make sure that the condensed water in the bowl is hot but you need to prevent it from boiling. As soon as you feel it may boil, you will need to stop immediately.

Step 7 – The Final Step

Finally, you will need to remove the lid and take the glass bowl out. After this get a bottle and fill it up with the distilled water you have created from regular water. It is important to make sure that you do this with precaution, protecting yourself at all times from getting burned.

Conclusion

So, using distilled water for your iron could prove to be extremely beneficial, not only for the quality of ironing but the life of your iron itself. Despite being easily available in local shops and online, it actually is really easy to created distilled water from the comfort of your own home. Following these instructions will help you become an expert at turning normal tap water into the perfect distilled water!