On Oct 9, 2005, at 11:32, [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Ricki) wrote:
I have a Rowenta iron that cannot use distilled water -- it uses hard
water.
I don't know if it filters the water or not, but when I have tried
using
distilled water, it just steams like mad and boils through in one big
hurry.
We have very hard water here, and I'm wondering if when I use it for
ironing,
it's putting hard water deposits into the fibers, and if so, if I
should get
another iron.
Just killing time, before Jeri - who actually does know about those
things - chimes in with a definitive answer...
I expect hard water does deposit some minerals onto/into the fibers,
so, of course, you'd want to avoid it. But since ironing - by itself -
is not altogether healthy for fibers, presumably, you're avoiding it
also :) So, how much "bad stuff" are you likely to feed into the fiber?
As for getting a new iron... Wouldn't getting a re-fillable spray
bottle, reserved for distilled water, be a cheaper solution?
If your fiber is silk and you're worried about spraying (and making
permanent stains), you could spray - till thoroughly wet - a piece of
cotton or linen, wrap your silk project in it, and let it sit till
uniformly damp, then iron - with an empty, dry iron - the steam will
then be provided by the piece, not the iron. You don't have to fill the
water container of the iron at all; the "spray, wrap, wait" method goes
back to the times when irons weren't even electric, never mind having a
steam reservoir provided within.
For cotton and linen, we sprayed, liberally, the piece itself, then
balled it up and let it sit for a while. That was after the irons ran
off electricity, but before they had thermostats; you sprayed and
balled up a whole lot of cotton and linen stuff, and ironed the
(pre-wrapped) silk and maybe some wool, as the iron was heating. When
it was hot, you ironed the linen, then pulled the plug, then, as it was
cooling off, you ironed cotton, then wool, and finally back to silk...
--
Tamara P Duvall http://t-n-lace.net/
Lexington, Virginia, USA (Formerly of Warsaw, Poland)
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