I used bottled drinking water in my iron without problem. It never spit or leaked. It was a GE. Notice that I used the past tense of the verb because it died yesterday! There was a "pop" and the cord detatched from the base unit. We unplugged it from the wall very quickly!. Today, I will shop for a new one. It will be another cheap one with auto shut-off. I have had two expensive irons in the past and both rusted, spit, leaked and stained.