I go between water in the iron and a spray bottle. I have a black and decker digital advantage which I like better than the rowenta. I kind of remember those references recommending filtered water saying tap water around the world is different so no telling what a comparison of tap water from California, New York City (think Flint, Michigan) or any other place would show. Probably different set of minerals and I guess no iron could be configured to work consistently with any or all versions of tap water.

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.

The owners manual should say - if you don't have the t visit their website. My newest iron stated to Not use distilled water, that it would cause it to leak, my older iron needed distilled.so, I'm guessing some do, some don't. I tend to just keep a spray bottle of water & not put water in my iron, they always seem to start leaking, spitting, sputtering.

Thank you for posting this! I'm off to empty my lil yellow wonder!!

no it says so in the manual. I had my rowenta ruined by distilled water. Now it can no longer even hold water

I've just gotten in the habit of using a spray bottle with warm water. I keep it in a 'koozie" Makes a difference

I'm using my second Black & Decker Classic iron. They do last for years before they give up or leak. I do use filtered water in mine. I also like that the iron has a little weight to it. :)

I use nursery water for my two GE irons.....will have to read the label to see if that's just filtered or distilled. How about softened water?......

spring water.

When I'm done for the day, I always "dump" the water out and leave that little cover open for the water area to "breathe".....Does everyone dump their water out? It seems to me that if I leave the water in there, it leaks out onto the ironing board. Maybe it's my iron, but it's an extra step I do to keep it working. What does everyone else do?