What is the trick to filling an iron with water without spilling half of it? I’m an adult. I’ve been ironing my own clothes for years. I should know how to do this, but I just can’t manage it.
Filling it directly under the faucet is the worst for water waste, but at least the spillage goes down the sink. Filling it with a glass still spills a lot (it usually starts running down the side of the glass and onto the floor). I thought a measuring cup with a spout might be better, but the improvement is only marginal. So, what am I supposed to do? Use an eyedropper???
I’m sure my measuring cup holds far more water than the iron will, but it starts spilling long before the iron is full. There are two problems. First, as soon as a single drop has dribbled over the edge of the spout, it seems like about 3/4 of the water starts running down the side of the cup instead of into the iron. Second, every so often a bubble will form at the mouth of the iron, making some of the water spill out (usually precipitating the first problem).
I use those little 4 oz paper cups that I keep in my bathroom. You can squeeze them at the top to form a ‘spout’ to pour from. The key is to be patient and pour slowly.
You need a cup or pitcher with a sharp-edged spout. Cups, like glass measuring cups, which have rounded spouts can’t pour slowly, because surface tension and cohesive forces make the water tend to follow the curve of the spout rather than running off it.
I fill mine direcly beneath the faucet, but I barely turn the faucet on. Just past the point where the faucet would dribble, so that there’s a thin, slow stream.
Yep. A very thin stream from a bathroom faucet is perfect for iron-filling.
The big thing is to be patient. Yes, it’s barely 1/2 cup, but it’ll take 30 seconds to fill slowly enough so that pesky bubble doesn’t form.
As to distilled water … decent new irons cost $35 @ Target. For round numbers, distilled water is $2/gallon @ the grocery store. As long as I can get 17 gallons through the iron before it calcifies solid I’m ahead using tap water. And that’s not factoring my convenience, which is huge compared to $35 over a few years.
I’m 50, have ironed shirts for most of those years, and I doubt I’ve run 17 gallons through all the irons I’ve ever used.
And as for filling it, when my iron sits on the table, the fill spout is at an angle. If I try to fill it when it’s just sitting there, very little water gets into it. But if I tilt it so that the fill spout is horizontal, it fills more easily.