Air force coffee made from radiator water

Workers at a Swedish airbase have been drinking coffee made with radiator water for the past two years after a pipe was connected wrongly.

The error at an air force base in Blekinge was discovered only when the heating system was shut down during maintenance work, reports The Local.

"As the coffee is black and the radiator water is a bit brown, then we haven't noticed the difference," said Capt Catharina Bergsell, of the F 17 squadron.

She had however noticed that the coffee from the machine in the room where she works hadn't tasted that good.

"When you drink coffee from a vending machine it always tastes a little different than fresh coffee and it may not have the best consistency."

The coffee machine had been connected to the heating unit, a closed system which pumps around 200-300 litres of water between the radiators, instead of drinking water.

The radiators simply refilled automatically as staff continued to drink the heating system water.

"No one had a clue about this until the water was turned off. Had that not happened, I reckon it would not have been noticed until there had been a change of supplier or some such," Capt Bergsell added.