diff --git a/opm/input/eclipse/EclipseState/Tables/SimpleTable.hpp b/opm/input/eclipse/EclipseState/Tables/SimpleTable.hpp
index bdb444d87..c9c5c14e6 100644
--- a/opm/input/eclipse/EclipseState/Tables/SimpleTable.hpp
+++ b/opm/input/eclipse/EclipseState/Tables/SimpleTable.hpp
@@ -42,8 +42,10 @@ namespace Opm {
         static SimpleTable serializeObject();
 
         void addColumns();
-        void init(const DeckItem& deckItem );
-        void init( const DeckItem& deckItem, double scaling_factor);
+        //! \brief Initialize deck item.
+        //! \param deckItem item to initialize
+        //! \param scaling_factor If zero use SI value, else use value scaled by scaling factor
+        void init( const DeckItem& deckItem, double scaling_factor = 0.0);
         size_t numColumns() const;
         size_t numRows() const;
         void addRow( const std::vector<double>& row);
diff --git a/src/opm/input/eclipse/EclipseState/Tables/SimpleTable.cpp b/src/opm/input/eclipse/EclipseState/Tables/SimpleTable.cpp
index 1f4e77a20..a1922c9ac 100644
--- a/src/opm/input/eclipse/EclipseState/Tables/SimpleTable.cpp
+++ b/src/opm/input/eclipse/EclipseState/Tables/SimpleTable.cpp
@@ -82,31 +82,6 @@ namespace Opm {
         return col[row];
     }
 
-    void SimpleTable::init( const DeckItem& deckItem ) {
-        this->addColumns();
-
-        if ( (deckItem.data_size() % numColumns()) != 0)
-            throw std::runtime_error("Number of columns in the data file is"
-                    "inconsistent with the ones specified");
-
-        size_t rows = deckItem.data_size() / numColumns();
-        for (size_t colIdx = 0; colIdx < numColumns(); ++colIdx) {
-            auto& column = getColumn( colIdx );
-            for (size_t rowIdx = 0; rowIdx < rows; rowIdx++) {
-                size_t deckItemIdx = rowIdx*numColumns() + colIdx;
-                if (deckItem.defaultApplied(deckItemIdx))
-                    column.addDefault( );
-                else if (m_jfunc) {
-                    column.addValue( deckItem.getData<double>()[deckItemIdx] );
-                }
-                else
-                    column.addValue( deckItem.getSIDouble(deckItemIdx) );
-            }
-            if (colIdx > 0)
-                column.applyDefaults(getColumn( 0 ));
-        }
-    }
-
     void SimpleTable::init( const DeckItem& deckItem, double scaling_factor) {
         this->addColumns();
 
@@ -124,8 +99,12 @@ namespace Opm {
                 else if (m_jfunc) {
                     column.addValue( deckItem.getData<double>()[deckItemIdx] );
                 }
-                else
-                    column.addValue( scaling_factor * deckItem.get<double>(deckItemIdx) );
+                else {
+                    if (scaling_factor > 0.0)
+                        column.addValue( scaling_factor * deckItem.get<double>(deckItemIdx) );
+                    else
+                        column.addValue( deckItem.getSIDouble(deckItemIdx) );
+                }
             }
             if (colIdx > 0)
                 column.applyDefaults(getColumn( 0 ));