recommendations for new iron

I have to replace my iron last year after wrecking the previous one doing a vinegar/water clean recommended here, but I just bought an el cheapo and it's THE best iron I've ever owned. It is lightweight so using for long periods of time is easy on your wrist, it has a teflon soleplate and the steam produced is just wonderful....so much so that it fogs my glasses so now I've learned to stand back a little.

When this iron dies I'll definitely be buying another el cheapo....previously I've always had TOL expensive irons and to be totally honest I feel this latest is THE best I've ever owned.

HC ;-)

lots_of_threads wrote:

You had a Rowenta that lasted 12 years? Couldn't get half that out of mine. I too have gone back to the cheap ones, more bang for the buck.

I love my steam generator! It's a cheap and cheerful one my husband bought in Aldi last year, and cost only about £45, but has almost everything I need: Gets hot enough to scorch linen, steams for an hour, and has a stainless steel sole plate. The one thing I wish it had that it doesn't is a gauge up the side so you can see how full the tank is.

It only drips if I try heavy steaming with the iron set too cool so the steam condenses on the sole plate. And the only awkward thing is storage!

I have a cheapie iron upstairs in the sewing room for quick pressing of small items, and it's certainly OK, but the Teflon sole plate is a bugger to clean if it gets fusible glue on it!

Well, the Rowenta wasn't in constant use for 12 years as I took a hiatus from sewing for awhile. Can someone please specify which "cheap" brands you bought that were reliable and gave the most steam? Thanks.

Can someone please specify which "cheap" : brands you bought that were reliable and gave the most steam? Thanks.

T-Fal comes to mind. I got mine at Sears for about $50.

Mack

T-Fal is not the brand name for an iron; it is the brand name for a nonstick coating, as in a variation on teflon a.k.a. polytetrafluoroethylene.

I'm not sure where you got that information, but it's at least partially incorrect. T-Fal *may* be a brand name for a non-stick coating, but there *is* a company that uses the name T-Fal in the US. They make cookware, bakeware, toasters, and irons, among other things. (

I've heard good thing about their irons, and friends really like their toasters.

jenn

-- Jenn Ridley : snipped-for-privacy@chartermi.net

In my search for an iron that didn't leak, I also tried a T-Fal.

reasonably priced...wow, that's not easy. After I've tried Philips(gone after 5 years) 70 euro Rowenta(leaking after 2 years, after changing the isolation 4 years, leaking again ...)price 90 euro Milady my first Italian(just second hand, a professional iron with a second hand air blowingwiironing table) all together only 30 euro!!!!!) my favourite until now is Vaporella, made in Italy, by Polti. My model is Vaporella Pro 5200 for a new one |too expensive, but a good one. No complains until now, 3 years now. I use it already 3 years but intensive, almost 10 hours a week. It still seems to be the champion. In combination with the others see above, this is the best one for me. New price was 185 euro with the teflon plate against shining on the black and other textiles. If you can manage the second hand one, you'll be lucky to get one.

from Amsterdam (having a VERY SMALL ironing business)

Well, you might not get 12 years out of it, but I LOVE the black & decker irons. I average about 2-3 years with one. I just got a new one. Apparently the older one had become suicidal and I did not realize it. One day it leapt from the ironing board onto the ceramic tile, over concrete slab. I tried, to the best of my abilities to save it, but alas it succumbed to its injuries.

I went directly out to wal-mart and replaced it with the newest B&D iron. About $42.00. No leaking AT ALL so far. This one has a stainless steel soleplate, which I prefer over teflon of any sort. I just don't like teflon....not in irons or cookware. This one also has 2 tanks. One is for water and does the burst of steam. That is the larger of the 2 tanks. The other tank is for the spray of water. You can also put Downy Wrinkle Releaser in there. The idea being that you use the wrinkle releaser on fabrics that cannot take high heat from the iron. Works really really well on DH's work shirts that are poly. Give it a blast with the wrinkle releaser, then cruise over it with the iron. Works as well as spray starch on a 100% cotton shirt. Yeah, really nifty huh? It says it is designed so that it Won't leak on lower temperatures (where they are most inclined to leak.) So far it appears to work as advertised. The iron is heavy enough that I can press a hem on jeans without leaning on it. Light enough that I can iron a whole load of his dress shirts and pants without my arm falling off. ;) And gets hot enough to press linen beautifully. I'm very very pleased with this one. Of course, I've loved all my B&D irons. This is my third. The one with digital controls got a little unpredictable after a while--about 2 years. It would just shut itself off for no reason (before it was due to shut off automatically. In mid-iron.) I still have it in case DH needs a project. ;) I will have him tear into it and see if it has a loose connection or something.

YMMV, but for my money, I won't buy any iron other than a B&D ever again. They are durable enough to stand up to the amount of pressing I do in the sewing room and the laundry room. And they work as well as they are advertised to work (very big plus IMO.) Also, they aren't so expensive that I will cry for days and not be able to replace them if they do tumble off the ironing board in a dramatic fashion. ;)

Sharon

I went to that web site and didn't see anything with a brand name of T-Fal or even Tefal, its alternative. Their brand names are like Aquaspeed (iron), Avante (contact grill), etc.

You have to go to the USA website:

You can also find T-Fal irons on Amazon.com. One model is even on sale: have one that I bought at Sears, which I really like. Very light, but lots of steam, no leaking and it really does glide over fabric with ease. Wasn't the cheapest iron, but certainly wasn't the most expensive.-j

This reminds me of years ago when my mother found certain of my father's shirts just awful to iron. They suffered the most horrible of "accidents".

The one I tried was from Walmart.

Sharon wrote: "Well, you might not get 12 years out of it, but I LOVE the black & decker irons. I average about 2-3 years with one. I just got a new one. Apparently the older one had become suicidal and I did not realize it. One day it leapt from the ironing board onto the ceramic tile, over concrete slab. I tried, to the best of my abilities to save it, but alas it succumbed to its injuries. "

Ha, ha, ha...I've had other appliances suddenly end it all. I think they just get tired of doing the same task over and over again. ;-)

I had a B&D before my Rowenta, but it was an auto shut-off which isn't good if you want to leave the iron on while sewing for hours. However, they must make non auto-off models. I will check around and see what is available. If I can get a decent iron for under $50 that would be good.

Thanks for everyone's suggestions.

You missed this paragraph then: :Tefal, the non-stick cookware inventor, is a world leader not only :in cookware but also in small domestic equipment. Tefal household :appliances appear under the T-Fal brand in some territories like :America and Japan.

Click on USA under the Americas tab , and you'll see their list of US offerings. Many of which are branded T-Fal.

They have two lines of irons available in the US, Aquaspeed and Ultraglide, both of which carry the T-Fal name on them.

-- Jenn Ridley : snipped-for-privacy@chartermi.net

lol Maybe that's it. It got sick of my DH's shirts. I can understand that. LOL

All of them that I know of have an auto-off. The new B&D actually has 2. It will shut off after 30 seconds if it's soleplate down in one spot. And after 8 minutes if it's sitting up. I don't know of any that are sold for home use that don't have the auto-off. It's not such a big deal for me because the iron is hot again within seconds.

If it's the auto off that bugs you most, you might need to get a commercial grade iron. It will be a pretty sizable investment, especially if you get the vacuum board to go with it. But wow are they nifty! (my pal with the upholstery shop has one. I lust after it, but there's not enough room here for one.) Look at

and see if there is anything there that strikes your fancy. That's where she got her iron and she looked high and low for the best deal. For what she wanted, they were the best.

Sharon

NOt *all* of them:

personally would not own an iron that shut off automatically. I press almost as much as I sew when I'm making garments, and I want that tool doing what *I* want, not what someone else *thinks* I should want. When I finish a seam and want to press it open, I don't want to wait *at all* for it to re-heat. My iron is often on for 8 straight hours when I'm in a serious sewing mode. I own the Rowenta Professional DE 92.1, and it's the best iron I've ever owned. I went through several B&D over the years, all ended up spitting after a bit, and this Rowenta, now about 8 years old, never has. I may invest in one of the ones I just found online just to have a good backup for when/if this one fails. YMMV, NAYY, Beverly