Rowenta Iron: I take it all back.

Sherry, I know that reading all of the instructions and warnings on just about anything takes more time and patience than most of us have, but reading the Rowenta little booklet is certainly worthy of your time. You need to know what water to use and how to flush it from time to time. It's also important not to overfill it. I am not one bit willing to empty my Rowenta every time I'm through using it. That's not going to happen. When it begins to complain, I do hand it over to DH who is very kind about giving it a good inside-out cleaning. That's important. If you don't still have your Rowenta instructions, please email me and I'll give you a quick guide. Polly

"Sherry" I take back all the ugly things I said about the leaky Rowenta iron.

I did read the instructions very carefully. I intend to baby this one. I never abused the other one, though; I never dropped it, I never used scaling liquids in it or anything else though. What I *was* guilty of, was not emptying it every time. And using it before it completely heated up. I was quilting a lot last year. The iron sometimes stayed plugged in 12-16 hours a day. Do you think the lower-end Rowentas can't handle that? Another thing. I can't understand why you aren't supposed to use distilled water (though I never did). I think maybe our hard water hurt the old one. I'm using bottled water in this one. I'd love a step-by-step guide to what your husband does with yours, though. My DH is quite handy, also. I'm sure he could be talked into iron-maintenance. (I am still chuckling over the warning in the booklet. "Do not iron clothes while wearing" Do they really have to tell people this? I do love the way that thing glides over fabric. I bought a cheap iron to use while I was iron-less. It really made me appreciate that feature on the Rowenta.

Sherry

Everyone here is to bed so I've made a note to ask about cleaning in the morning. I don't think you must empty it after ever use. I don't. I'm not. We do have serious filtering on our water so using bottled water might or might not be necessary. Just don't know about that one. Just one silly that I can't explain - it seems as if the Rowenta book says to unplug it before filling. I keep my Rowenta plugged into its very own surge protector. All I have to do to unplug is to simply flip the surge protector off. Using the Rowenta before the light goes off indicating that it has heated is asking for puddles. I just knew asking you to suffer through the whole booklet was ridiculous but had forgotten the warning about ironing the clothes you are wearing. Try not to do that, at least until I can ask DH about it in the morning. Polly

"Sherry" I did read the instructions very carefully. I intend to baby this one. I never abused the other one, though; I never dropped it, I never used scaling liquids in it or anything else though. What I *was* guilty of, was not emptying it every time. And using it before it completely heated up. I was quilting a lot last year. The iron sometimes stayed plugged in 12-16 hours a day. Do you think the lower-end Rowentas can't handle that? Another thing. I can't understand why you aren't supposed to use distilled water (though I never did). I think maybe our hard water hurt the old one. I'm using bottled water in this one. I'd love a step-by-step guide to what your husband does with yours, though. My DH is quite handy, also. I'm sure he could be talked into iron-maintenance. (I am still chuckling over the warning in the booklet. "Do not iron clothes while wearing" Do they really have to tell people this? I do love the way that thing glides over fabric. I bought a cheap iron to use while I was iron-less. It really made me appreciate that feature on the Rowenta.

Sherry

Well, how the heck else are you supposed to get your clothes ironed if you don't iron them while wearing them???? Sshh - what' up with that! There must be some mistake in the translation of their instructions, huh?

Thanks Polly. I really appreciate it. One thing I ought to clarify probably. That iron wasn't really technically "leaking". I could have put up with a little sputtering or a few drops of water. What it did was, I'd fill it with water, and by the time it had heated up, it would dump every bit of that water out through the bottom. I imagine they must have found something bad wrong or they wouldn't have sent a new one. I kind of wish they'd sent some commication with it, like exactly why it was doing that. But I'm happy with the new one.

Sherry

It's a faff, but I always unplug the iron between uses, and that's even if I go over to the sewing machine to sew just a few seams. I have the absolute cheapest Rowenta, the problem with moving from the UK to the US is that none of the electrical appliances are compatible, thankfully we got all the household ones with the house and I had the idea of putting out an ad in the UK and managed to swap several British items for US ones, including a TV with built in DVD, but an iron was something I did not get hold of and when it came to the crunch I only had enough cash for the cheapest. I bought an adapter for my sewing machine, but the adapter is so heavy, it's not something you can move around and use in different places.

Anne

My large iron is on all the time, fortunately it has an on/off feature where if I don't use it for abouat 5 minutes, it shuts off. It can be a pain in the neck when I am doing piecing which is why I like my little Rowenta. Since I don't use it every day, I turn it off when I am done. I love having

You only have 2 irons?????

I actually have several irons. And have had Rowentas for years. I used to "burn up" irons at a terrible rate-- almost literally, they would start to smoke at the connection to the cord. A reasonably good iron would last, maybe, 10 months. I finally got a Rowenta. It lasted several years. In fact I still have it. It works, but because we have hard water here in the desert, it doesn't work as well as when new. But I do take it to classes and such on occasion. I got a new Rowenta when I was working at House of Fabrics and they were on sale. It had/has some minor dripping problems. But is still a good iron. We had one returned to the shop, same minor leakage. (Got it for a song since it was to be written off.) Also usable for classes/retreats and so on. A spray mister works fine instead of the steam.

I finally, a couple of years ago, really invested in something I had been longing for. (And am now totally spoiled!!!) A Rowenta steam generator iron. It is great. Works wonderfully. and was on sale when I bought it. (I also get a professional discount,as a sewing/quilting teacher, at JoAnn's which helps a lot.) The tank holds a quart of water. You can regulate the amount of steam, and the iron really gets HOT. I do use bottled "drinking" or "purified" water in my irons. Not distilled, because the Rowentas are designed to not use distilled (Temperatures, mechanisms whatever) water. When I press something with this iron it is *pressed*, and I mean flat.

And then there is my ex's grandmother's iron I have. Old GE, no steam, flat sole plate without holes in it. Great for fusing and so on. Also gets very hot. (a lot hotter than most new irons.) And the little Clover iron, (I want the new one with interchangeable ends ) and the Rowenta travel iron, the Steamer Brush, and the tiny little mini iron that my guild not-so-secret-sister gave me last year.

Oh, and the cordless iron that I gave to my DH to use with his wood working stuff.

I think that is all the irons I currently have around here. Unless you count wood burning tools and such.)

Have I mentioned that I love gadgets and gizmos??? Especially useful ones.

I don't usually unplug my main iron. I do turn it off when I am not in the room for a long period of time. I intensely dislike auto shut off. My iron is turned on when I start to sew, and stays on the whole time.

Good tools are worth the price. And fortunately my DH agrees with this. He says that you really do need the right tools to get anything done well. And he buys me fabric and chocolate! Let's me buy the tools I need.

Pati, > My large iron is on all the time, fortunately it has an on/off feature where

I never empty my iron. There. I've confessed my guilty secret. Mostly all the water gets used up. When steam ceases to appear, I consider it empty. I have a condensation dryer and use the water from that in the iron. (Also good for gardenias, in case you were considering one as a houseplant, they don't like hard water.) My iron is a Siemens, about 2 years old now and never a problem. However the instructions did state MOST emphatically that one should not use an ordinary extension cord, because cheap extension cords from the local discount store could not handle the wattage of a high-power iron. Roberta in D

"Polly Esther" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news: snipped-for-privacy@corp.supernews.com...

Ooo! Oooo! Now I have iron-envy. My LQS has one. I *love* it. I'm going to get one of those someday. One thing for sure, it is a little workhorse. She holds classes almost every day, and that iron is used practically all day by the students. She says it is several years old-- she inherited it when she bought the shop.

Sherry

I've started just keeping a spray bottle with water on the ironing board...a la Ricky Tims. It's just easier. More water and less filling.

groan. . . . .

Bottled drinking water is fine in the iron. Bottled Distilled water isn't. Distilled or de-ionized water can't be used in autoclaves because it corrodes the inner parts of autoclaves. I suspect it may do the same thing to the inner parts of an iron as well. It has something to do with buffers that are found in drinking water but not in distilled, and ph levels. DH just explained it in detail to me, but I'd need a couple of hours to type it all out in all it's boring glory. That's what I get for asking a lab worker. All I needed to know was that hot distilled water is more corrosive than hot tap water, he wanted me to hear the "why" too. Gotta love him though. He doesn't just say "Because.". Debra in VA See my quilts at