What iron?

Maybe I should sign up to Mumsnet, but my current iron has turned into a brown, waxy, sludgy mess after a descaling attempt. It’s given me over 6 years service, so I’m thinking about replacing it instead of faffing about with repeated descaling attempts.

Any suggestions? I’ve looked at this fancy contraption:

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/3807169.htm

After purchasing one a few weeks back my advice would be –

Check cable length, some are very short
Check water volume, some only hold a thimble full
Check Watts, more watts means more steam and easier ironing

Other than that I guess it’s whatever takes your fancy.

Carlos

I dare you to start a thread on mums net along the lines of “I usually frequent a male dominated outdoorsy forum, but I need a new iron so I thought id ask you…”

I bet it’d go down well.

Fwiw last couple of irons I bought were on balanced for highest wattage for reasonable cost. My shirts come out ok….

Any old iron. etc

Hence starting the thread here in the interests of gender equality!

I tried the descaler because little brown spots started to appear on my shirts over time. Do modern irons do away with having to do descaling?

I can’t believe I’m going to participate in this thread…but the Phillips Azur GC4890/02 is very hard to beat.

I picked mine up for £40 in Tesco.

I’ve just bought a Bosch TDA5620. It does indeed have an anti-scale feature and is, apparently, the UKs best selling iron.

The other half has got a steam generator job, It’s like an iron but is attached to a big tank that generates the steam and sends it down a pipe to the iron head.
Picked it up at Aldi for about £40 and she reckons it’s better than any iron she has used.
There are some big names that do them but they seem to be mega dollars

I’m only using it for shirts and the occasional trouser/suit jacket so I don’t need a steam generator.

How is the cord length on the Bosch and the Phillips?

2.5m for the Phillips.

3.0m for the Bosch

Bummer, I just lost at Iron Top Trumps 🙁

Tilting towards the Bosch! It could be mine before the end of the night!

How good is the anti calc cleaning feature? Used it in anger yet?

EDIT: Also, wouldn’t you rather have a stainless steel plate instead of ceramic? That’s the only thing I’d want to be different.

I used the iron for the first time last night. As far as I can see, the anti-calc feature is two wee plastic balls in the water tank?

I’ve use ceramic sole plates in the past and had no problems. This one has a Palladium surface over ceramic.

Boo!

It’s not some sort of fancy cartridge based thing is it? I have no idea how those work. I’m guessing it’s like a tea tray arrangement?

(Don’t tell me you haven’t read the manual yet!)

Anti-scale/descale features do naff all in my decades of experience. All seem to need replacing after 3 or 4 years, even Bosch top of the range model. Bit like kettles and toasters really.

HTH.

There’s a manual?

Replacing for what reason? My current iron doesn’t have those features, but trying to descale it has just resulted in a huge mess on the iron and the occasional “oopsie” meaning I can never iron a light coloured shirt in peace!

If the descale function will minimise the problem then I’m happy to pay for it really.

I also want a stainless steel plate thingy.

Moon on a stick?

EDIT: someone on the internet is on about using de-ionised water for ironing! Is this what life has come to?

They just stop working! It’s worth bearing in mind that no appliances like hard water and does shorten their life. My non-stick plate is no longer non-stick and can’t remove the gunge no matter what I try.

Years ago I used an appliance descaler and left it overnight to soak but that didn’t work either.

My cynical self reckons that they’re deliberately designed for regular replacement.

Edit cos I just saw your edit: I used to buy ionised water, now just use water from the filter jug. Tap water not been used for, er, 20 years.

Am on my second Bosch.

Maybe I should just buy a nice Rowenta and resign myself to having to replace irons every 6 years.

Don’t like how a £40 iron can ruin a £100 shirt with no warning though!

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/3807169.htm

Yeah, Argos. That’s where I bought mine.

Coming soon on STW –
Which ironing board cover?
Recommend me a darning needle
Tea towels – patterned or plain?

Laurastar :

I have that one.

Had a previous model before our hard water killed it, then I had an S4i, then an S4 courtesy of a blip in their service arrangements which meant they swapped the main unit over instead of service it.

The S4 is a lot better – refillable during use, 50psi steam pressure, fan. The S4i had motion detect which I never really used anyway.

John Lewis sell them :

http://www.johnlewis.com/laurastar-s4-ironing-system/p571225

£995?

You must taking ironing very seriously 🙂

You could get a bike for that

Is this guy for real? 😯

Whatever iron you get, can’t you just buy a bottle of this to use in it, to stop It getting scummed up in the first place? Then you shouldn’t have to worry about de-scaling features…

http://www.halfords.com/motoring/bulbs-wiper-blades-batteries/car-battery-chargers/halfords-battery-top-up-water-5l

You must taking ironing very seriously

hate ironing so bought one of those to get it over with quickly 🙂

Wife said that she would contest me for it if we ever split…

I think the day you ask advice on a cycling forum about what iron you should buy is the day you need to have a long hard look at yourself and figure out what went wrong….. 😉

Don’t get me wrong. If I had the money and the space then I’d have one of those contraptions too….

…along with someone to iron my clothes in it!

Pretty impressive gadget.

Not sure what point you’re making robdob, threads you’ve started include asking for advice on mobile phone contracts and timber moisture levels? 🙂

Touché! 😉

Life is too short for ironing, let along spending time deciding which iron to buy. Hang your shirts up on hangers to dry and they’ll be fine, and everything else will be fine no matter how you dry it. No one has ever come up to me and said me, my children or my husband are looking particularly crushed and that they are offended by our lack of ironing. The world will not end if you give up ironing. Take the broken iron as a sign and cease this ridiculous activity.

threads you’ve started include asking for advice on mobile phone contracts and timber moisture levels?

..and Dire Straits 😆 😉

Life is too short for ironing

But what will I do in the time slot allocated to me between brushing teeth and getting dressed instead?

£995 for an iron! Just pay someone to do it for you, pretty sure our cleaner does ironing too but I’ve been banned from asking her and told to iron my own shirts 🙁

I’ve also got the Phillips Azur, basically cos it was black so I thought it was cool!! I think it’s a great iron and had this confirmed when my mum used it a few weeks back and commented on how good it was!!

If the mum of a 38 year old man says an iron is good, it’s good!