Help me find a reliable clothes iron

May 31, 2013 8:33 AM

I want a clothes iron that will work for more than six months. I don't have big demands. I just want it to produce steam when I need it, and to not vomit water all over my clothes. I've been through at least four irons in the past few years -- Sunbeam, Shark, Rowenta and others -- and they have all failed way too soon. I keep buying more expensive models, and they keep failing. Which is the clothes iron that is built to last?
posted by Balonious Assault to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (18 answers total)

Are you using distilled water in them? Hard water can totally ruin an iron.

Buy a cheapie and use distilled water.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 8:36 AM on May 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

Ditto on the water. Even the most expensive iron will fail very quickly if you feed it tap water. The minerals build up and clog everything.

If you are using distilled water, they just use a spray bottle with a fine mist setting to spray your clothes before a pass with the iron. Not as great as a steam iron, but better than the water vomit problem you're having.
posted by tulip-socks at 8:44 AM on May 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

Thirding the water. But if you know of a well-built model that doesn't totally get screwed up when you drop it (i.e., not Sunbeam), do let me know!
posted by Melismata at 8:46 AM on May 31, 2013

As an alternative to buying special water, you could just spritz the clothes using a mister bottle instead of filling the iron. I just started (at 42 years of age) to iron more than biannually, and found the suggestion to dampen a batch of clothes this way and then iron them all, working out of a plastic bag to keep them from drying prematurely. Works well.
posted by jon1270 at 8:50 AM on May 31, 2013 [4 favorites]

Best answer: The T-Fal Ultraglide has held up for me under moderate use (~2hrs/week) for five years now, and is still going strong. It has occasionally developed some spittiness, but that's always been fully resolved by running it through a cleaning cycle according to manufacturer instructions. Weirdly, the instructions recommend urgently against either tapwater or distilled water, but spring water in the big gallon jugs from the grocery store has always worked fine for me.
posted by Bardolph at 8:50 AM on May 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

Also, DO NOT overfill the iron, or even near to the fill line itself. That's a major cause of vomit right there. I always fill it about 2/3 to the top.
posted by Melismata at 8:52 AM on May 31, 2013 [1 favorite]

(Oh, and full disclosure: the T-fal I linked does also spit a little bit if you're trying to use full steam with a very low heat setting. Under conditions like those, I just turn the steam off and use the spray feature. )
posted by Bardolph at 9:06 AM on May 31, 2013

Empty the water from the iron after ironing. Get a spray bottle to re-mist clothes as you iron. Many irons spit a little, especially as they warm up. I usually do a test 1st, to make sure the iron didn't rust while I wasn't looking, as rust is almost impossible to remove.
posted by theora55 at 9:27 AM on May 31, 2013

I came to say what everyone else has said: stop putting water in your iron. Spend a dollar on a spray bottle, and use it to spritz your clothes as you iron them. Keeps the iron in great shape, and you only have to refill the bottle every six months or so.
posted by anastasiav at 9:35 AM on May 31, 2013

Second the T-Fal, I love mine. I think I bought it based on a Slate recommendation. It's six years old now and I iron pretty frequently.
posted by padraigin at 9:50 AM on May 31, 2013

Are you using distilled water in them? Hard water can totally ruin an iron.

Buy a cheapie and use distilled water.

Just as a data point: The care instructions for my iron specifically forbid using distilled water in it.
posted by LionIndex at 12:42 PM on May 31, 2013

Best answer: About 10 years ago I bought a used 1960's electric steam iron after getting sick of new ones failing. It works really well. They used to make them pretty damn indestructible, so that may be an option.
posted by fimbulvetr at 1:12 PM on May 31, 2013

Is the problem that the irons lose their heating capacity over time, or is the issue that they stop producing steam?

If it's the latter, the iron might need a cleaning. Methods for doing this vary, so you might want to google what the manufacturer recommends. (I think the most common way to clean a steam iron is to use vinegar.)

Having an iron stop heating in such a short period would make me wonder if the iron was being used at a very high setting, or if the auto-shutoff feature was being used on a daily basis. For most cottons and synthetics, you shouldn't need to put the iron above its "medium" setting if you using a spray bottle (instead of steam) to ease out the wrinkles.
posted by drosophelia at 2:14 PM on May 31, 2013

Response by poster: Thanks for all the advice so far. It seems like the general consensus is that my question is flawed. I do find it interesting that only one person likes their iron enough to recommend it. I think I'll try that one and if it fails I'll adjust my expectations and just go totally cheapo, and consider irons to be disposable. It starting to seem like maybe that's where I should have been all along. I'll also keep an eye out for an old workhorse at the thrift stores. Great idea, that.

I used distilled water exclusively in the first few irons that failed. Then I did a little research and was surprised to learn that there are mixed opinions about whether distilled water is in fact optimal for steam irons. The instructions for the $85 Sunbeam that failed on me this morning specifically advise to use tap water, not distilled.

It's always the steam function that fails, not the heating function. They stop producing steam, and cleaning them usually works for a while but eventually they start puking water out of the steam holes. I probably do need to be more proactive about preventative maintenance, though it seems like there would be an iron that just works.

I do have a spritz bottle, and that works decently in a pinch, but I prefer a steam iron and somehow I got the crazy idea that if people are going to sell steam irons they should work. I also agree in theory that ironing all the clothes when they are damp is best, but in practice my ironing routine is pretty much one item at a time the morning I want to wear it. If there is an iron that is so enjoyable to use that I could do all the ironing at once, I'd love to hear about it!

I'm still happy to hear specific recommendations if anybody has any. Thanks again.
posted by Balonious Assault at 5:03 PM on May 31, 2013

I like and would recommend my Panasonic NI-W810CS Multi-Directional Iron with Ceramic Soleplate. I'm like the wacky shape because it spreads the steam holes out evenly, I'm not convinced it lets me iron faster.

Use distilled water and don't overfill it (grrr, why do most irons have awful filling holes).
posted by fief at 5:06 PM on May 31, 2013

I have a Sunbeam Ultura 5500 (I just went and looked, I don't know these things off the top of my head), that I bought maybe ten years ago. I have done every single thing you're not supposed to do to it: dropped it, use tap water, over fill it, and it never goes wrong. It burbled a little bit of water the other day after it was tipped upside down, but in all these years, it's always been absolutely fine.
posted by Kaleidoscope at 6:40 PM on May 31, 2013

I should add I bought it because it said I could use tap water. I love steam irons, that burble-HISS makes me feel all powerful when I smash the kids' school stuff, or handkerchiefs.
posted by Kaleidoscope at 6:44 PM on May 31, 2013

A friend swears by Rowenta irons that are Made In Germany, not in China.
posted by calgirl at 9:45 PM on May 31, 2013