Tuesday, November 11, 2014

My Iron Is Incontinent ~ The Leaky Truth

It seems my iron is at that age where she just cannot hold her water!  Drip, drip, drip.  Aging gracefully is not in the cards, but the appliance graveyard seems to be!


Black & Decker Digital Advantage 2030
I love this iron.  It has all the bells and whistles that I need.  Great steam, great settings, lightweight, glides like an angel.  The price is super reasonable.  Which is probably why I have bought four over the years ~ all ending up having the same problem with peeing/leaking.  I use her all the time, nearly everyday.  What would a quilter do without her faithful iron?!  

Drippity Drip Drip
I know it's time to invest in another iron.  My heart says 'just get another one', my mind says 'get something different'.  

Since I use it all the time, I should really invest in a heavy duty one.  Something that will last longer than a year or two!  Yes, this Black & Decker don't last much longer than that!  Crazy!  
Yes, it's another HST Quilt!


This is where your help would be greatly appreciated!  I need some advice and suggestions!  

What kind of iron do you currently use?

Would you recommend it to others?

What do you love about your iron?

What do you hate about your iron?

How long have your owned your current iron?

What is the one thing you look for when buying a new iron?

One thing I cannot live without is an iron.  Sometimes you have to make a clean break from the one you love.  Start over.  Start Fresh.  Be strong.  I'm being a little dramatic!  I do not like change.  It can be way to stressful and at this point in my life...I can do without that!

With a new day comes new strength and new thoughts~
Elanor Roosevelt  

15 comments :

  1. I have had several Rowenta's over the years I like 'em but they don't last for me either. every other year it seems I am spending $40-60 on one. So I will be waiting to hear what others tell you too!

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  2. I have a Sunbeam TurboSteam that I got at Costco. Have had it about a year and still going strong. Nice steam with the iron. Costco also has a jumbo-sized ironing board that I bought and love.

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  3. In the last 3 years, I've had/used several irons, whatever brands are sold at Walmart or Target. All have leaked and/or died w/in a year. After the last time I decided to spend a little more $$ and get a Rowenta Effective. I've had it for almost a year and it's still going strong. However, it's very temperamental. It will leak if I turn the steam on before the iron is completely heated up. And it seems to need to reheat often, so I find myself turn the steam off and on, often but it's the only way I can keep it from leaking. I have personally considered spending $100 to try out the new Cordless 360 degree freestyle from Panasonic. Hope this helps.

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  4. I have a Rowenta and can't remember when I bought it but it must be more than 5 years old. When it leaks, I know it needs to be run through the cleaning cycle. The trick is to do the cleaning cycle before it leaks about every week or so depending on how often its used. I think I paid about $60. for it. I've heard good things about the Oliso and was going to get one on Massdrop and then forgot about it and it was too late.

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  5. I have a Rowenta (don't have specific model, but it also says "autosteam." It heats well; doesn't leak unless I try to use it before the light goes off to say it has reached temp. It doesn't leak during the ongoing on/off heating, only the first. BUT after a year the auto off got weird. It seems that if I am not actually ironing whenever it reaches temp, it goes to auto off. Then other times autooff forgets to work at all. I have bought an Oliso, but haven't started using it so can't give any wisdom on it.

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  6. After years of buying "cheap" irons from big box stores, I decided I was worth something a little (well, a whole lot) better! I just bought an Oliso TG1100 PINK and love, love, love it!!!! It's heavier, heats up quicker (did I say it was PINK? LOL) and has these cute feet that raise it up when you set it down. You are worth a great iron with all the sewing you do. SPLURGE! Whats funny is, I went to a quilt show over the weekend and my good friend I went with, said "guess what I just bought?" That's right, the same iron! Two great minds can't be wrong!

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  7. We had this discussion at a Sew In this weekend, and it ended up like this...No matter how expensive or inexpensive the iron you buy, if you put water in it, it will eventually leak. You are better off buying your favorite iron, and using a spray bottle with water in it to get your steam, not the iron's reservoir. The sad, sad truth? Seems to be. I'm a spray bottle user myself, never trusted water in irons, and don't like other irons dripping on my project either, but accept it as the inevitable when I go to a class where you don't bring your own iron. cdahlgren at live dot com

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  8. I have a Rowenta. It has leaked from day one, no matter what I do or don't do. I will never buy another one...

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  9. My iron finally quit after about 20 years! Just a regular iron; probably cost about 25.00

    I replaced it with a Shark iron...so far, so good but they don't make appliances nowadays like they used to...the odds of anything lasting 20 years now are slim.

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    1. Hey, Deb - I'm chiming in here because I just recently got a Shark iron, too. It has the auto-off option which I like except you have to reset to cotton every time it goes off, so that's a little tiresome... but - so far, so good on it - had it 3 months now. I agree - appliances are NOT what they used to be.

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  10. I have a well-aged Black and Decker ProPress that has been working well for ~8 years. I really like the one I keep for travelling tho. It's a Panasonic cordless that cost less than $75, for sure. I'm cheap, I wouldn't pay more than that. I blogged about irons in February here: http://linsquilts.blogspot.com/2014/02/what-do-you-like-about-your-iron.html
    I listed the things I want in an iron.

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  11. Sunbeam 3035 no leaks and I've owned it for over 5 years

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  12. I got a rowenta as a gift that developed the same problem you are having with your Black & Deckers. I follow Bonnie Hunter's blog and she strongly recommends never, ever putting water in your irons:: need steam :: spray with a squirt bottle, but most of the time, just use a dry iron. I tried to find one that was just a flat iron with no steam capability, but everywhere I looked they were out of stock or too expensive (I'm a cheapskate). I replaced my rowenta with a Hamilton Beach that has a retro look that I found on Amazon. Its cute. It gets really hot. It is relatively lightweight and presses beautifully.

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  13. I've gone thru a string of Rowentas over the years. They are great until they start to leak. I am pretty sure every iron I have had as a married adult(1986) has been the victim of a drop by my hubs. He's not accident prone in general, just with irons. I gave up on high priced models and stuck with the cheaper Rowentas until I had to make my most recent purchase. I bought a Sunbeam which quickly moved from sewing room to laundry room because it did not supply enough heat without steam. I distort with steam so I sew with a dry iron. I moved my broken but blistering hot Rowenta to the sewing room and am so happy that I was able to spare it from the landfill. I use starch or a spray bottle when I need a little extra.

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  14. My opinion, since the iron is such an important part of your quilting, that you should invest in a good one, no a great one...the best one that you can find. I just use a cheapy from Walmart, but when I was ironing clothes for a couple of ladies at the high school, I had a good iron and I wore it out. And I hope your ironing board is big and sturdy, too. xxoo

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