Cleaning a Steam Iron

I got a phone call from my sister. "Do you know how to clean a steam iron?" she said. Well I did have a good idea but I was not an expert, I was just very careful with mine.

She was worried that hers was not working very well and it was frustrating her.

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I could see at once that she really hadn't cared for her iron too well. It was scratched and the cord looked a little worn - not safe I thought. I was direct with her and told her that she really did have to start looking after things better.

I know that irons are not particularly expensive items but we use them all the time and deserve a little care - there is nothing worse than an iron giving you problems.

I explained to her that she should always empty the water out after use, always stand it somewhere safe to cool down and always wrap the flex carefully to protect it.

I also told her that if any substance to stuck on the plate, it should be cleaned off but only when the iron had cooled down. This would ensure she didn't get burnt and make the cleaning much easier and more effective.

Any waxy substances however, can often be cleaned off by heating the iron up to its highest setting and running it across newspaper. Oily substances can be removed with ammonia on a rag and then just rinsing. Vinegar is often recommended for a lot of irons. You just pour it on a cloth and then rub the cloth over the iron. You can also add baking soda to the vinegar for even harder cleaning.

Any build up in the vents can be a big problem as you cannot use anything harsh - scratching the base of the iron just causes massive problems in the future. You need to use something soft like a cotton bud.

A great way to clean the water tank out is to pour a solution of half vinegar and half water into the tank and heat the iron up and allow it to steam well for 5/6 minutes. You then need to drain the iron and then about an hour later repeat all this with just clean water. If you don't you will have some wonderfully smelly clothes next time you iron.

I've got an iron with a very shiny bottom plate and I try never to iron over anything that could stick to the iron. However if I ever do accidentally, I wait until it cools down and use window cleaner spray with a soft cloth and it seems to work really well.

I had a really close look at my sister's iron and told her that in my opinion she needed to buy a new one, not only was the flex a little frayed but there were a couple of deep scratches on the bottom of this one.

We discussed the main types of irons then. The obvious one was of course the steam iron much as she had currently. They now have some super features even on the very reasonably priced ones so we decided to look at those next day in the shop. She wanted a reasonably lightweight steam iron but she also wanted a substantial one that would work well.

Steam generator irons are more expensive but they supply a constant flow of high pressure steam. We were both a bit concerned by the amount of space that one of these would take up. It seems that they make it easier to remove wrinkles even from dry difficult fabrics as they have a high steam flow but there is a delay between pressing the button for more steam and getting it and there is no spray function. They are much more expensive than an ordinary iron and we decided against this type.

Cordless irons are like an ordinary steam iron to look at but without the cord. They are easier to manoeuvre but we read a few reviews and some people loved them as there was no cord to get in the way and some hated them as they did not seem to keep to the set temperature as well. In the end we were sceptical and decided not to take a chance on one of these.