My only real objection is that there has been an occasional bout of quality control issues within the past few years that I address [link] here, but since I am able to handle them myself and don't run screaming to the internet about my evil iron, I'm ok with it. On the upside, I keep finding them at bargain prices used ($4-8 for a $50-100 iron? yesplz) and end up giving them a little bit of TLC and passing them on to friends (who have been using things like horrible 25 year old scarred and burned hand-me-down Black and Decker beasts) as gifts.
That being said, there's a lot of things that apply to all irons that will help you out, so I'll go ahead and stop singing praises for an iron company now. Ahem.
To start, clean your freaking iron. If you can look at the soleplate (the part you iron with) of your iron, and it looks like a mess, you're only harming yourself by being lazy.
First off, don't leave water in your iron all the time as it can lead to rust and limescale. If you know you're not going to be using your iron for a while (say a week or more) go ahead and dump it out, that 30 seconds you will save not having to refill it is not worth it. This is 10x so if you use tap water. I'll admit, while i know that it's better to use distilled water, I don't always have some on hand, so I'll use tap water. You can avoid some of the problems from tap water by not leaving it in the iron all the time, however, you will need to descale your iron sooner or later.
However, some irons do include a form of water softening in them, you'll usually know if they do, with most that do you can actually see the object right inside of the water reservoir through the window as well as some kind of wording indicating it, for instance most Rowentas have this feature. For this reason they actually recommend not using distilled water and instead using tap water (or at least bottled spring water if you have unusually hard tap water) allegedly because the distilled water will actually decrease the performance of the built-in cleaning and can lead to other issues.
Either way, there's a few ways to know if your iron needs descaling:
Have you had your iron for more than a few years, always using tap water? It's time.
Do you occasionally get spitting from the steam holes, or even worse, discolored water or or black/white specks? YES.
Does your iron have this weird whitish build up that looks sort of like dried salt or rock blocking up the steam holes? Holy crap, does someone need to confiscate your iron? Yes, it needs it.
Even if none of those apply, it still can't hurt to do it periodically as it will greatly help the performance of your steam iron. Please note: this will be kind of stinky. It requires vinegar, which I absolutely hate the smell of, but am willing to consider it a necessary evil. Open a window.
Take your iron, cold, and pour a bit of white vinegar into it. If you can see the reservoir, fill it about halfway. If not, about 1/4 cup or so. Top it off with a bit of water, and then turn it on. Let it heat up, and then put it on the highest steam setting. Iron something unimportant, like an old towel or t-shirt. If you have a steam button, periodically press it to generate steam. After you've been doing this for a few minutes, turn off the iron and let it sit upright for a few more minutes. You will then want to pour out the vinegar water by turning the iron upside-down with the spout pointing straight down, over a sink. I like to give the iron a few side-to-side shakes right before I do this just to loosen anything left. Then refill the iron with clean water, and repeat the process of heating up and steam ironing. Note: This does work better if you are using bottled water. Then pour out this water and you should be good to go. If your iron is still having issues, the build-up might be so bad you need a second treatment. There are going to be extreme cases where you might need something more potent (CLR, or the like), but in 99% of the cases, just vinegar will be good enough and you don't want to put extra wear and tear on by using a harsh chemical all the time. PS: if you own a garment steamer of some type you should also periodically descale it in the same manner, for the same reasons.
Next, the soleplate. Is it stained and discolored? Does it have patches of burned on who-knows-what, like from that time you accidentally ironed the wrong side of fusible interfacing, or using starch? Get it off there.
There are various make-it-yourself home concoctions, but I recommend just getting hot iron cleaner, the brand I've used is Faultless and it works well. It's about $2 for a package, so it's worth it to get something that just works for what it's made for.
There is a Rowenta brand that is recommended if you have one of their irons but the product seems to be functionally identical, other than including special cleaning cloths and being about 5x the price ($12-13, usually). I would probably get it if I had one of their irons with a special soleplate (titanium, platinum), but since I just have the stainless steel I'm not too concerned.
Now, get a clean rag, I tend to use cut up t-shirts or towels, and get the iron hot and ready. Also, open a window if you can, and/or turn on a fan, as it produces a bit of smoke that has quite a weird smell to it. Fold over the rag a few times because the product will steam up a bit and you don't want to burn your fingers. Now, squeeze the contents of the tube (all of it if it's the single use one, or the directed amount if it's the larger tube) onto the rag. Carefully but firmly wipe the rag across the iron in smooth motions from top to bottom. The grime should just wipe away. If your iron is especially bad, you might need a second wiping, but as long as the rag isn't getting too dirty you can always focus on problem areas until the cleaner is burned away/used up on the rag. Then, using either a fresh rag or unfolding the rag to get a clean side, wipe the iron in the same way to get the residue off of the iron. I generally do a "test run" ironing on a scrap of something first, just in case there's any residue, as it can make an oily streak if there is any left.
Now, if your iron has rust, or discoloration due to heat or tarnish, this cleaner will probably not do much for you. The only real option I know of is to make a paste of baking soda and water and gently rub it onto the (cold, or if you're adventurous, gently warm from being turned off a short time ago) soleplate with your fingers. Anything much harder with scratch the finish, and even rubbing too firmly with the paste will scratch it. If you have a teflon-coated iron (black or dark gray coating instead of silvery metal) you will probably want to skip this step as any abrasion can wear down the teflon causing it to chip off later, especially if it's already weakened from other wear and tear. Once you're done, rinse off the soleplate well and wipe it with a clean cloth to get any remaining paste off. Unfortunately irons that have gone a little too far will be permanently discolored, especially in the case of severe tarnish or rust. While cleaning it will certainly make it iron a bit better, it won't be 100%, which is why it's good to never let it get to that point. ahem.
Hmm, what else is there? Really, not much, keeping your iron in good condition will preserve the life and keep it in good working order as well as being less annoying to use.
As far as ironing boards go, I've noticed that a lot of boards and covers include a thin foam under padding that wears out over time, this is less effective for ironing and can eventually cause the metal pattern of the ironing board to press into the fabric when you iron it. The fiber pads are much better to use, and are relatively inexpensive, so upgrading to that is not a bad idea if you have one of the foam kind, they basically feel like a thick wooly pad and are either separate, or fused to the underside of the cover. They really do make a difference when pressing and steaming.
Also, this is going to sound a little weird, as I found it in some housewife tips book from the 1950s, but it really works. If you put a sheet of aluminum foil on the board and under the cover, it will make ironing work much faster, it seems to help retain the heat as well as reflect some of it back upwards. The only downside is that if you go crazy with steam the moisture can accumulate, but it evaporate shortly after in most cases. There are also ironing board covers that have a metallic treatment in them, they are sort of a dull silver, but I've found that they seem to wear out kind of quickly with use and after washing a few times.
EDIT- I just recently discovered that you can buy aluminized fabric by the yard at joann's specifically for making ironing board covers....I am going to check that out and see if it performs as well or better than using aluminum foil, if it's a layer under the cover I imagine it would hold up better than as being the actual ironing surface.
Finally, if your ironing board has a tray to lay the iron down in, use it. If you don't have one, you can get one that clamps on, or else get a silicone pad to rest the iron on. while you fuss with straightening this or that before you iron it. A standing iron will very easily do a backflip off of the ironing board from a stray elbow, bump, or jostle. Laying it down fixes that and prevents it tumbling from anything but the most violently clumsy attacks. For whatever reason, despite the fact that my board has a tray on it, I always insisted on standing the iron up while I did other things, and I knocked it down many times leading to unfortunate broken and/or leaky irons, scuffed up teflon plates, burned floor, and in one case a burned hand when I intelligently decided to try and catch the iron rather than letting it hit the floor.
No comments:
Post a Comment