I bought a new iron UPDATE

[cindyg]

I loved my Maytag cordless but it bit the dust - leaked very badly. I've bought 2 irons since then. A Black & Decker $13 at WalMart and a Shark $30 after that one. Both leaked like crazy after only having them for a couple of months. Is there any such thing as an iron that doesn't leak and that doesn't cost an arm and a leg?

[sunsup]

Right now I'm using a little iron from walmart. I don't remember the brand, but it has a "D" on it, very inespensive. It's the second one I've had. The first one got really hot for no reason one day, then it died. This one has been fine so far. I like it because it does not have the auto shutoff.

As near as I can tell, all the brands seem to put out good irons and quite a few lemons. I guess you jut have to be lucky.

Gramajojo, my iron has a clear water tank.

[cindyg]

I bought another iron last Saturday. It's a $19.99 Black & Decker with auto shut off (because I'm an airhead). When this one starts leaking, I'll toss it and go buy another one. I just don't like the water bottle/sprayer routine.

[sunsup]

The auto shutoff irons I've had shut off half way along ironing a strip of binding. One only stayed hot a minute or two. Who is designing these things? Staying hot 20 or 30 minutes before they shut off seems reasonable to me.

[simplesewer]

Have had my share of "lemons" too in my quest for a decent iron. The best iron in the world was the General Electric Light and Easy. My mother has had one for literally YEARS and it's the best steam iron around, HOWEVER, they don't make them anymore!!! I did locate two in the past couple of months on the internet, both of which were not as advertised and died soon after purchase. Currently I'm using a GE Auto Shut-Off Iron from Walmart. The automatic shut off, however, does not kick in for 30 minutes which is great. It steams okay for quilting purposes although it's "burst of steam" is not great. In so far as water leakage, most of the iron manufacturers tell you to wait 5 minutes before using because most of the time the iron isn't hot enough to build up steam if you don't wait that long and consequently they will leak. I live in the country and have well water with a lot of iron in it and for this reason I buy a gallon of drinking water and use that strictly for my iron. So far, this iron has only leaked twice and that was because I wasn't patient enough to let it fully heat up.

[cindyg]

Sunsup - I've never heard of an iron doing that. Mine stays on as long as I'm using it. It shuts off only when I haven't used it for about 8 minutes. How do you iron your binding?

Simple - I know you have to let the iron heat up before you try to use steam. My irons start leaking even when they are at their max heat. Two irons before the one I have now even leaked when I stood it up. Water would drip out the bottom. DH took that one apart to see what was going on. The parts in there are plastic these days and my iron got so hot that it melted the plastic on a reservoir part and the water just ran out. Irons were a lot better before the plastic parts came along. I also use drinking water from the store because our water is so hard and full of calcium and the instructions on the iron says not to use water that has come thru a home filtering system. I'm just tired of messing with the darn things.

[gershwin64]

My sunbeam shuts off after 30 minutes and I can't just turn it off then back on I actually have to unplug it then plug it back in for it to come back on for another 30 minutes. LOL so much fun I have ;o)
Tina