Thinking of buying an automatic iron

[askomiele]

Hai,
I'm thinking of buying an ironer, not an iron, but an automatic ironer. But I'm not so convinced and there are slightly no reviews on the internet. My question is, can you iron everything with such a machine? And is it really a time saver or is it just the same. Off the record, I iron everything except underwear and bathtowels and socks...

 

[toggleswitch]

Hi y'all

Paging Lauderess, CougarMike, Gansky...who else has one?

 

[mrboilwash]

Not sure about Belgium, but here in Germany automatic ironers are very common in comercial Coin Laundrys. You could try them out there before you buy one.

 

[askomiele]

In the laundromats there are only flat ironers not the rotary ironer. You can't iron shirt and skirts with it, only flat pieces lik sheets towels and stuff... I'm thinking of buying a miele domestic one... seems good.

 

[launderess]

One can "iron" items such as shirts and skirts with an press (techinally ironing is moving a heated object like an iron back and forth over laundry, while pressing is simply pressing down without movement. Commercial laundries including those on ships use flat irons all the time for pressing apparel. In fact the usual method is to do apparel on flat presses and large flatwork items on ironers.

Doing large flat items on a flatwork press, even when very large involves lots of arranging the item and or presing in creases.

Now onto your question; the Miele ironer is a good unit, but for my money would recommed you check out the Pfaff ironer, which am sure is sold in your part of Europe. Pfaff ironers are like Ironrite ironers on steriods. The roller is about the same length as Miele's but the heating plate located at the bottom, so all the heat is used. Very economical. Also these units have built in steam boilers so one does not have to iron damp laundry. Only thing is Pfaff ironers require 220/240 volt power and run at about 2.5kw.

Using an ironer or flatwork press is like anything else, it will take time and practice to obtain skill. Once mastered however one can turn out professional looking ironing with little effort.

If you have anyother questions, please feel free to ask.

L.

 

[foraloysius]

Strijkpers rol

Here's a rotary ironer for sale in Belgium (Aalst). Looks like a Bosch or a Siemens to me. I think it doesn't take too much effort to clean it up.

http://www.2dehands.be/strijkpers-r...=witgoed&qq=strijkpers&rubriek=witgoed_schoon

 

[foraloysius]

Strijkpers vlak

And this is an ad for a flatwork press.

http://www.2dehands.be/strijkpers-i...=witgoed&qq=strijkpers&rubriek=witgoed_schoon

 

[logixx]

The fourth way of ironing...

So we've got presses, rotary ironers and regular iron. But how 'bout pressurized steam irons? This is what I have: a Kärcher (Vaporapid 1201) steam cleaner with iron accessory. It's great. Took me about ten minutes to iron three pairs of pants, one thick pullover, a pillow case and a duvet cover.

 

[logixx]

When the steam exits the sole plate it is so hot (almost 200°C / 392°F) and dry that you can't even see it. I tried taking a picture but it didn't turn out that great.

The iron/steam is actually "fun to play with": I can stand in the middle of the room (not the one in the pic), point the iron towards the curtains and it will blow them against the window.

I know it's hard to estimate the length/height of the steam column in that picture but let me tell you: it shot all the way up to the ceiling! Granted, if you point the iron side- or downwards it won't reach THAT far.

Alex