Top 10 steam ironing systems: Bestseller test 2016

Who does not know, the story of Max and Moritz and their seven pranks, written in 1865 by the great comic pioneer Wilhelm Busch , which tragically ended by the two "bad" boys were processed in a flour mill to duck feed. In this seven pranks there is a scene where the tailor's wife Böck her husband with her iron warms up after an involuntary bath in a cold stream:

"High is here to praise Mrs Boeck! After a hot iron, put on the cold body, has redressed it."

Who looks exactly to the drawings by Wilhelm Busch, will be noted that the iron woman Boeck had neither an electrical terminal or connection to a steam generator. It seems to have been more of a typical iron of that time, in the enlarged cavity hot coals orbriquettes (!) Were filled and fitted with a sturdy wooden handle. But it served its purpose, not only during the warm Tailor Böck, but also in the temple bars of the 19th century. 150 years later, is no longer heated with coal but consistently with electricity. In iron, regardless operated dry or with steam, the heat is nowadays basically electrically generated. But that is not the only difference from the Iron Mrs Bock: There are a variety of other technical achievements that make ironing easier one hand and make the other hand more efficiently. Read the following sections for more information about the possibilities offered by a modern steam iron, and look into ourcomparison chart , where you can determine the best suited model for you! The name "Dampfbügelstation" gives a hint already: it consists of

• an iron,
• a steam generator,
• and the steam hose connecting the generator to the iron.

The iron itself contains at its sole outlet openings for the steam, which - are arranged differently, but ensure that the steam is distributed evenly over the ironing surface - depending on the manufacturer and product. And since the steam is generated in the steam generator and not in iron, this is also significantly lighter than a regular steam iron: varies between 1.0 and 1.5 kg weight of the commercially available devices (weight refers only to the actual iron without . station) . a steam iron comprises an iron, a steam generator and a steam hose the separation of the steam generator from the actual iron makes, inter alia, the weight a positive impact. in the steam generator, there are 2 variants in the device version:  

• In the first variant are boiler and water tank identical . Here If you want to add water, must wait until the device has cooled - else would one possibly scald your hands when opening the tanks of steam.

 

• Better is the second solution: water tank and boiler are separately housed from each other. Here you can always present during operation of water - some devices can be the tank even completely remove it from the generator and fill it from the tap directly.

The steam hose finally connects the steam generator to the iron and is typically 1.65 to 1.80 meters long. This length is just right for normal use case, in which the station is mounted at one end of the ironing board. Who wants to have it perfect, can his Dampfbügelstation (eg the Rowenta DG8960 ), incidentally also equal to the right board (here we also speak of "steam generator table" ) to buy. Different systems: While Tefal water refill directly on the device, Klarstein allows the removal of the water tank.   First would be here the normal dry ironing to mention, that the ironing without steam. Models of our comparison table to offer this feature, of course, what can not be otherwise, since the steam is only passed by pressing a steam switch by the exit points of the soleplate. In addition, however, all devices have more features, with which you can move the material to be ironed to the body: An aimed chuff can be triggered via a special button on the iron. The escaping steam makes ironing easier and ensures crease-free fabric to be ironed. For the maintenance and cleaning of steam ironing systems, especially a point plays an important role: the water quality . The situation here is similar to dishwashers, washing machines and other household appliances that use tap water: water quality is influenced mainly by the hardness of the water used. Also at Stiftung Warentest (link is external)is always pointed in the test reports on the importance for the user's knowledge of the local degree of hardness. The harder the water, the more lime it contains so, the more important is an effective protection from it. Here, manufacturers have carefully provided: almost all devices have an anti-limescale system , which gives the water the desired pH. The produced lime is in a so-called. Lime collector collected and must be emptied at regular intervals. If the lime collector fully , this is usually an indicator light appears, and you can simply rinse the lime collector and reinsert , On this occasion it should be noted that other states are indicated with indicator lights:

• the water level in the tank,
• the steam ready indicator,
• and the temperature of the soleplate.

The safety of the user is the function "Automatic safety shutdown" , which is not yet universally available for all devices. Such a function will automatically shut off (after a certain number of minutes, depending on device) of the steam iron, if this edge is on the soleplate or and will not be used (read: the steam button is not pressed). One hundred percent protection against fire or charred fabrics provides the but is not yet. Below for each manufacturer of equipment from our comparative test a short description.