There is an anti-scale agent incorporated into the iron itself, so there is no need to use a descaling solution, but Russell Hobbs recommends giving the whole thing a good clean at least once a month (or more often if you live in a hard water area) using the Powersteam Ultra’s handy self-clean button. Just fill the reservoir up to the max level, turn the steam function off, set the temperature on low, plug in and press the self-clean button to wash the water through the soleplate. Don’t forget to do this over a basin or washing up bowl, or things will get messy. Vertical steam function allows you to use the iron to steam creases from hanging garments or curtains with ease.

Also, to prevent shiny patches, you can put a cloth (e.g. a tea towel) between the iron and the fabric.

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The water tank capacity is also 350 ml. This ensures that steam can be produced for a significantly longer period of time without any problems. You need to always ensure that the tank is fully filled when you’re starting the ironing. Antiscale design When it comes to keeping your clothes crease-free it's important to use the right tech for your needs. Take a look at our wide selection of irons and find the right one for you. Look for features like temperature detection, anti-scale function, and an automatic safety shut-off to get crisp ironing and peace of mind.

Steam generator irons are great if you iron regularly, especially if you iron lots of big items like bath towels and bed sheets. They are also bulkier than regular steam irons, so you need to have good storage space or not mind having them on display in your kitchen or laundry room. Your iron has multiple thin layers of coating and light scratches will not impede the performance of the iron. You can continue using the iron as per normal. Instead of going for the confusing steam iron options like Morphy Richards 300253, and Breville VIN311, you should definitely go for the Russell Hobbs 20630 owing to its minimalistic design and easy to use features. Ironing aids or fragrance water could have been added to the water tank. This can cause problems with the steaming function, causing water to leak. Use only tap water or distilled water or a mixture of these two types of water. The anti-scale agent incorporated in the iron helps prevent the build-up of scale. Don’t use a descaling solution, or you’ll destroy the anti-scale agent.

How many watts should a good steam iron be?

The antiscale design also avoids any kind of deposition on the iron. This ensures that the steam holes are always open as well. As a result, it is much easier for you to get proper steam from the iron. Less maintenance As mentioned above, the iron comes with a handy easy-pour jug, which makes it easier than lugging the whole iron to the tap. But the instructions recommend that you use distilled water if you live in a hard water area, rather than chemically descaled or softened water, which is rather a pain. The water droplets may appear on the garments when you have steam ironed for a while. This happens because steam has condensed on the ironing board. In Self-Clean mode, it’s mainly water that comes out. It’s the most comfortable iron to clean as a result; it isn’t much fun standing over a sink and being in a cloud of steam for nearly ten minutes. You need two hands to use the cleaning mode: one to hold the button down and the other to hold the iron. The entire job took only 2mins 30secs. Why buy the Russell Hobbs Powersteam Ultra 3100w? The iron’s 3100 watts of power means it heated from cold to the three-dot setting in a super-fast 21 seconds. It really pumps the water out, too: I got 25 minutes of ironing on the three-dot, full-steam setting from the 400ml of water. (At 24 minutes, the steam blast stopped working.) Although it was steamy enough to mist up my reading specs at first, the steam seemed to dissipate gradually, so the room didn’t feel damp after ironing.

That's why, when we asked them for their honest recommendations, they told us that a good steam iron should be lightweight, have a large tank capacity and get rid of stubborn creases without you breaking a sweat. A self-cleaning function to reduce limescale build-up would be an added bonus. In short, the best steam irons should be effective, efficient and reasonably priced. Some parts of the appliance have been slightly greased and as a result, the appliance may produce some smoke when it is switched on for the first time. Laura Cooke is a Content Editor at Mumsnet, with a special focus on home care content. She writes buyer's guides, cleaning and laundry articles, and tests products out in her family home to help our readers make informed choices when it comes to parting with their pennies. She is a mum of two and lives in Sussex. Why you should trust usThe Powersteam Ultra comes with a handy plastic jug to help measure out the correct amount of water to put into the iron. The well-designed spout means there is no mess when the water is poured into the water inlet. We know that our Mumsnet users are the real experts when it comes to laundry so, as always, we began by consulting our forums to see which steam irons parents loved and which they, well, didn't. Expert opinion