There are almost 900 models of irons on the market. And each has an iron soleplate. Among such a choice it is possible to get confused. Especially since each type of sole has its obvious advantages and disadvantages.
Undoubtedly it is easier, without thinking twice, to take an iron with a titanium or enameled soleplate. Such high-tech miracle will cost 2500 – 3000 Dollars.
If you have to choose: aluminum or stainless steel, then, it is necessary to be guided by your requirements. The most important for you is durability – buy an iron with a stainless steel soleplate, if you are interested in lightness and speed of heating, then give preference to a product with an aluminum soleplate.
If you are an unpretentious person, very careful about technique, and the ironing of thin silk blouses or wool products is a rarity in your home, you can certainly prefer an inexpensive model with a soleplate of ordinary polished steel aluminum without additional coating today almost never occur .
If the mistress most of all appreciates comfort in any domestic work, and her things require special care, most likely she will give preference to a soleplate with a titanium, nickel or glass-ceramic coating. They have lots of advantages, but none of the disadvantages. And the price is affordable and justified.
People who are especially careful with their belongings and prefer only high quality equipment can afford a Teflon-coated or ceramic-coated iron.
Stainless steel or lightweight aluminum?
Dozens of specialists work hard to develop unique alloys that make the soleplate as resistant to damage as possible, while still gliding easily over all types of fabric. Actually, the soleplate itself is made of only two materials – aluminum and stainless steel.
The first electric irons had an aluminum soleplate. Of course, after the cumbersome cast-iron alloy, this seemed like a technological breakthrough. Aluminium is the perfect thermal conductor, it heats up quickly and cools down quickly too.
Plus, it’s a very lightweight metal and inexpensive. Thanks to these qualities, aluminum soleplate heats up very fast and glides perfectly over the fabric.
But it also has its own drawbacks. For example, the soft metal easily scratches buttons and zippers, with time the micro-cracks get clogged with lint, dust particles and lime, and as a result the soleplate quickly loses its high sliding performance.
In addition, such a soleplate leaves on thin fabrics or fabrics with lint unsightly flaky areas, so many products have to be ironed from the wrong side.
Sandwiches for iron holders
And that meant irons with the same aluminum soleplate, but with an additional outer coating. For example, ceramic Siemens, Bosch, Philips, Bork .
It glides easily on any fabric, leaves no marks on it, but it is very painful even to any impact: fragile in its structure, ceramics easily cracks.
Tefal developed both glass ceramic and ceramic metal soleplates that are still in use today. This alloy has proven to be strong, reliable and easy to iron. But over time, they can become soiled and lose their benefits.
Bork, Atlanta, Kenwood, Unit use Teflon coating on iron soleplates thin coating on aluminum base . Nothing sticks to such a soleplate, but it is afraid of scratches, and the nonstick layer is often partially erased.
And Philips engineers still use aluminium as the basic material. The most common in this company are two types of soleplates: Careeza an additional coating, whose composition the manufacturers keep secret and Anodilium anodized aluminum that has undergone special treatment . Both types of soleplates are scratch resistant, durable and have high sliding properties.
Steel is the queen of the soleplates
Aluminum gradually lost its positions, and stainless steel quickly took the lead.
Rowenta pioneered it in their irons, and it was instantly adopted by other iron makers. And for decades stainless steel has been the most popular substrate for iron pads, and global changes are unlikely to happen in the next few years.
It turns out that stainless steel as an iron soleplate has a lot of advantages over other materials.
Above all, it’s beneficial to both users and manufacturers if only because it’s an inexpensive material.
In addition, steel is exceptionally strong and reliable. Virtually unaffected by shocks, scratches, it heats up easily and cools down quickly slightly longer than aluminum .
Perfectly cleans itself of possible fouling and particles of textiles. The only limitation is its poor slip compared to ceramic coatings. However, a special careful polishing at the production stage relieves the user of this problem.
Ceramic coating, like a layer of chocolate on a Snickers bar
To further improve the functionality of the soleplate, many manufacturers have also begun to equip it with additional coatings.
For example, Panasonic use a titanium soleplate coating for their irons. It is an extremely durable material. Unlike ceramics, such a soleplate is protected from chips and cracks, and is ready to properly serve the owner for many years. It also has one surprisingly useful property.
If a hostess accidentally distracted herself by leaving a hot iron on a blouse the thing would probably get spoiled, but the soleplate would not need to be resuscitated by scraping off stuck and burnt fabric fibers. All you need to do is unplug the iron from the socket, gently wipe the work surface with a cloth after the appliance has cooled down completely.
Enamel, nickel, sapphire – what else?
One of the most successful developments is the enamel-coated stainless steel soleplate Siemens, Bosch, Tefal .
Super tough, perfectly smooth, it glides easily over fabrics without wrinkling even delicate silks, nothing sticks to it, and after years it remains in perfect shape without losing any of its qualities.
Another successful invention is the nickel-plated worktop Panasonic . The basis, as before, is stainless steel.
Nickel is known to be a very durable material, and is virtually immune to mechanical damage and abrasion. Nickel also forms an excellent corrosion protection, it is resistant to environmental influences, and for years it retains a shiny smooth surface, which prevents the adhesion of dirt and facilitates cleaning.
Braun has for some years used the well-known and revered Saphir coating, the latest technological advancement in the field. Sapphire is one of the hardest minerals along with diamond, ruby and quartz.
Of course, this does not mean that the iron has a sapphire coating then its cost would be sky-high , but this stone is used in the technology of the soleplate.
The extra-hard coating is not afraid of not only impacts, but even sharp needles and blades. It can be rubbed with an iron brush if you wish and the soleplate retains its polished finish. But it is unlikely that the hostess will ever have to do this. Because in addition to strength, sapphire coating also has qualities such as lightness, and nothing sticks to it.
When it comes to the question of which is better to use aluminium or stainless steel, Bosch and Siemens seem to have come to no definite conclusion, and so now produce models with aluminium soleplate and stainless steel finish.
Thus, the sole combines the advantages of both materials, but excludes the disadvantages of both. At the same time the cost of the iron in general manages to remain quite acceptable.
Following Philips, many companies have picked up the trend of giving their irons beautiful, intriguing names to the soleplate: Careeza Philips , Eloxal Braun , Ultragliss, Diffusion Tefal , etc.d.
Of course, brand managers can decipher beautiful words, telling more details about the composition of the soleplate. But no one will tell you the full chemical formula of the material!
And why do you need a perforated soleplate??
Why do manufacturers provide their irons with a specific number of holes?? And why are they different in layout and size?? Does it play any role in the efficiency of ironing?
Visits to household appliance stores have yielded nothing. None of the salespeople-consultants in specialized stores and even none of the brand managers of the companies could clearly explain to us the advantage of one system of hole distribution over the other.
Why is there twelve holes and not eleven or thirteen, why is there a hole three millimeters in diameter on the soleplate instead of two and a half, and why is this combination considered by one manufacturer or another to be the most optimal?.
Well, we will conduct, as befits a private detective, an independent study of the problem.
The sole breathes through the holes!
Originally, the soleplates of steam irons had only two rows of the same holes, which were placed along the sides of the soleplate. But the leading manufacturers quickly recognized that in this case, the steam did not sufficiently moisten the fabric.
First, at that time, the irons were not as powerful as today’s models, with a maximum continuous steam output of 15 g min or less.
Secondly, the far apart holes could not distribute hot steam over the whole surface of the fabric.
In this case the right solution was to increase the number of holes. And some manufacturers have added a second row of side holes, others have made extra holes in the spout of the soleplate.
How many holes – just right?
The number of iron manufacturers increases every year. The competition is growing as well. And everybody wants to equip their appliances with original features and elements which would distinguish them from models of other companies.
The result is more power and more steam. A modern iron can smooth out even jeans in minutes. But the secret of success is not only in the power, but also in the system of steam flow.
This is why the soleplate of irons also receives a great deal of attention. The number of holes on the soleplate is increasing, their diameter is changing. Here too, each designer has an endless amount of room for imagination.
The belief is that the large holes which can be round or oblong provide a strong main steam flow, while the micro holes create an air cushion between the soleplate and the cloth, thereby making it easier for the iron to slide over the fabric.
Each company tends to find an individual approach in the distribution of these very holes.
Some the latest Rowenta model make several hundred micro-holes all over the surface of the soleplate of the same size for even distribution of steam over the fabric.
Bosch and Siemens equip their irons with lots of holes of different diameters, which are also distributed over the whole working surface.
But Philips prefer to have three or four rows of holes in the sides, large holes in the tip and spout, and guides longitudinal indentations in the metal in the middle of the soleplate.
By the way, the guides are used in modern irons by many manufacturers and are arranged in different order and quantity. They help direct steam evenly over the entire soleplate and therefore the fabric.
At Braun, for example, they prefer to equip almost every hole with a separate groove guide, and it must be said they have achieved great success in efficient ironing this way.
The classic hole pattern today is one or more rows of medium-diameter side holes, a group of large- or very small-diameter holes on the spout, and a row of large holes on the end of the soleplate.
In some cases the holes at the end are absent at all. This scheme is followed by such companies as: Vitek, Scarlett, Binatone, Clatronic, etc. d.
Which type of soleplate is better for ironing: stainless steel or ceramic?