Sorry Larsi; my what a frustrating experience you've had! I remember you posting when you first got that iron. Didn't you get one of the higher-end, German-made ones?

So sorry Larsi. That's a very short life at that price.

Sorry to hear this Larsi. Do you have any idea what you'll replace it with? Rowenta is like the top of the line of irons.

Sorry to hear this Larsi ; (

Is Bosch irons in Us? I am still extremly happy with mine.

Those problems you have I usually get after a few years and my water i rock hard. Since a years or so I use the water from my dehumidifier in my laundryroom. I get galons of water from that and it is safe to use with irons.

My bosch iron i think is made either spain or slovakia.

Maybe save up for Miele fasionmaster ;))

Nein!

Too bad about the iron. My mother's Rowenta (Made in West Germany) still works. Although its steam output is... not up to today's standards. Let's just say it like that.

Anyway, a representative of various companies (Rowenta being one of them) always told me never to use destilled water as it will damage the inside of the iron - as suburban said. I suppose the same might be true for over-softened water.

I had a similar problem even though they have a year warranty it took major arm twisting before they would give me a return material authorization. They "knew" that I had used something other than tap water. Needless to say in the wierd quirky way things work once they gave me the rma it started to work just fine and has never screwed up since....about two years ago now.

I had the exact same experience with mine, and we do not have soft water. My mother in law is a quilter (a really good one at that) and when I told her I bought a new iron her first question was "You didn't get a Rowenta, did you?" Issues with them are well known in the quilting world apparently. Now I use a cheap Black and Decker that has given me zero issues in over a year of use at 1/3 the price of the Rowenta.

Rowenta is junk these days. The last best iron they made was the sewing iron, long since discontinued. It was made in Germany. I have had three Rowentas, and they all leaked. I still have one, and a Rowenta Steam generator which is pretty good. My go to iron is a Black and Decker smartsteam. The Rowenta iron doesn,t build enough steam pressure for shot of steam. They are not worth the costs.

I've had two Rowentas...one of them (bought many years ago, like in the early 90's) doesn't get hot enough for cottons/ linens which is virtually the only fabric that I use an iron for. The other one got hot enough but it died prematurely. I will never buy another one.

I have a Rowenta that I was "talked" into buying a few years ago. A friend told me she just bought one & it was the most wonderful iron she had ever used & that I really should get one. From day 1 it spit rusty water, like others here, I cleaned it after every use & after 6 months it would just shut itself off whenever. I bought it from a store that has a 1 year/over the counter/no questions asked warranty so I got to replace it. While I haven't had too many problems with the replacement, I certainly wouldn't buy another. I have very hard minerally water, so I have always used our reverse osmosis drinking water in it.

After 3 Rowentas in 5 years I gave up and replaced my two irons with one Maytag iron purchased at the local Maytag dealer and one Kenmore I bought on clearance at Sears. Both had decent reviews online and are now in their 3rd year of running strong.

Bought a Rowenta early summer..it went back next day. Water was pouring out. Sticking with my B&D Classic.

I have two Rowenta Advancers still going. I want that Bosch someone posted though lol.

Eeek. Sorry, Larsi. I just bought a new Rowenta earlier this year from BB&B. So far no problems but admit that I don't use it much. I just really like the hundreds of steam holes and how quickly it can smooth something out.

If you're not ready to see this as money down the drain, consider using the purchase protection offered by your AMEX. Should be good for up to a year or two. Just a thought! xoxo

What a pain, larsi! Was it made in Europe or Mexico? I think even the Europe made ones are a bit dodgy, lately. The Mexican made ones have a bad reputation when it comes to quality and longevity. Rowenta got so bad, 15+ years ago, that I would only buy the $35 ones at JoAnn fabrics with a coupon.

Best irons I currently own are two B&D #D2030 one for sewing room, other for household ironing. Great little irons, $50 ea from amazon. One 8-10 years old and the other is 4 or 5 y/o. . They have auto shut-off and reheat really quickly.

I had a Rowenta last one month beyond the warranty. Replaced with a fancy, power steam Bosch, which lasted 5 years or so, but died twice. The first time, well out of warranty, I found Bosch no longer sold/supported irons in the US, so I ordered the parts from the UK. The second time it died, several years later, I went to eBay and found a 1940's era Sunbeam A-4 Ironmaster. No steam, a nice flat soleplate, a new cord, and it is wonderful.

The selection of irons in the U.S. isn't very good. Expect Americans no longer iron very much. I love the number of steam jets in the Rowentas but I didn't have a good experience with a Rowenta DH bought years back, unfortunately.

Also, can I say I loathe automatic shut off. It's as much a nonstarter for me as non-fitted bottom sheets LOL.

Look at this baby from Australia:

Yeah. Rowenta isn't worth much these days.

I bought a Reliable. Best iron I have owned.

Reliable Velocity

Worth every penny.

MRB

I have a Naomoto gravity fed and Laurastar Iron. Neither have auto shut offs. I have not owned a Rowenta in probably 8 years. Love the Laurastar. I like the Naomoto but it is a pain to set up the gravity fed container. Steam forever and gets super hot. The Naomoto gets hotter than the Laurastar but the Laurastar has steam and pressure. Come to the dark side rococogurl and order the new Laurastar Pulse :-)

@homepro - You are such an enabler! I've seen the Laurastar but I already have a Miele rotary iron and a large ironing board. Plus the B&D. A tank steam iron would fill a niche between.

That Reliable looks great @mrb

I like the reliable, but in hindsight, I wish I had gone for the Maven. I had my sights set on one of their vacuum ironing boards, but haven't pulled the trigger on that one either. After swapping out the Miele set, my requirements for ironing have dropped off...

MRB

As I said above, I have a Rowenta Focus. This thread got me to thinking about it. I decided it's really stupid for Rowenta to require tap water. My tap water isn't all that bad, but it still leaves white marks on the soleplate, as well as gravel-like deposits inside if not cleaned faithfully after every use. What about people with really bad water? But it is a great-performing iron and I enjoy using it, for the little ironing I do. So I've decided to keep using it, with purified water that we already get delivered in the big 5-gallon bottles (mainly for my wife who doesn't like to drink the tap water, which comes from a well and goes through a calcite neutralizer, hence the white stuff). I'll keep using the iron, and if it shows signs of failure from internal corrosion then I'll toss it.

Purified water should be fine in your Rowenta Focus. Even bottled spring water is fine. All the iron makers don't want us using distilled water anymore. There is some scientific reason but I forget what it was. Distilled does not want to make steam easily in my experience and that's probably the reason.

Is the Rowenta Focus the best available iron for most people? We've had a B&D D2030 for about 6 years and the "active sensor" is broken and shuts itself off in the middle of ironing on long runs and the light for the digital display is dead as well.

Maybe one reason why irons don't last long: Why should a manufacturer make them to last when people don't dress sharp anymore. Before grunge came around 1992 people dressed sharper and they made the irons last longer. Irons must have been built to last forever back in the 50s, as people really dressed up back then.

I originally set out to buy an auto-shutoff iron, which I've never had. The reviews by users who found them annoying (shut off in the middle of ironing) changed my mind.

Neptune I'd suggest that the sharp dressing stopped in the 70's. At least my progressive generation stopped. I remember clothing without structure and dropped shoulders.

The 70's. Everyone and I mean everyone was wearing synthetics, wash&wear, drip dry, no iron..ect... more and more women were now working outside the home and needed laundry day to be less time consumming. Gone were the slacks with the crisp ironed seam up the front and the cotton shirts again crisply ironed, and in with the synthetics that get hung up damp from the washer and ready to wear. Yep no iron, but getting the funk out was a whole new ball game.