Iron Tripping RCD

It is almost certainly a fault in the iron. At only 18 months old, I would try taking it back unless it's done an abnormally high amount of work in that time.

Our 20 year old Rowenta does this if we forget to turn off the steam at lower temperatures. I guess the water doesn't evaporate fast enough and gets in somewhere.

Time to replace your iron.

new iron asap, as folk have said. Some things are safe when leaky, but an iron definitely isnt one of them.

It seems reasonable to expect a Tefal brand iron to last longer than that, so you may have some leverage there, even if out of gtee.

NT

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Is there some sort of cutoff at which you might expect something to develop a fault?

Curious idea. More new irons are faulty than 18 month olds, its the bathtub curve effect. In fact for some appliances youre likely to get better reliability by buying used.

NT

Thanks for the swift & very clear responses - it's pretty clear I need a new iron.

I agree that 18 months is pretty lousy for an iron. I'm going to get in touch with Tefal & see what their response is... While it's now out of warranty I understand that doesn't necessarily absolve Tefal of all responsibility.

Michael

They may have a moral responsibility, but not a legal responsibility.

Legal responsibility would lay with the retailer, but depends on you showing that the product would have been expected to last a good deal longer than it did. Do you remember how much it cost? You could give the retailer the opportunity to have it repaired or replaced at their expense. In the event of replacement, it would be reasonable for the retailer to expect you to pay something like 1/4 - 1/2 the price, representing the value you got from the original item. You may however get more joy from the manufacturer.

I'd get the back off the iron where the flex connects to the terminals and have a look at the state of the insualtion. My mum once had a perfectly good iron that, with use, would wear through the flex at the point where it was held by the Plastic Grippy Bit, the insulation eventually giving up and causing the RCD to trip. Fixed it at least twice by lopping a few inches off the flex and re-wiring whenever it wore out.

Kim.

when our iron started tripping the RCD it was because of a small leak in the water tank. Nothing obvious until I stripped it right down. Dave