Cotton-covered flex

[Kiwi BlokeParticipant @kiwibloke62605]

My wife’s iron, at the tender age of only about 45 years, needs a new mains flex. It’s the traditional nice and flexible, rubber-insulated, braided cotton-covered stuff sported by every iron I remember seeing. The iron is rated at 1200W at 240V, so 5A conductors plus earth. Such flex is conspicuous by its absence on the shelves here in New Zealand, and even electrical wholesalers and appliance repairers look puzzled when asked for the stuff. Heat-resisting silicone-covered flex also seems unknown here.

It seems that braided flex is available through some home decor-related channels, intended for ‘retro’ lighting applications, but you can’t find out anything useful about the rating or insulation or braiding material, even at the enormous price the aesthetically conscious are expected to pay, and I suspect it’s produced, in many colours, to look pretty rather than to be robust and heat-resisting.

Does anyone know a source of this flex? One UK electrical supplier lists it on its web site, but it’s out of stock. My daughter will be passing through UK in a few weeks, and could bring a few metres of this apparently vanishing species back with her.

[Dave HalfordParticipant @davehalford22513]

Last iron cord I got was from B&Q.Light flex is the wrong gauge, you need 13A.

[VicParticipant @vic]

Replacement cables are available.

10A rated cable also sold by the metre by several vendors on eBay.

 

[peak4Participant @peak4]

My last attempt to reply vanished into the ether.
As above several ebay.co.uk suppliers, so maybe get some delivered to a friend.
e.g. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/205048480170

See also; closer to home.

Heat-Resistant Cables – Cloth-Covered Power Set of 3

Bill

[DC31kParticipant @dc31k]

A place to look in your own country might be commercial laundry suppliers/repairers.

See above, from peak4 – thinking around the subject, and searching for the characteristics the cable requires (heat resistance) rather than specifically for a domestic iron cable might produce a useful lead (pun intended).

Most of the full replacement cables sold in the UK have a moulded on UK plug attached, so you are paying for something you would cut off.

Tell your daughter to wander the streets a bit with a set of side cutters – around here people leave broken irons out in the street for the scrap collectors.

https://www.stevensonplumbing.co.uk/iron-flex-1mm-3-core-cable.html

https://www.worldwidemusic.co.uk/steam-dry-iron-replacement-braided-3-core-iron-flex-cable—sold-by-the-metre-3945-p.asp

[bernard towersParticipant @bernardtowers37738]

Yes replacement cords are available here in the uk but they are absolute cxxp , they kink at the slightest provocation and my wifes iron is on its 3rd one in 2years. I think silicone is the way to go( I use it on my soldering irons) but be prepared to pay a premium.

[Chris CrewParticipant @chriscrew66644]

I didn’t have a problem sourcing the appropriate flex when the British branded, but Chinese made iron flex failed after about 15-years normal usage. After I changed the flex the appliance lasted about another year before the element failed. Straight on to ebay for a new iron, Chinese of course, for about 15 quid and approximately only twice the price of the flex. I should have done this in the first place. This was about 5 years ago and the cheapo Chinese appliance still works fine. Modern domestic appliances just aren’t worth the effort of repairing, IMO.

[noel shelleyParticipant @noelshelley55608]

Have a 50m reel of it in the shed ! will checkout the spec/rating and if OK then you can have some. Let me check and then we can talk.   Noel.

[Kiwi BlokeParticipant @kiwibloke62605]

Thanks everyone for your help, much appreciated.  I think such cable is another of the things that exist in New Zealand only in its famous, deep Unobtainium mines. We have an abundant, and probably increasing supply of Unobtainium. It really is a most frustrating little country. So the stuff is available elsewhere! Some of the links look like we’ll be successful and the iron will live to press again – and my lovely wife will avoid electrocution – although what herself uses the thing for, I’ve no idea: I haven’t worn anything ironed for ages (and have no wish to).

Noel, that’s really kind of you, but please don’t waste valuable time exploring your shed. If it’s anything like mine, it’s not untidiness that’s the problem – because it’s tidy – but so much stuff has been packed so tightly into an inadequate space that its density approaches that of a neutron star. And I tend to remember where things were before the last reorganisation. Nett result: I can rarely find anything, and if I find it, I can’t access it… Also, I suspect the practicalities of transferring the flex to a rapidly-moving daughter might be more trouble than is reasonable. Thanks anyway!

[howardbParticipant @howardb]

“Also, I suspect the practicalities of transferring the flex to a rapidly-moving daughter might be more trouble than is reasonable. Thanks anyway!”

Replacement cables for irons and steamers are available on Amazon.co.uk.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/iron-flex-cable/s?k=iron+flex+cable

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