Tefal 4293114P Pro Express Steam Generator Iron

Brilliant iron (Tefal compact express) whilst it worked. It worked for about 14 months so was out of warranty when it failed.(iron plate heated, green steam light started flashing, and no steam was generated. The steam cable felt cold. The generator seemed to be not working at all). Tefal offered to collect and fix for a minimum of £65. A local electrical repairer offered the same service for £50. I declined both thinking I would be better off just buying another cheaper iron- but decided I had nothing to lose by trying the white wine vinegar/water descaling option. I poured around a pint of vinegar/water into the anti calc cavity. Left it for 2 hours then switched the iron on. I was amazed..... the generator tank started to make noises and the iron started to drip brown water. I switched on the steam button and it went beserk!! Hey presto.... lots of steam. The green steam button that previously would not stop flashing, stopped flashing! Now my iron is fixed! I just need to run more water through to clear any vinegar smell, that other people seemed concerned with, but the smell of vinegar isnt that strong! Amazing! Why couldnt Tefal suggest this?????

February 2015!

We have had our Tefal Steam Iron for 2 years and it is without a doubt....amazing!. I have four children, so along with my husband and I (6) in the family, the iron is used 7 days per week non stop. I did hear that calcium builds up, however every iron I have ever owned does this. You just need to use distilled water. What a great product. If you don't have a Tefal steam iron you seriously are missing out on the most amazing product. I hated ironing until we bought this. Quick, easy and amazing results on clothes. It is worth the money, they are really effective. I just bought a new one today so I could get a bigger water compartment and a newer model.

This iron looks good and worked fine for a year and then it started tripping out our electrical circuit. I have learned that this is a common with no quick or cheap fix. Waste of money

steer clear of tefal pro express lost steam after 15 months not a very good on a £250 product

I felt compelled to warn you away from purchasing this iron as like many others our 'Tefal pro-express' started to spit out brown stained water yesterday and tripped our electric circuit. I thought I'd give it a thorough clean before trying again, sadly to no avail - once again it started to spit out brown stained water and tripped the electric circuit. I bought the iron 18 months ago; unfortunately it is out of the 12 months warranty period. Reading the other reviews, it is clear that this is a common fault. NOT GOOD ENOUGH FROM A WELL KNOW BRAND!

15 mths ago I purchased the Tefal Steam generator iron model GV8461 and within the past month the lead has come off the reel which is incased within the stand. So I am not able to get the lead to extend out of the iron base. It is outside the 12 mth warranty so neither Tefal or the retailer want to know. The iron retails at £200 and Tefal offer was to get me to purchase another iron at a reduced price of £167.99 or send the faulty one off for repair with minimum charge of £64. It is day light robbery. It is a design fault within the iron.

Tefal should respect that customers want value for money and exchange a iron that they produced that has a design fault.

Be warn do not purchase

I have had this iron for nearly a year. Periodically I did have problems with brown staining on light clothing even though I was following the instructions. Recently it has got much worse to I contacted Tefal to ask them how to fix this and this is the reply they sent back the following day:

Thank you for your email regarding the above product.

In order to keep your steam generator in peak condition, it is important to de-scale it regularly.

In hard water areas, this procedure needs to be carried out more often. In order to do this, remove the ani-scale collector from the side of the generator unit and rinse. If the scale collected does not come away completely, soak the collector in lemon juice or white spirit vinegar overnight. If the water in your area is especially hard, repeat this procedure every 3 or so uses to keep on top of the scale. On a less regular basis, when the scale collector is removed, fill the boiler tank with approximately 1/2 litre of water, replace the scale collector, shake the generator and pour the water out. Repeat this procedure until the water runs away clear.

To finish the process, replace the scale collector, fill the water tank up as if to do a load of ironing, and run through an entire tank of water ironing, for example, a tea towel. To remove scale on the soleplate, dip a cotton bud in either lemon juice or white spirit vinegar, and wipe around the holes.

This should improve the performance of your steam generator. If you still find you are experiencing problems, it may need a repair. To organise this, you can contact our authorised repair agents, Staffords, on 0845 758 1545.

I have just cleaned using the above instructions and my iron is now working lovely. It's a shame they don't mention this in the instructions. Hope this helps anyone having the same problem.

I too have been plagued with this machine for no rhyme of reason spilling out dirty brown water which stains the clothes. Even paid 65 pounds for it to be overhauled a few months ago. In the meantime I purchased a Philipps generator which was half the price and so very much better. Quite shocked to read just how many people were experiencing the same fault - this surely must be ironed out (excuse the pun !) by the Tefal manufacturers.

I have had a Tefal Turbo Express Anti-Calc steam generated iron for the last 10 years and I have never ever had any problems with it infact I was so delighted I went out and bought another as the steam stopped working, however in the last 4 months I have had and returned 3 Tefal Express Turbos Anti Calc back to Argos as after 1 month they all started throwing brown water all over my garments, so I again had to wash again and again and again, later I will be returning my 3rd Tefal Express Turbo Anti Calc back to Argos but this time I would like my money back.

I am almost sure that Tefal are getting them from abroad cheaper, but not being manufactured properly as for throwing brown water staining all your clothes must be manufacturers fault.

My advice DO NOT BUY. then you wont be dissapointed.

Utter garbage.

I have now had 4 Bosch steam generator irons that have splurted out brown water. I wonder if other people have had the same experience. It really isn't good enough that these expensive machines do this. I now keep the box and send them back when they do it and get a replacement, but that is a real hassle and what I really want is an iron that doesn't do it.... any ideas? Surely they can't go on manufacturing such a bad item of essential equipment.

I certainly wouldn't have bought it if I'd know it did this