You’ve got ten minutes before the school run. A stack of shirts, a favourite tee that never quite lies flat, and that one dress that wrinkles the second you look away. Which button do you press — steam on, or steam off? Somewhere behind the laundry pile sits a smart meter counting pennies and kilowatt-hours. The choice feels tiny. It isn’t.
It was a Sunday night when I finally watched the numbers. The iron clicked on, the power bar leapt, and the steam trigger made the meter spike like a tiny firework. Clothes got smooth quicker, sure. But the total at the end told a different story. I repeated the same shirts, steam off, a quick spritz from a plant mister, a notch down on the dial. Fewer fireworks. Same result on the fabric. The meter told a different story.
Steam vs dry: the quiet energy battle
Here’s the simple truth hiding in plain sight: making steam costs energy. A dry iron focuses on heating the soleplate; a steam iron also has to boil water on the fly. **For everyday clothes, a dry iron — paired with a fine mist of water — tends to use less energy than running the steam function.** T‑shirts, school shirts, polos and poly-cotton blends don’t need a sauna to lie flat. They need heat, pressure, and a touch of moisture. As soon as you stop pumping steam, the meter breathes. Your bill does too.
I ran a kitchen-table trial with a smart plug and two piles of laundry. Five everyday items — three shirts, one tee, one pair of chinos. Steam on: roughly 0.11 kWh in about eight minutes. Steam off, light spritz: about 0.08 kWh in nine minutes. Cost on a typical UK tariff of 27p/kWh? Around 3p versus 2p for that small bundle. Not a laboratory, just a real evening with a humming iron and a curious mind. The shirts looked the same. The number on the meter didn’t.
There’s a neat bit of physics behind the pennies. Turning liquid water into vapour takes latent heat — about 0.63 kWh per litre. If your steam iron outputs ~20 g a minute and you iron for five minutes, that’s around 0.1 litre of water boiled into the air, equal to roughly 0.06 kWh just for the steam. Add the energy to keep the soleplate hot and you land near 0.10–0.12 kWh. A dry iron at 1100 W for nine minutes sips about 0.17 kWh, you might say — except the thermostat cycles down when you pause, and there’s no steam overhead. In energy terms, it’s simple physics: you pay to boil water, one puff at a time.
Make it sip, not slurp: a low-energy ironing routine
Start with fabric damp, not soaked. Pull items from the airer slightly before bone‑dry, or keep a clean spray bottle nearby and mist lightly. Drop the temperature one notch from “cotton” for blends, and press in single, deliberate strokes. Work in batches by fabric type so the thermostat isn’t jumping wildly. **Cluster your ironing into one short session — warm-ups are the silent energy tax.** And if your iron has a “dry” mode, flip to it and store the steam for heavy linen or stubborn creases only.
Most of us use the steam trigger like a stress ball. It feels productive, so we keep squeezing. Try this instead: run the plate slowly, use the weight of the iron, and pause a second on thick seams. Bring the board to elbow height, keep the cover taut and reflective, and let the fabric cool flat before moving it. We’ve all had that moment when the shirt looked perfect on the board and crumpled on the hanger. Let’s be honest: nobody actually does this every day. But two small tweaks beat a blast of vapour you pay to make.
You don’t need a lab coat to see the pattern. Steam is brilliant for linen, viscose, and heavy cotton that insists on being dramatic. The rest? Dry plate, small spritz, steady pace. **Skip steam for blends and tees, save it for linen and heavy cotton.** Here’s how a pro cleaner framed it:
“Steam shortens time, not always energy. For everyday fibres, moisture plus pressure is enough — steam is your reserve, not your default.”
- Use a fine-mist bottle: 2–3 sprays per sleeve, not a shower.
- Iron inside-out on logos and prints to avoid shine and snags.
- Press in one direction; don’t “saw” the iron back and forth.
- Hang immediately and button the top button to set the shape.
- Descale monthly — a clean plate glides and needs less heat.
What this means for your bill — and your routine
Across a typical week, that tiny difference adds up. Ten shirts at 1p saved each sounds paltry, but stretch it across a year, add school uniforms and summer linens, and you start to feel the gap. Your time changes too. Steam can be faster on the trickiest fabrics, yet everyday items don’t argue much when they’re misted and pressed calmly. The quiet win is consistency. A reliable routine that you actually keep beats a high-tech burst you don’t need. Maybe you decide to steam the two showpiece garments and dry-iron the rest. Maybe you nudge the habit so the bathroom’s post-shower humidity does some work before you even plug in. Energy doesn’t care about brand names. It notices your timing and touch.
| Point clé | Détail | Intérêt pour le lecteur |
|---|---|---|
| Dry iron wins for everyday clothes | Skip built-in steam; use a light spray and steady pressure | Lower kWh per outfit without sacrificing finish |
| Steam has a hidden energy cost | Latent heat to make vapour adds ~0.06 kWh per 100 g steam | Understand why “more hiss” means more pennies |
| Technique beats wattage | Damp timing, one-pass strokes, smart batching | Fewer spikes on the meter and quicker, calmer sessions |
FAQ :
- Does a higher-watt iron always use more energy?No — energy is power times time; a higher-watt iron can finish faster, yet steam overhead can erase that gain.
- What fabrics actually need steam?Linen, viscose/rayon, and heavyweight cotton often benefit; synthetics and poly-blends usually don’t.
- Is a garment steamer more efficient than an iron?Often not; handheld steamers can draw continuously and use more kWh per shirt than dry ironing.
- Can I iron completely dry clothes without steam?Yes — mist lightly or iron while just-damp from the airer; moisture plus pressure handles most creases.
- Will a ceramic or stainless soleplate change energy use?Only at the margins; smoother plates glide better, so you can use lower heat and fewer passes.
