Sapporo SA-SP527 Gravity Feed Iron

Having a busy sewing business, I rely heavily on my iron. I have had three of the Sapporo at this time. I luv the iron and it performs well, when it works. BUT the lack of customer service and befuddling parts included that have no explanation leaves me unhappy with the provider. I have spent literally hours trying to find info about parts (the parts list included is vague) and how to fix this iron. The fuse goes out. Should be a simple replacement. After getting it in, the iron still doesn’t work as before. No one has videos, etc. for this particular iron. So. After this one goes, I will either retire or find a different iron. Great iron but good luck!

2021: This WAS the best iron I ever used. It was heavy enough, got hot and no auto-shutoff. I've had it exactly 2 months. It was fine yesterday but today it wouldn't turn on. No light, no anything. I am beyond peeved!!! Update: Discovered the fuse had blown. It was easy to get a new fuse and pretty easy to replace it in the iron. I got my wonderful iron back! I've been using it almost daily since then. Now when I go somewhere and have to use a regular domestic iron I hate it because they don't have heft and don't get hot enough for the flat seams I'm now accustomed to. I got a second gravity feed iron to take with me. Update: 2025: My iron is still going strong with almost daily use and I still love it. I have it plugged into a power strip with a surge protector and no more fuses have been blown.

Iron keeps slipping off hot plate and broke many parts of item including steam hose, cannot be fixed ir replaced

My goodness this is a nice Iron, the seller (albertsewing) was even better - including accessories like the treatment for the water tank and an no-sheen slip on cover (I don't know what it's really called, it's a metal foot that slips over the bottom of the iron so it doesn't leave streaks). Beware, this iron's heat settings go from normal all the way up to hell hot; The manual says not to put the iron on it's butt (where the controls are), with that in mind the only way to set the iron is face down on the provided silicon pad (as shown in the description picture). This wouldn't be a problem, except the manual says to heat up/steam the iron on #3 or 4 on the temp. dial, I did this and within a few minutes that I expected it to take to heat up it was hot enough to start bubbling and melting the pad. That's not a bad thing, this iron is fantastic, just be very conservative with the heat settings, this isn't like an off the shelf everyday iron.

My wife has now purchased two of these for her alteration business. The first stopped working after 6 months and taking one of these apart to trouble shoot is not for the faint of heart. Bought the second and it lasted 2 days longer than the return window before it died. They work very well. They just break down and there is no time for that in a business. We went instead with a Reliable Steam generator iron system and that is working well but too soon to know what about the longevity. It is 6 times the cost so hopefully we will get what we paid for. Unfortunately, that seems to be the case with these two irons from Sapporo.