Steam generator continuous steam g/min: read the rate

You have two Tefal pages open on amazon.co.uk. The Pro Express Vision prints 180 g/min of continuous steam, a 750 g/min boost and 9 bar. A Pro Express Protect prints 7.5 bar. Sorting those figures as one scale will mislead you, because they are three different quantities.

The figure that should lead is steam generator continuous steam g/min, the rate you feel on a long pass. Compare a boost only when the unit matches. Bar is a pressure label, and on this shortlist a higher bar is not a higher score.

Products Compared read the twelve listings in the steam generator comparison, plus Philips leaflets and UK review explainers. We did not run a lab steam test. A qualifying purchase from a link to amazon.co.uk can earn us a commission at no extra cost to you. If a bullet and the manual disagree after October 2026, follow the manual.

In short

Read continuous steam in g/min first, then the boost, and compare a boost only when the unit matches. On this shortlist the stated figures run from 90 g on both Russell Hobbs models, with no g/min printed, to 180 g/min on the Tefal Vision. Where a listing prints bar, the figures run from 3 to 9, and the larger bar did not produce the higher score.

Continuous steam is the number you feel

g/min means grams of steam per minute while the soleplate is on the cloth. A one-second blast is a separate figure. The rate is what you feel across shirts, school trousers and a duvet cover. Which?, in its steam-iron buying guide, treats more steam as the reason to consider a generator, and it does not rank bar across brands.

For a family wash, use continuous steam from about 120 g/min as a rule of thumb. It is not a lab pass mark, and 119 g/min is not an automatic fail. Expert Reviews uses about 120 g/min as its own category average. That round number is their summary. It is not a measurement of these twelve listings, so a match with a leaflet is a coincidence.

The highest rate this set states is 180 g/min on the Tefal Pro Express Vision GV9820G0. Both Russell Hobbs models, the Steam Power 24420 and the 24510, list 90 g of steam. Those listings do not say 90 g/min. Adding the slash yourself invents a rate and then ranks the irons in a table they never entered.

Philips leaflets show the split cleanly, and they sit outside the twelve. The PSG3000/20 sheet states 120 g/min beside a 350 g boost, at 6 bar pump pressure. The GC9630 UK sheet states up to 135 g/min, a boost up to 470 g, a maximum of 6.7 bar and a 1.8 litre tank. The PerfectCare 6000 and the PerfectCare Compact are different models, so those leaflet rates are not their scores.

A boost is a shot, and the unit matters

A boost, sometimes called a steam shot, is extra steam for a crease, a hem or a thick seam. It is the burst you tap. Holding a number for ten minutes down a shirt is continuous steam. Adding the two figures mixes a sprint with a walking pace.

Grams are the mass of one shot. Time is absent from the number. Grams per minute are a rate, and only for the moment the shot fires. You cannot line 350 g up against 750 g/min and call a winner. The Philips leaflets keep the split visible: continuous steam in g/min, boost in grams. Trust that layout when a marketplace bullet is vaguer.

On these twelve listings the gap is wider. The Hamilton Beach Pro Care HB268SGBG states a boost of 4–5 g, a shot mass. The Tefal Vision states 750 g/min, a rate. Those figures do not divide, and a spreadsheet sort is not an ironing result. Treating a 4 g shot as a per-minute rate invents a figure the listing does not print.

Even two boosts in g/min can differ in length and in how soon you can repeat them. Listings rarely print that pause. Expert Reviews' "towards 500 g/min" is their category round number, not a reading of this shot.

Bar is not a league table

Bar is pressure, usually at the pump or the boiler, and brands do not label those parts in the same way. The PSG3000 leaflet calls its 6 bar figure pump pressure. Another brand's 9 bar may name a different chamber. A higher number can mean a stronger push, or only that a different part was measured. Which? points you back to steam output.

Where this shortlist prints bar, the Hamilton Beach is at 3, the Morphy Richards SpeedSteam 333202 at 5.5, the Tefal Pro Express Protect models at 7.5, and the Tefal Vision at 9. The Braun CareStyle 7 Pro IS7282BL states no bar figure in the data we used. Leave the cell empty. A blank scored as zero would punish a missing label.

Nine does not outrank 7.5 because the numeral is larger. Skip the Vision over a Protect, or a Protect over a Philips, when the only reason is that ladder. The leaflet figures of 6 bar and 6.7 bar belong to other Philips models, so they are not a mark against the PerfectCare 6000 or the PerfectCare Compact. Expert Reviews' "about 6.5 bar" is their summary, not a hurdle these listings were measured against.

The comparison scores make a separate point. The three Tefal Protect models, including the GV9230 featured here, sit at 9.2. The Vision, with 9 bar on the listing, sits at 8.4. Those scores come from the listing comparison, not from a steam-output test, and they show that bar is a poor ranking key.

What this shortlist actually prints

Keep three columns, and leave a blank blank. Continuous steam is stated at 180 g/min for the Vision. Both Russell Hobbs models are stated at 90 g, with no per-minute unit. The featured Tefal Pro Express Protect GV9230 states 140 g/min continuous steam and a 560 g/min boost at 7.5 bar. If another bullet says grams, copy the grams. The family-wash guide of about 120 g/min only helps once that unit is real.

Scores sit in another column. The GV9230, GV9224G0 and GV9220G0 Protect models tie at 9.2, so the GV9230 is the featured model, level with the other two. Both Russell Hobbs irons, the Tefal Power Pro Compact 200 and the Braun CareStyle 7 Pro sit at 8.8. Philips PerfectCare 6000 sits at 8.6. Morphy Richards SpeedSteam, the Vision and Philips PerfectCare Compact sit at 8.4. Hamilton Beach Pro Care sits at 8.2. Use that order for our overall reading, and g/min when you want the steam rate. If the wash needs the stated 180 g/min, open the Vision. The score does not erase that rate.

Three shortcuts still fail. Rewriting 90 g as 90 g/min builds a false ranking. Setting 4–5 g beside 750 g/min compares a mass with a rate. Choosing the Vision because 9 is more than 7.5, or a Protect because 7.5 looks larger than a leaflet's 6 or 6.7, follows a pressure ladder the models do not share. If a filter sorts "steam" as one number, ignore the sort and read the bullet.

What to open on the comparison

Start with the job, then the rate, then the shot. One shirt does not need 180 g/min or 9 bar. A family wash is where about 120 g/min of continuous steam becomes a useful filter, still as a rule of thumb. Match boost with boost in the same unit, then read bar as a footnote. When bar is missing, as on the Braun CareStyle 7 Pro, decide on the facts that are printed.

The steam generator comparison holds the twelve rows. This article is the key to the columns. The buying guide takes the size of the wash, the cupboard and the water before the spec sheet. The best steam generators page orders the shortlist as a recommendation, which is a different question from whose bar is highest. A higher shelf price is not a higher bar either.

Use the amazon.co.uk listing, in pounds, and expect a mains station to arrive with a BS 1363 plug for a UK socket. A listing from outside the UK is not evidence of the UK wording or the UK price. When the bullet and the manual disagree, believe the manual.