What type of screw driver would you need to unscrew the plate to check the cord?

0) Unplug the iron.

1) Remove the (2 or more) screws holding the plastic bottom plate (that the iron stands up on).
The screws are likely to be #20 Torx "Security" screws -- for which you will need a special bit for your nut/screwdriver. A kit of various sizes of Torx security bits will cost you about $10.

2) Remove the plastic cord-holder assembly from the iron.
2a) If the cord-holder is held in place with screws (you are in luck!), simply unscrew them. If you see no screws, then it is being held in place by several (probably 4) plastic tabs that you must simultaneously release. This makes the job much more fiddly. Use a small/medium blade screwdriver to carefully bend and hold each of the plastic tabs out of the way of the latches. You'll need one screwdriver per tab/latch! Take care not to break the tabs...
2b) Carefully wiggle/pull/work the cord-holder assembly out of the iron taking care not to bend the pins of the integral plug (inside the iron) that are seated in the cord-holder socket. Basically, with the iron resting on its metal surface, pull/pry/wiggle the cord-holder straight upward until the cord-holder (socket) pulls free of the (3 or more) stiff wires that function as a "plug".

3) Note that there are 2 crimp-on connectors attaching the 2 wires of the cord to the rest of the wires in the iron. Take a photo of the wires and jot down notes of which wires are connected together. NOTE: One of the cord wires is "neutral" and is attached to the wider spade at the plug end of the cord. Typically the "neutral" wire is marked with a white stripe or ridge down length of the cord. Don't mix up the "neutral" wire and the "hot" wire when you re-connect them in a later step!

4) Cut off the crimp-on connectors and separate all the wires.

5) Remove the cord from the system of zig-zagging "strain-relief" notches that hold the cord securely in place. You may have to remove a small plastic clip first.

6) Cut off 6 inches of the cord. (Or supply a new cord, if the cord has been shortened too much in previous repairs.) This eliminates the broken section wire within the cord. You may use an ohm meter to verify that both wires have a low resistance again (less than 1 ohm).

7) Route the cord back into the "strain-relief" notches in the cord-holder. Don't forget the plastic clip (if there was one)...

8) Strip all wires, exposing about 3/8" of copper on each.

9) Referring to your notes and photo, re-connect all wires using proper-sized plastic wire-nuts for secure connections.

10) Re-attach the cord-holder to the iron body. Make sure you line up the stiff wire pins with the cord-holder socket. Push the cord-holder into place and secure it (via screws or snap-in-place plastic tabs).

11) Replace the plastic cover, taking care to position the wire-nuts and wires to allow it to drop into place without forcing it. Secure the cover with screws.

12) Plug in the iron and test it out!

I noticed the same problem my friend. The problem with mine was that the wire was having some kind of partial contact at the end inside the iron. The wire was twisted and tangled. I will advice You to

1. Unscrew the iron from the compartment at the back of the iron,
2. Then You force up the control of the iron,
3. You will see 2 screws side by side, unscrew them open to release the lower part of the iron,
4. Tail the wire to part that it is connected to in the iron,
5. Then you unscrew the screws that hold the wire and disconnect it from the iron, then you Cut the rough edge of the wire or you can replace the wire completely,
6. Reverse the process to reassemble the iron back together.

Also another cause might be that the connection to the power socket is loose and disconnects itself while you are ironing. In that case, it is the socket you are to replace.
Some irons are also made that way, that once it gets too hot and is not being controlled, the power will cut off its power supply by itself.
That should do the job for you. Hope this information was helpful.

Usually the cord at the base breaks off, because of tension from too much moving and pulling!

If thats problem u could cut the appropriate length and screw again the end of the cord!

In replacing the cord, you have to remove the screw that holds the back cover and unscrew the damaged cord from the heater terminal. Insert the new cord on the rubber insulator and screw it to the heater terminal.

Remove the back plate where the cord attaches to the iron... there are 4 screws visible and another 2 screws hidden under the two rubber feet...These are joined together by a rubber strip and can be removed by prying up and out with a small pry.... once the cover is removed you will see where to take the old cord off and replace it with a new one..

I drilled out the nubs in the center of the screws. removed the screws, and took off the back plate. The problem is that the cord seems to be abraiding when it swivels, and eventually wears thru. It seems like a fire hazard and should be looked into by Rowena. Anyway, I cut out the damaged cord and reattached it. Problem fixed..

Find where the leak is coming from, and coat the leak or crack with silicone.

six screws on bottom plate two hidden under rubber feet on bottom under lower screw holes

I had the same problem. There is a thermal cut-off switch mounted to the top-side of the base-plate. Unfortunately, you have to completely disassemble the iron to get to it. It is an easy replace, just make sure you take good notes on how it's all wired and put together. To disassemble the iron, I did this:

- Mount it in the cord base and move the switch to the "wireless" setting to remove the cord assembly from the iron.
- There are 2 small while nubs on the bottom of the blue plate in back. These are plugs. Pull them out to expose 2 screws.
- Remove these two screws plus the one in the center of the back blue plate.
- Pull the blue plate from the back of the iron and MARK all wires so you know where they go, then remove them.
- You will see 2 screws into the blue plastic base-plate at the back. Remove these.
- Open the door at the front of the iron where you pour the water in.
- Pry the spray nozzle at the bottom out (pry it forward). This will expose a third screw into the blue part of the base-pate. Remove this screw.
- Pull the white plastic and blue reservior away from the blue plastic base-plate. This will expose three screws into the metal bottom plate. Remove these three screws (on in front, 2 in back).
- Pull the blue plate away from the bottom metal plate. This will expose the thermal cut-off. There is a screw with a small metal clip holding it down. This is the part you will need to replace.

I bought my replacement part from a local electronics store. On mine, it was a 240 degree C cut-off. The part I used was from NTE. Part number is NTE8242. It cost me $1.40.

I suspect the reason this blew on my iron is because Oreck engineers didn't expect it to be plugged in all the time (my wife did not like the 'wireless' mode as it did not stay hot long enough so she uses it in 'corded' mode). If you use the iron on it's hottest setting in this mode, it appears that perhaps the plate gets hotter than 204C. That, or Oreck just got a lot of bad thermal cut-off parts and they are cutting off at a temperature lower than 240C.

I just removed the two screws on the bottom of the cord winder and made the screws tight again, works like a charm.