Miele EXITS US Large Capacity Marketplace!

[tomturbomatic]

I guess that the few machines on the sales floors here must be the last 220 volt washers available. It must be mostly old housing stock like in NYC that does not have 220 volt service; can't imagine living like that. Newer housing here is much less likely to have gas lines to the laundry room, but always 220 volt electrical connections. I think builders get a break on the running of electrical service to new construction if the homes will have a certain amount of non-seasonal 220 volt appliances. The oven(s) and the dryer outlet usually get them the break.

I remember in the 60s the American Gas Assn. tried to market "Gas" communities where the houses would have builtin gas cooking and gas dryer connections as well as gas heating and cooling. Each home came with a gas yard light also. Fortunately, the building codes mandated the standard 150 amp electrical service so after the trials of gas central AC, they were able to put in electric central air.

 

[passatdoc]

I have to stack my machines because they are located along the rear wall of the garage, and city ordinance requires a bollard (concrete-filled steel pipe) be located to protect appliances from a wayward car. Because the home was built in 1988, when FLs were a very small segment of the market (I guess White-Westinghouse still made them, but no other major US brands made them---one could buy Miele imports but I digress). The bollard was placed right in front of the washer space, so that the pipe would now block the door of any FL, even if on a pedestal.

If you cut down and remove the bollard, the house might not meet code inspection if you try to sell. I felt a better approach was to work with what I had, and that meant placing a laundry stack in the dryer space and using the washer space for something else (I placed a table there for folding laundry or holding laundry baskets). Not all companies then (2006) offered stackable washers/dryers, but Frigidaire did, and because they have kept their cabinet sizes to 36", a stack is only six feet tall (I am 5'11"). Electrolux is more like 39" tall, so that a stack will be 6'6". Right now, the dryer door is even with my chest, so removing clothes from dryer is very ergonomic. If I upgraded to Electrolux, the door would be higher.

Our local appliance store (Pacific Sales) has a showroom with several stacks so consumers can get a feel for whether controls and doors are at a comfortable height for them. They don't have every make and model stacked, but they do have a Frigidaire and an Electrolux stack, so you can see what 36" and 38.5" cabinets look like when stacked.

From the context of the article posted by [COLOR=#ff0000; font-size: medium]mrb627[/COLOR], it appears that demand for stacking is growing due to the growth of upstairs laundry rooms. The ones I've seen in newer homes tended to be closets with enough lateral room to place the machines side by side, but the article seems to suggest that some homes feature narrower closets that require stacking.

<span style="font-size: medium; color: #ff0000;">(<span style="text-decoration: underline;">@gualin</span></span>---no, there is no special mechanism to keep the garage pipes from freezing.....it may get down to 8 C in the winter in the garage, but not cold enough to freeze pipes---we do get light frosts 26-30F, but that won't freeze pipes).

 

[rockland1]

Gas A/c

The mention of gas air conditioning brings back a old memory. In high school, we visited the Museum of Science & Industry. They had a gas air conditioning system on display. You looked in and saw the flames and the cool air blew out at you. It seeme a strange concept at the time.

 

[seamusuk]

Warranty......

Besides, if Miele is supposed to be so great, why the short warranty? If the machines are supposed to last 20 years, why not have a 10 year warranty?

They do in the UK- my service certificate expires on 13th April 2022. Also my W5740 was only £850 ($1300 odd)

Seamus

 

[nmassman44]

My Miele dryer came with the new filter. One thing with the Miele dryer one cannot use dryer sheets in it. The wax clogs up the pores on the filter. The first time around. I had to wash the filter to get the wax off and scrubbed it gently...what a royal mess that was.

 

[launderess]

New York's *Old* Housing Stock

Well yes there is that, I mean you have quite allot of pre-war (WWI, WWII, Korean, etc) stock here. I've lived in buildings that still had pipes in the walls for gas lighting. Also much of the older homes here, espeically multi-family units such as apartment buildings/co-ops were built long before electrical mod-cons. The highest demand would have been perhaps a radio, a few light blubs and maybe a fridge (if lucky). Know several older buildings in very wealthy areas of Manhattan where there is a little "cubie" built into the outside wall of the kitchen. It was where one put milk and other things requiring cold temps before fridges came along.

Not all new construction even post 1970's or 1980's had a line for electric dryers either, and that includes private homes. Natural gas is the most common fuel used here for dryers (often much cheaper than electric),and new construction often comes with such appliances. Heating is usually gas or oil for the same reasons. Ranges are gas as well.

Even in a wealthy area like Manhattan Miele had a hard time moving many units. Again salespersons told me it was because of the 220v requirement. If one lives in a condo or co-op permission must be secured to *upgrade* wiring where 220v service does not exsist, and or there simply isn't enough power coming into the place period. Often that permission was withheld for various reasons. Then there was the huge cost of union electicans to do the work, not to mention possibly having to have ConEdison in as well to bring a larger feeder line from the street to the building.

Older 220v Mieles:

Yes there are some still around. Few if any of the 19XX and such, but lots of the 12## from what one understands. The fact they are all still sitting should tell you about the demand for 220v washing machines.

 

[passatdoc]

@Laudress

Our city's building code now outlaws 220V outlets in the laundry area of newly constructed homes (my home c. 1988 predates the law and has a 220V outlet, though it's never been used). The idea was to force people to use gas dryers, rather than electric, to help the local utility defer having to build new power plants. You'll still find 220V in the kitchen, particularly for wall ovens and sometimes at the cooktop location (some just have gas and that's it). Also sometimes there will be a 220V outlet in the back yard for possible spa use. My kitchen was designed for a freestanding range, with an 110V outlet and a gas pipe behind the range, so I use a gas convection range that runs on 110V.

 

[eddy1210]

Tom

You were asking about the Schulthess, I was intrigued as well and found this:

 

http://www.schulthess.ch/en/products/private-household/washing-machine/

 

[logixx]

Off-topic but...

Speaking of New York... I remember that Miranda from "Sex and the City" had a 24" Miele washer and dryer in her utility room.

Alex

 

[chestermikeuk]

Schulthess

Here is a promo film about the company & gives a great insite into the machines, just look at the size of those spiders & bearings...

Swiss made, they provide home & semi-commercial machines like V-Zug , but concentrate solely on laundry & dishwashing...they also operate a large commercial interest and have a bigger dealer network abroad...Take a look!!

http://www.schulthess.ch/en/schulthess/image-film/

 

[rolls_rapide]

Schulthess dishwasher...

..is an Electrolux/AEG by another name. And by association, no doubt a Zanussi in disguise.

The other day I was reading an online manual for the latest AEG. The Schulthess's manual is identical.

 

[launderess]

Gas Vs Electric For Cooking

Personally prefer electric cooktops but gas for ovens. Exception would be "true" convection ovens where IIRC electic has slight advantages over gas.

Gas ranges and burners aren't exactly dirty, but can leave one's kitchen walls requiring more attention than electric IMHO.

For heating you are finding more and more those AC/Heating units for new construction in NYC apartments.

 

[qualin]

Wow... Schulthess looks like they make very high quality machines..

Shame they don't sell to the North American Market.

I think that V-Zug and Schulthess would make a killing if they sold machines here.

 

[foraloysius]

Merker is also a Swiss brand. Same machines. The BOL is a Bosch. Bosch and Siemens used to sell commercial machines in Switzerland that were similar to the Schulthess and the Merker commercial machines.

Merker homepage:

http://www.merker.ch/

 

[jerrod6]

Agree with laundress

I grew up with all electric stoves and was used to them.  When I bought this house it came with all electric.  Eventually I got down to only one burner working and things going wrong.  I heard that gas cooking was more controllable and since the gas line was at the stove but not being used, I got a dual fuel range; gas cook top, electric convection oven.

 

I do like the range a lot, but have to say that gas cooking seems to be hot and messy.  You notice the heat in the summer. As soon as you turn a burner on and sit a pan over it even on low flame, you can feel heat escaping into the area around it.  Messy:  I have SS tiles on the wall and when you clean them there is this brown film coming off of them.

 

Oven works very well but is kinda strange on convection.  It blows the heat out with a fan instead of coming from underneath. You would think this would be slow but instead it is really quite fast so I  use the convection  option for a lot of things even to reheat items.

 

AC/heating.  My two previous houses had  whole house heat pumps and they worked well but we had a winter heating rate. This current house is gas heat  with  central AC.   Our electricity has been deregulated so there is no more winter heating rate so folks have to pay the full rate to heat---could never afford this anymore so I will just stick with gas heat.  Most of the time my heater only delivers heat at a temperature of 90F anyway so it is just like having a heatpump.  When it is very cold the temperature will increase to about 112F.   I would prefer hot water heat with old style radiators  but I will have to take what I have for now.

 

[mrb627]

Miele Distributer

My Miele salesperson indicated that they were tipped off to Miele pullout before the end of 2011. He didn't have any information as to whether the Intelli-q machines would cease to exist, but speculated that they probably would.

Malcolm

 

[tomturbomatic]

Eddy, Thanks as always for sharing your knowledge.

Mike, Thank you also.
Tom

 

[passatdoc]

Wow, our local vacuum store is a "Miele dealer showroom" and he had been selling the washers as well as the vacuums. I don't know what kind of washer volume he'd been doing---most people don't walk into a vacuum store looking for a washer---but the fancy display he has will probably have to go. I sure hope the company built the display and that he is not out any large sum for having had it in his store. He sold not only the laundry machines but also the full line of Persil products---at prices no German would ever pay.

 

[hunter]

I thought i was the only one...

Wow, I thought i was the only person on the planet who preferred electric stoves over gas.

I have electric convection ovens, but I also prefer electric tops...fast heat, not as adjustable as gas, no, but not bad. And no mess.

I switched to electric mid 1990s after we read a Lancet article talking about how folks with any respiratory problems at all shouldn't have gas stoves or anything with an open flame like that.

Sorry to hear that Miele is (basically) existing the North American laundry market. I'm glad I bought my Asko W6884. 220v, incoming temperature to 90C heating. I'm glad I DIDN'T buy the Miele as they are likely to be orphaned machines - how long will spare parts be available?

Of course, the thing that did it for me was a 1 year warranty. My Asko has a 3.

 

[mrb627]

Yeah

I just don't get why Miele ever decided on such a dismal warranty for their US machines. Unless they never believed they would stand up here. Perhaps Miele machines in the US aren't built to the EU standard. Or maybe they didn't want to have a bunch of warranty lawsuits if they decided to pull out early.

Malcolm