Miele Heat Pump Dryers, 120V!

[jerrod6]

Thanks for the German water hardness levels since I don't know what to look for online.

I thought about the possibility of the heater not activating near the end of the wash and I am Ok with that. The thing is that when I first got the machine I measured the exit water for each program I ran, and it was on the Normal program that the difference was 10 degrees or more. On normal 105F, wash water came out at 82F! On other programs, the difference is small or equal to the setting of the wash temp. I understand why since it is the program used to get the energy measurements, and the manual even states so. Normal also won't use as much water as the rest if you select a max rinse setting. I get it. I don't mind doing a 120F and having the water exit at 110F it is that 1600rpm spin that really keeps me from using the Normal program on some things.

One common habit people seem to have( does not apply to people who are on this forum) is that they do not read any user manual, so simply stating not to use chlorine bleach in the manual is not enough to stop them from trying it. The washer does allow the use of chlorine bleach in a wash, but that use must be activated in the settings to work. I don't use chlorine bleach so the setting is off. I am glad I can still use whatever detergent I want to by putting it in the dispenser, but so far the Twin Dos detergent is performing very well. It is not foamy and there is not much of any scent that I can detect. I have suffered from detergent allergies so I am very glad that I can use a machine that will give me enough water for what I think is adequate rinsing.

 

[launderess]

Far as one can tell neither of my AEG Lavamat washers will heat water after a set period. OTOH the much older Miele will engage thermostat anytime during wash cycle if it senses a drop in water temperature. Know this because there is a very audible "clunk" whenever thermostat engages and or turns off heaters.

Have to say always found it rather silly and wasteful to heat water with say < 10 or so minutes left in cycle.

 

[jerrod6]

I washed kitchen towels this morning and decided to use the Normal cycle. This is the Cottons cycle that was renamed to Normal. I set the max rinse level on and used 3 rinses. The spins between the rinses were good. The estimated time was 1:30 which reduced to 1:05 after a few minutes. Good water in the wash. The first two rinses used the max rinse level setting, but the last rinse used the regular rinse level. I don't know if that happens if you don't select extra rinse.

I selected 140F for the wash temp, then ran the water at the laundry sink to measure the temperature. It was 120F. The wash portion lasted 21 minutes. I captured the wash water in a bucket and measured the temperature which was 102F. It doesn't look like too much water heating takes place on the Normal cycle, because after all, it is the Eco cycle.

 

[ozzie908]

So glad my old Miele W4449

Does not have the technology to dumb down water temperature I have zapped it many times with the laser temp probe and on a normal cottons 60c it heats to about 56c or should I say it peaks at 56c but if I use the Hygiene cycle it heats to exactly 60c and maintains that temperature for minimum of 12 minutes thus making it a lovely cycle to use for white bedding and towels as it activates the bleach in the powder and as its a longer wash portion of the cycle it gives fantastic results, On a side note I had to pull it out today to see if we had a leak on the pipes I had forgotten how bloody heavy it was..... My poor hernia.

Austin

 

[jerrod6]

This type of temp reduction only happens on the Normal cycle. The USA Energy conservation program requires that the cycle used for energy rating has to be named "NORMAL". In my opinion, this was done to trick consumers into using this cycle since it is named for normal clothes. All of the other cycles on the machine heat very well.

 

[launderess]

German water hardness

Learned ages ago when first began using Persil that dosage direction on packets were rubbish. We have very soft water in NYS, and using recommended amounts would cause no end of troubles.

Indeed for nearly all European or any detergent from overseas find can use vastly less. That Saudi Arabian Persil Stan and I did a swap with calls for nearly one cup or more per wash load. Neither the Miele or either AEG would have any of it.

 

[mrboilwash]

We do have extremely soft water areas in Germany, but they`re not as prevalent as hard water areas.
What Americans define as moderately hard is still considered soft in Europe, but that doesn`t mean we don`t have very soft water too. It only means the span of the definition soft is bigger here.

The biggest difference is that dosing instructions in Europe are based on 4,5 kg dry weight.
In the US dosing instructions are typically based on a "medium load" which is only 4 lb of dry weight. 4 lb are roughly 1,8 kg or in other words a vintage Miele not even loaded half full of clothes.

But to stay on topic what makes it so hard to use a second motor in an electric dryer ?
I take it that European dryers are very limited in drum diameter because of standardized cabinet size. So you`d think proper reversing should be essential for drying large items evenly and wrinkle free.
I wonder if it is because there is not enough room in the cabinet for an additional motor ? It`s not about costs only, is it ?

 

[henene4]

Cost & Efficency

There certainly is enough room.
AEGs first heatpump dryers did use 2 motors with the fan motor intrgrated in the fan at the back.
Miele used to use 2 seperate motors (TwinPower).
These motors are relativley compact and can be mounted right next to each other right behind the compressor on the bottom right.

Main reason was cost.
Heatpump dryers used to be twice the price of other dryers.
BSH were the first to cut cost to only about 50% with their first BlueTherm dryers.

Next thing was efficency.
One motor is somewhat more efficent then 2 seperate motors.
IIRC ELux had a 150W fan motor and a 110W drum motor with a 550W compressor.
Our current A+++ dryer has an approximate combined power draw of about 560W with the heatpump at 420W (compressor is an LG EA-078 PAA), so 140W for the motor.
While that is only 200W difference round about and only 120W of that on the motors, that is over one 2,5h cycle almost half a kWh of which 300 or so Wh is down to the motors.
That is maybe one efficency class for just the motor savings.

 

[mrboilwash]

Thanks, never thought about efficiency, but it makes perfect sense.

 

[johnbee]

I live in NYC, it a 1100sqf apartment. My landlord approved Washer/Dryer installation.
First I tried a small Whirlpool TL with a Whirlpool compact dryer.
1.5 cu ft means I had to run more than 7-8 loads per week. we are a family of 2.
The other issue, dryer vent. I had to take the vent outside the window each time I would like to run a load.
A friend of mine was selling a brand new Kenmore portable front load washer. 2.1 cu ft but of course the dryer couldn't handle it.
Then I saw an advertisement from Miele that their heatpump dryer could run under 120V! AWESOME.
$1600 less on my account and 48 hours later the dryer was standing on the top of my new washer in the bathroom
GUYS. THIS THING IS AMAZING.
A huge load of towels will dry in less than an hour. No need to take the vent outside the window, no more lint flying around the bathroom and no more need to split the load.

My Mother, Sister, Grandmother all of them they own Miele sets back in europe.