Miele Vacuum Cleaners - What Gives

[launderess]

Over years have seen no small number of Miele vacuum cleaners of rather recent vintage rubbished and out for collection.

Me being, well *me* usually take them home, plug in only to find dead as a Dodo. Small consellation is one has a very large supply of telescopic wands, hoses and floor tools that were kept before one too rubbished the thing.

Made esquires each time from local authorized Miele vacuum repair person and was told if machine in question was between 5-10 years old might be better off replacing than repair. That can't be correct; why would a vacuum cleaner that cost so much only last such a short time?

Further was informed motors on Miele vacuums rarely fail, cord winders and switches normally are culprits when a thing won't start.

In aid of that had two Miele vacuums lying about was going to test, take apart and try to repair by getting new cord winder off fleaPay or something. As some may have heard households are fleeing this area over past several months due to covid, so there's no shortage of things being discarded as persons move house.

One unit was a Quartz 300, other Compact C1. As luck would have it other evening coming home spotted yet another Quartz 300 in very good nick on a chair next to broken commercial vacuum of some sort. Took the Miele home, plugged it in, and to my surprise it powered right up. Only issue was the suction control on handle was broken (taped over).

Took nearly new handle off non working Quartz 300 and now have a perfectly wonderful Miele vacuum for nothing. Likely will rubbish two non-working units as don't have space to store, nor time to take apart and find out why won't start.

Reading reviews online of Miele vacs things seem all over the place. They don't seem very long lasting compared to Miele vacs of old, and those who have them either swear by, or at the things.

Sorry for rambling but coming from the washer and dryer side of things Miele has always seemed rock solid. Thus rather surprising their vacuum cleaners seem otherwise.

 

[dermacie]

I have always wanted a Miele but have never had one. I have two ancient Kirbys one on each floor very heavy but extremely reliable.

 

[launderess]

Have only paid for two vacuum cleaners in my life.

First was a Panasonic upright just out of college for my first apartment. It lasted about ten years or so (with very light use) before on/off switch gave out. Paid good money to have it "repaired" which only took for less than a year. That place went out of business (I wonder why?), so couldn't have situation corrected.

Other was a Miele S142 "mini upright" that got off fleaPay nearly new for little money.

Everything else in current stash was found....

Oreck XL small canister/hand vacuum complete with NOS box off accessories, bags, filters...

http://homeappliance.manualsonline.com/manuals/mfg/oreck/bb870aw.html

Vintage Hoover Convertible upright bagged vacuum (in orange no less). In decent enough nick, but bag could use mending or replacing. As our floors are mainly bare don't use the thing. It just sits in a corner haunting me.....

Eureka Mighty Mite small canister. Another "recycling room" find. Only took it for things that the Miele mini-upright cannot do like dusting, getting under and behind furniture or appliances....

And now the Miele canister....

The Oreck is rubbish IMHO. Darn hose tangles far to easily making a dog's breakfast of any work attempting to get done. It likely will be moving on rather soon once covid-19 restrictions ease and can start visiting family.

Eureka likely also will have to go as have been given the side eye about "too many vacuums... how many do you need?.....

Quite honestly have always wanted a Miele compact canister as well, but wasn't going to pay what people were asking. Especially when one had suspicions about quality; I mean if Hoover could make a vacuum that lasted > twenty years why are Miele's rubbish after about ten?

Have accessories already for Miele vac (bought same time as mini canister) so it really does replace basically everything else. What like about Miele and other better offerings is their HEPA and other filtration systems. No use vacuuming up dust only to have machine spew it out the other end.

What the Eurkea does have and why may try to save (if can find a place to hide) is a blower port on end. Use that for flushing out dryer vent hose, cleaning condenser coils....

 

[bradfordwhite]

Only things I've noticed:

tiny, tiny wheels that seem really impractical.

they come in a variety of colors which is very Hoover-ish circa 1970-1980s

they have a variety of power nozzles from different manufacturers.

they are rather expensive.

I'm a central vacuum person.

 

[ea56]

We have a Miele C1 Compact Turbo that we bought 2 years ago and its one of the best vacuums we’ve ever owned.  Excellent suction, very convenient, lightweight and maneuverable.  My husband David does the housecleaning and he loves it too.  

 

I just changed the bag two days ago because I noticed when David was vacuuming that the full bag indicator was solid orange.  The bag was completely full, I've ever let a bag get this full before.  And yet the vacuum had almost full suction still.

 

We have wall to wall plush pile carpeting and the Turbo nozzle piles the nap right up and keeps our 7 1/2 year old carpets looking like new.  

 

We also have a 2005 Hoover Constellation that David likes for above the floor dusting because the hose is long and flexible, stretches to 16 ft.  It also has a turbo nozzle that does a great job on the carpets too.

 

Eddie

 

[gizmo]

I have salvaged a few Mieles from hard rubbish collections. I still have one.

Commonly the cord breaks where the plug attaches - conveniently right at the end.

It is because people let the cord rewind at full speed till the plug hits the body of the vac and WHACK it stops as the last inch of cord is wound in. This is really hard on the cord.

I hold the plug in my hand, step on the rewind button  and when the cord is almost all swallowed, guide the plug to the body of the vac so it slows and stops gently. Saves a sudden shock at the end.

For each rescued Miele vac, I simply cut off about 6 inches of cord with the plug and fitted a new replaceable plug; give the machine new filters and a clean, it is ready for years of service. (till the brushes wear out...)

[this post was last edited: 2/26/2021-06:58]

 

[askolover]

I've looked a couple of Miele vacs, but I'm a Kirby kinda guy...have two...an old blue Tradition and a newer G5 self propelled.  Love them both.

 

[dermacie]

I would love a Miele Canister since my home has mostly hard floors. We only have carpet in the bedrooms.

 

[vacerator]

Re; small wheels

One of the few on the market with quality 360 degree wheels. Maybe a bit draggy on dense carpet, but just a tug on the hose and it follows you regardless of the position of the cleaner.

 

[jmm63]

I have a Miele White Pearl, circa 1996 I believe. It's still one of the best vacs I've ever had. It's had a few repairs along the way but we had, until recently, a good old fashioned Miele vac repair place in town. I would chat with the owner when it was in about getting a new one and he always said to keep fixing the old one because the new ones just aren't built as well.

The White Pearl is a tank and quite large and cumbersome so was thinking about something smaller and lighter weight but think i will just keep it.

Not my picture but identical vac.

 

[henene4]

I had one customer who had repeated issues with his machine and we exchanged it for another brand.

Otherwise never an issue not caused by customers.

My mum had 2 vacuums in her life, both have been Miele.

She exchanged her first one after 20 odd years because it looked like garbage.
The lid for the tools had fallen off (I rode a lot on it as a kid...).

Otherwise still runs fine as our second vacuum for our top floor.

Her current S5000 EcoLine in mint green still runs like day one.

Only needed a new floor head after she took the old one apart and broke it in the process.

We had a newer orphan floor head (2 actually, a carpet nozzle plus the switchable one) laying around so I just took those with permission of course.

My best friends mum had one of the first C3 Pet version that they used until someone misfitted the bag and used it.

They could have just cleaned it up and continued using it after taking it apart.

But they just bought a new one (same thing, just the newer version).

When my grandma needed a new one a few weeks ago the only reason I didn't grab her a Miele was it was to heavy for her.

The few times I've seen them fail prematurely, it's usually quite obvious how they handle their appliances.

Or they somehow manage to run it without a bag.

But repairs on them often seem rather pointless.

A replacement switch might be pretty cheap (80€ or so bucks from what I've seen/heared).
The cable wheel is pretty expensive as a spare part.

One customer ran his without a bag.
Miele replaced the fan, motor and some other bits for just shy of 150€ or so.

 

[perc-o-prince]

We have a few of the bag units and a Blizzard bagless. The older bag unit that Rich rescued from the put-n-take at the tip had a motor replaced about 7-8 years ago. He says that one has the best suction of all of them. We have another freebie that is great, but the hold-down for the tool cover is broken. The other units were from the local Miele showroom when they were liquidating the store demo models ($100 each). We've had no issues with any of them, and we laid in a supply of bags at that same time since they were even cheaper than employee pricing in the larger packs.

 

I would agree with Henrik that most problems are user-related, just like with the Miele appliances! We have 2 kitchens "full" of them and no issues with any of them.

 

Chuck

 

[nmassman44]

I had a Miele Ariel C5 canister that lasted me a good 10 years. The only issue that I had with it was the cord reel, which I replaced myself. The original reel that came with the vac had an issue at year 5 where it would not power up and I had to retract the power cord to a point where it would kick on. That was annoying as hell. Last year before we moved to Florida the Miele dealer that I used in Mass had a trade in sale where any vacuum one would trade in for a Miele you would get $100 for the trade in. So traded in the Dyson Animal upright for a Miele Triflex, that I love and I traded in my Miele Ariel for a Miele C3 Complete HomeCare canister. Both new Mieles are very good and probably my last vacuum cleaners in my lifetime.

 

[nmassman44]

Here is a pic of the Miele Triflex that I have.

 

[nmassman44]

Here is a pic of the Miele C3

 

[petek]

I have a Miele Allervac which is identical to the Pearl that Jim posted above. I found it at the Habitat Restore about 10 or so years ago for a mere $50, along with an extra hose (albeit a non powered one) . It's a very good vacuum, not noisy, but it is big and heavy and when we still had wall to wall carpet it was a beast to tug. It's even a beast on hard flooring, you have to give the hose a good tug to get it moving. Has a big Hepa filter in it as well. The only think I don't like about it is the power nozzle cord isn't integrated into the hose like they are now. Bags are pricey so I bought 20 miele clone bags on Amazon for a little more than half the price and they are exactly the same bag as the Miele authorized bags. I would almost stake my life that they came off the same line at the factory.

 

[tolivac]

Have several Miele vacuums in my collection-no problems with any of them-they don't get used everyday.Have a White Earl model-this is a larger canister intended to have the dirt capacity of an upright.However feel that Sebo does make better quality machines-upright and canister.Don't like the Miele upright at all-as heavy as my Kirbys and clunky-awkward.Face it an upright makes a POOR canister no matter how its made.

 

[henene4]

Our machines

I drove back home today, so here are some pictures of the machines.

The older one must be from the 80s when my parents moved in together for the first time.

The crevice tool must have went missing recently.

It sounds a little rough but it runs and as a backup vacuum for a rarely used floor it's decent.

That parquet nozzle is a replacement, though.

The other machine is our "daily driver" down here.

It shows it age, must be from the mid 2000s from what I remember.

The nozzle is the one I got for free from work.
And when my mum was using it today it had a bit of a squely sound to it.
I guess it's getting on, I'd give it 5 or so years at current use.

 

[brisnat81]

We’re yet to have a Miele vac fail, we still have our 15yo Dog and Cat canister, other than being a bit battered, it works without issue.

18 months ago, we brought a batch of 10 Miele vacs at auction, that were warranty repairs that had been replaced. A couple had power issues, but the rest had been run without a bag and filter in place and the impeller on the motor was packed full of dirt and fluff, in some instances to the point the metal had split open. We now have 9 Miele vacs between 4 houses.

I recently went shopping to see if I could find a replacement for the Miele upright as it’s getting too heavy for my 78yo mother in law. I desperately wanted to like the triflex, but it was too heavy and far too complicated and fiddly for an old person to switch between modes. In the end the Dyson was much lighter and easier to convert to a motor with a brush for doing the stairs. Because of how the Miele upright pivots, the triflex didn’t feel much lighter or maneuverable at all, so in the end, we’ve left the carpet to her and we’ll do the stairs when we’re up there.