Miele Vibration FAIL

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mrb627

mrb627

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Joined
Sep 12, 2001
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I have been having an increasing level of difficulty with my Touchtronic pair over the past several weeks. Tonight, I was called to the laundry room by a violent banging. Imagine my horror to see my Miele set moving away from the wall together. That's right. Both the washer and dryer were shifting from their installed position to the center of the laundry room. Since the stands are mounted together they moved as a single unit. The washer was spinning so off kilter that it was moving the weight of the dryer with it.

So, I went into my file and pulled the pedestal installation instructions and began to decipher the cryptic message contained within. As suspected, the pedestals were not installed according to the manufacturer's instructions by the authorized installed, which carried a 200+ charge. They failed to install locking nuts on the feet underneath the drawer, so they are free to shift out of adjustment at will. Also failed to install locking nuts between the stand and the base of the washer/dryer which will allow vibration of the machine in top of the stand.

I guess I will have to reverse their installation and set it right. I need to figure out how to reinstall the shipping braces in the back of the washer before I can proceed.

Malcolm
 
Hopefully

It is only the bases being improperly installed. Won't know for sure until I tear into them.

Malcolm
 
Didn't notice anything was amiss until now? I'd contact whoever did the install service and have a note made upon your account. If the banging caused some sort of internal damage or something it would be good to have a record in case MieleUSA pulls a fast one later on.
 
Well

I think at this point, if I cannot get these working to my satisfaction, I will put the Speed Queens back in place and sell these on Craigslist.

Malcolm
 
Moving Miele's

Hi Malcolm
I'm sure its just the set up I've never seen a Miele move if its set up correctly. Apart for one set i put in a care home on the 3rd floor and this was down to the floor construction not the set up of the washer. If you have a solid floor and the base is set up with locking nuts it will never move even on the most unbalanced load, if the load is that bad that it would cause a problem the machine would not spin or only spin at a lower speed.
 
I'd have thought since Miele is so persnickety about having no one but their own service people touch their washers that there wouldn't be so many problems with installations. Launderess's link made for interesting reading from quite a number of people who were suffering from bad installs.

Miele's halo has been getting a little tarnished lately.
 
Miele Service

Yes, they have "factory trained" service and installation personnel. Locally in NYC there are two such services at the moment. One is a nice lad who used to work for Miele as a tech but left several years ago to start out on his own. The other is a service called "Mr. Appliance" or some such.

Being as all this may apparently in some areas of the country installations were being handled so badly out of house, Miele severed connections. IIRC California, AZ and a few other states Miele handles all installation and perhaps service in house.
 
Malcolm-- Does that mean the installers had been to their third party before they made it to your house, LOL?

It's too bad Miele didn't get a better foothold in the US. I thought their market share would improve when they introduced the extra-large capacity laundry pair that ran on 120v. And didn't that roll-out happen right around the time the economy collapsed a few years back? That couldn't have helped them, seeing as they're at the top of the price point.
 
I need to figure out how to reinstall the shipping braces...

 

 

Malcolm, are you talking about reinstalling the shipping braces to move the washer from one pedestal to the other?   Or to move it off the pedestal and back on again?    They are to prevent damage while bouncing around in the back of a truck as it's moved across town or across the country.   Simply moving the machine around in your laundry room, or on and off the pedestals it's not necessary to install them.   The machine is not that fragile.   If it were, it would have self destructed as it was dancing around in your laundry room.

 

Kevin
 
 
<blockquote>The other is a service called "Mr. Appliance" or some such.</blockquote> Fellow & his wife live next to my parents ran a Mr. Appliance franchise and Western Auto store for some years but it closed several years ago.  The building still sits for sale, it had been a Western Auto far back as I can remember to the 1960s and had changed ownership three times that I recall.
 
Shipping Braces

The instructions are pretty specific.  Re-install the struts if the pedestals are to be separated for the machine.  Machine must be placed on its right side only, bolts that replaced the feet on the machine should be screwed no more that 15mm into the base of the machine.  Sounds like brain surgery...

 

Malcolm

 
 
Shipping braces

 

 

Ooooh, OK.   The pedestals are bolded to the machines.   If you have to lay the washer on it's side to seperate the pedestal, reinstalling the shipping braces does make perfect sense.   I didn't realize they were bolted together.   A friend has a Kenmore Elite FL and it's just sitting on top of the pedestal.

Kevin  
 
To Be Fair

Unless the Miele W and or dryer is giving other issues it is not fair to blame the machines for poor installation. Again it happens. Far too often in many cases but it happens.

If you either do not wish to do the work I'd contact Miele and have them send their own techs to see what the imbalance/poor installation issues are about. These are new machines and under warranty no?
 
Warranty

I'm afraid scheduling an appointment and taking a day off from work would just further aggravate the situation. I understand that most the fault lies with the installation, but I fully expected the Miele machines to detect excess off balance and stop the spin.

How can we sit by and point at the LG spin issues when this happens on a presumably far better machine.

Malcolm
 
Miele's Halo Getting Tarnished

I am now waiting on the third dispensor drawer for my machine. In February it will be one year that I own Miele. The machine was replaced in July due to a Bad Tub Bearing. The New Machine had problems with the soap drawer from the get go and the Old Machine had gone through 2 of them. The New machine had the drawer replaced twice. The other day I pulled out the drawer and the whole thing just fell apart in my hand.
Called Miele and had them pull up the file on my Machine.
In conversation I had mentioned that they are not making the 4842 anymore. And told the rep. I understand why. I told him how disgusted I was with the machine, no wonder they stopped building that model. He told me that they weren't selling as well. So I told him that if one more thing happens to that machine, I would take Miele to Court and demand my money back. He went on to say that there is nothing wrong with my machine. I then asked him what he was smoking and how could he know what was wrong with my machine if he's in New Jersey. Last night, I put a load in the machine and went to bed.
This morning I woke up and there was the machine Beeping Away, Door Locked, not running and saying to select a cycle.
I have contacted my Attorney and we'll see what will happen. And I have to say my last few conversations with Miele, the reps on the line were a little "snippy".
 
Miele 48XX Series Detergent Dispenser Problems

Are well known, well at least by Moi who looks up such things. IIRC there were are complaints about for the 4802 at least that the drawer would pop open during operation spewing water all over the place.

Well that does make up one's mind, won't be ordering the 4842 demo/clearence model even at a reduced price. I mean if it were $400 or less one might reconsider! *LOL*
 
"Won't be ordering the 4842"

Oh Good Lord...

I thought too the Price of the Machine would buy the "Famous Engineering and Longevity".

I have not had a Good Experience with Miele. I really thought I bought the best.

Now, to get the Unimatic running again.
 
Personally

One finds it is always best to stick to what you know.

The 48XX series was Miele's first foray into uber-sized domestic laundry appliances for the North American market. Mind you they have been building the "Little Giant" and similar washers for commercial use for ages with apparently no problems. How or why the ball dropped on this we shall probably never know.

My dear father would always say never to purchase the first model year of anything. There are always kinks/bugs that need to be worked out and thus subsequent versions/updates have such things corrected.

With the problems Miele seems to be having with the 48XX series they never were going to reach sale numbers to justify. What is interesting is that Bosch also pulled the plug on their uber sized units as well. Just what aren't the Germans getting about the USA market?
 
Floor Type

HI Malcolm

What type of floor are your machines on solid or suspended, if the later they may need extra strengthening due the weight of a Miele. I had one `Miele in a bathroom a few years ago and the builders had to put in KOGINGS (I think that’s how its spelt) basically some form of cross support and then lay a cement pad to install the machine on. I’m sure someone here in construction can explain much better then I can. If they are on a solid floor it is simply down to the installation. My current Miele’s are installed side-by-side and have never moved

mikeklondon++12-21-2012-04-22-12.jpg
 
I guess I'm lucky I've not had a problem with my 4842. I do notice it has a little more tolerance for not perfectly balanced loads, it does not take nearly as long to re-distribute the loads as I remember my LG set used to. No problems with the dispenser drawer either. A couple times it vibrated open and leaked a little water, but since I have re-leveled and it has not happened again. I also called them to please note it had happened and they had me remove the little yellow emergency door opening tool from the drawer, since then, it has never done it again. I just taped the tool to the side in case I ever need it. Going on three years now, hopefully will last a good long time.
 
I have transported Miele 1065's and a 1918 in the back of my pickup truck and ferried them for up to 50 miles, without any problems. No shipping braces, not even pillows stuffed into the drum.

I have read that in lieu of the shipping braces one can stuff the drum full of pillows, so that the door is hard to close, and that would cushion any jostling of the inner works during transit.

However I never laid the machines on their right side, although on the appliance dolly they may have become horizontal on their backs for a brief time during loading/unloading into the truck.

One Miele I bought used (w1065), the owner said that Miele had already replaced the suspension shocks. Wouldn't you know, that's the one that tends to vibrate a bit. The others are rock solid. All are on on a concrete floor. The one that vibrates a bit might not be leveled as well as it could be.
 
IIRC Every Miele Series Since the 19XX

Have incorporated various and or improved upon out of balance controls. However IIRC Miele washers will do various things to lessen the impact and or results of imbalanced loads they *will* spin none the less. This in contrast to washers offered by other brands that will take ages to balance and or simply not spin at all if they cannot reach certain set parameters.
 
W3033 Results

I can say over the past month of using a new W3033 the machine has never done anything close to what was described in this thread. Even with very unbalanced loads (e.g. a heavy cotton coat), the only result was poor extraction due time wasted trying to find balance prior to giving up and finishing with limited speed. No banging even without obsessing about leveling the machine. It almost seems like Malcolm's W3033 balance sensor is not functioning properly or there is an issue in the machine's suspension.

That said if you crossed out Miele and substituted Speed Queen in this thread you would have exactly my experience with the Imperial washer. Defective or not, I no longer have the Speed Queen for a different reason. The Miele kock on wood is working out.
 
Good and Bad

Yes, as Laundress said, a Miele will spin whenever it can. However, several people, even on the German forum, have reported water- or sudslocks due to Miele's fierce spin cycle that just goes for it. This is an overflowing Miele that stops spinning too late when sudslocking with a microfiber sheet:

 
Interesting as the 3033 has a diverter

The W3033 has a scheme which diverts excess suds back into the "suds container". I have to admit that I have accidentally tested this feature a few times, including today.

But thanks to Launderess's comments in another thread I was able to strip the residual detergent that to a prior eco top loader really never flushed out.
 

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