Miele W1918 vs Neptune 7500 (corrected)
OK, remember that I stated I could fit five bath sheets in the Neptune 7500. Actually six will squeeze in, but it's been my experience that the Neptune has problems with that load, repeatedly trying and failing to do a final spin, so I've had to limit it to five bath sheets per load.
Today I tried washing same bath sheets in the Miele W1918. It is described in the technical manual as having a 5 kg load capacity (11 lb). I was able to fit in four bath sheets in the W1918. The last one was sort of a tight squeeze; I didn't even try to load a fifth bath sheet into it (bath sheets are basically oversize bath towels). The Miele W1918 didn't complain at all about this load, although I didn't witness the final spin. The towels seemed to come out relatively devoid of excess moisture.
For comparison, I weighed what four and five such bath sheets come to:
Four bath sheets: <span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: #ff0000;">10.6 lb, or about 4.8 kg</span> 7.5 lb, or about 3.4 kg
Five bath sheets: <span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: #ff0000;">12.4 lb, or about 5.6 kg</span> 9.5 lb, or about 4.3 kg
(The corrections are needed because I forgot to subtract the weight of the laundry basket... duh... plus the electronic scale I was using would only register weight if I stood on it holding the hamper plus towels. I will spare you further details on that. Plus, the Neptune can fit six bath sheets, it just can't handle balancing that load for the spin too well. I think part of that problem, in addition to the Neptune suspension, may be related to the relatively huge paddles inside the Neptune, which may interfere with the even distribution of a load of large items like bath sheets. The Miele has much smaller paddles or fins, and thus may be more adept at that task.)
Clearly five bath sheets would be <span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: #ff0000;">beyond</span> within the W1918's load capacity of 5 kg. And, by this empirical method, the load capacity of the Neptune 7500 is about <span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: #ff0000;">6</span> 5 kg. Similar (not) to the W1926, W1986, and perhaps some later Miele models. I *could* maybe have squeezed a fifth bath sheet into the W1918; I just didn't want to stress out the door etc. Evidently towels, being fluffy, take up more space, than, say, plain cotton fabrics of same weight.
I did some googling of other current Miele models... and it's a bewildering array. The same model number, W1, can have multiple versions. Then there are the Amazon listings that apparently can only be shipped to Israel (?). And then there's the lack of specs on highest temperatures reached, sometimes no info on voltage or spin speeds either. The 1918 may be a bit of a runt, but it's an honest machine with no nonsense controls and tech info. Oh well, my Neptune and 1918 are really all I need.
[this post was last edited: 6/14/2020-20:50]