Miele W1065

Automatic Washer - The world's coolest Washing Machines, Dryers and Dishwashers

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Well, all this talk about descaling and cleaning up vintage Miele washing machines, made one think it was time to see what was goin on in my unit. So got out my cleaning supplies and decided to give Brunhilde a good going over.

First of all, as usual found nothing besides some lint in the coin trap. This is to be expected as one is quite careful about pockets, buttons and that sort of thing. Draining the bilge water out before opening the coin trap, produced muck filled and somewhat soapy water. The inside of the pump/coin trap area was had some muck and mould as well. Made note to oneself to swear off soap and non "HE" detergents from now on.

After cleaning everything up and out, gave the front of the washer including doors, every crack and nook a good wiping down with disenfectant cleaner. When all was put together fired up ole Brunhilde for boil wash with Miele descaler.

Those of you whose machines do not reach temps over 140F, much less 200F don't know the wonderful thrill a boil wash can bring! Steam rising from the detergent drawer, sounds of "boiling" water inside the machine. The smell of soaps/detergents and such wafting through the laundry as the machine goes about it's business.
 
According to the MSDS, the product "Washer Magic" is 10% to 30% citric acid. Lemon juice is about 5% citric acid. Lime juice may be higher in citric acid than lemon juice. Assuming that Washer Magic is 20% citric acid, then it would take four times as much lemon or lime juice to equal its effect. A standard dose of Washer Magic is 24 oz. so it could take 98 oz of lemon/lime juice to equal its strength. In my 1065, I added about 12 oz of fresh lime juice (and that was a fair number of limes). Since I have a big tree, I could probably squeeze four times that amount, but I might have some concerns about other components (pectin etc) in the natural juice that might interfere with the cleaning action. It would smell nice, though:).

When I dosed the machine with vinegar, I used 1/2 gallon, which is probably close to the organic acid concentration of the Washer Magic product. Plus, since the Miele only uses about 5 gallons of water per wash part of the cycle, one might expect that one could use less of the product to achieve a final concentration equal to that when it's used in a traditional top loader. But since the 1065 seems to be so loaded up with lime scale and mold I probably would use the entire 24 oz of the Washer Magic product.

It's funny. My remote sensing thermometer indicated that the 1065 reached a true 200F during its boil wash, but I didn't hear any "boiling" going on. When I added de-foamer, I did hear a sizzling sound as the suds disappeared during the pause of each tumble rotation. The lime juice sure did smell nice though, at that temp!
 
Perhaps I mistook boiling sounds for subsiding suds sounds. Will have to run a 200F cycle with plain water at some point to see if there are any suds and if I can hear the boiling.

But first gonna tip the 1918 on its back to pull the bottom pan, see if I can quiet it down, and also to see if the pump and the main motors are accessible from there.

Other than the loud pump rattling the bottom pump, the 1918 seems to work fine. Also fixed the water supply and drain arrangement so that I can actually let the machine run unattended.
 

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