Hello,
I am new to this board, but have read a lot here over the years, being entertained and informed, so thank you.
I have been an avid Miele owner of many appliances since about 1989. We built our house in the late 1980's and installed Miele cooking hobs (2-gas cooktops, 1-grill and 1-downdraft), a single 24" oven and a dishwasher in the kitchen. I bought all of these at extreme discounts from a kitchen showroom that was closing down in our area. Around that time I also found a used Miele W&D set (only used about 5-years, IIRC). I wish I could remember the model number (maybe W765), but both had the mechanical timers and had brown(!) control panels. I got the pair for $450 (really almost no one knew anything about Miele at the time). The original owner said they were around $4000 new in 1985 or so. More on laundry below.
Now, about 35-years later, we are still using the original hobs, but have replaced the oven and dishwasher. Our original oven and dishwasher were still going strong, but we we decided to make the move to black appliances around 2005, so we changed them out at that time. Other than changing out light bulbs in the oven, we haven't had any issues with it. Latest dishwasher (G851SC) Novotronic Turbothermic (IMO, the last of the great Miele Dishwashers) had one issue with a capacitor that I was able to repair with help from Miele's wonderful tech support department at the time (2018?, RIP!).
The used washer and dryer were mostly trouble free. I do recall the plastic squirrel cage, centrifugal blower effectively exploding on the dryer. Again, Miele technical support came through (probably) around 1995 with a replacement part shipped at no charge! What finally brought the pair to their demise was an issue with the mechanical timer on the washer. I do not recall the exact issue, but it had to do with the time not advancing. Anyway with my overly confident, I-can-repair-anything attitude, I starting disassembling it. I recall that I did find the issue, but putting it back together brought me to my knees (it was hopeless). I probably could have bought a new timer somewhere, but our family was growing and the smallish drum size was starting to prove challenging. Time for a new set.
Lucky for us, a local appliance dealer was clearing out the last of the 19XX series and I got W1986 and T1576 for around $1,800. As mentioned above, my wife always thought the previous set was too small for our growing family, so the larger size made the sale. Had Miele not introduced these slightly larger units, we would have been forced to move on from Miele laundry. Little did I realize at that this W&D would be some of the last and most robust and flexible sets they would sell in the US. This set has been serving us trouble-free for the last nearly 25-years. I do think I replaced the brushes on the motor about 10-years ago, but otherwise nothing. Based on the service menu, we have about 9500-hours on the washer, which works out to about 8-hours a week - sounds about right.
Although this W/D may last us forever (early 60's now), I am always on the lookout for a replacement set. Just last week I found a WP6065 Plus Little Giant washer for $250 and bought it. It was made in 2014 and the original owner had only used it for about 5- or 6-years. I am not sure if the WP's are more robust than the 1986, but since they are sold as "Professional", I am hoping they are at least as robustly made. They did not have the shipping struts, but the struts from my existing 1986 fit, so there must be some similarities.
I have not been able to power it up yet, due to the difference in the plugs and electrical requirement. The 1986 runs on a 240V, 20A circuit (two 1300W heaters = 2600W), where the PW6065 needs a 240V, 30A circuit for about twice the heater rating (5300W total). I do plan to partially test it on the 20A circuit with a cold water wash, but I still need to change the plug or temporarily hardwire it.
I read on this board or somewhere else that someone had disconnected one of the two heater legs, reducing the total amperage to about 2600W. I would still be concerned about using it on a 20A circuit, because each heater may be directly wired to one of the two legs of the 240V circuit. In other words, the amps are not shared across the two legs, but each heater is wired to one leg and, thereby, overloading the one leg that is still connected.
There also appears to be heater rating programmable function (Descriptive Technical Documentation), allowing the user to downgrade the heater in steps from 5300W to 2100W. Worst case scenario would be rewiring the outlet with 10-2. It is strange that my older 1986 required a 4-prong plug/receptacle, where the newer, 6065 only need a 3-wire plug. I think it has something to do with the older models were setup to use common US dryer receptacles and one of the plug legs was effectively unused on the Miele's due to the way they are grounded.. More research to be done.
I am new to this board, but have read a lot here over the years, being entertained and informed, so thank you.
I have been an avid Miele owner of many appliances since about 1989. We built our house in the late 1980's and installed Miele cooking hobs (2-gas cooktops, 1-grill and 1-downdraft), a single 24" oven and a dishwasher in the kitchen. I bought all of these at extreme discounts from a kitchen showroom that was closing down in our area. Around that time I also found a used Miele W&D set (only used about 5-years, IIRC). I wish I could remember the model number (maybe W765), but both had the mechanical timers and had brown(!) control panels. I got the pair for $450 (really almost no one knew anything about Miele at the time). The original owner said they were around $4000 new in 1985 or so. More on laundry below.
Now, about 35-years later, we are still using the original hobs, but have replaced the oven and dishwasher. Our original oven and dishwasher were still going strong, but we we decided to make the move to black appliances around 2005, so we changed them out at that time. Other than changing out light bulbs in the oven, we haven't had any issues with it. Latest dishwasher (G851SC) Novotronic Turbothermic (IMO, the last of the great Miele Dishwashers) had one issue with a capacitor that I was able to repair with help from Miele's wonderful tech support department at the time (2018?, RIP!).
The used washer and dryer were mostly trouble free. I do recall the plastic squirrel cage, centrifugal blower effectively exploding on the dryer. Again, Miele technical support came through (probably) around 1995 with a replacement part shipped at no charge! What finally brought the pair to their demise was an issue with the mechanical timer on the washer. I do not recall the exact issue, but it had to do with the time not advancing. Anyway with my overly confident, I-can-repair-anything attitude, I starting disassembling it. I recall that I did find the issue, but putting it back together brought me to my knees (it was hopeless). I probably could have bought a new timer somewhere, but our family was growing and the smallish drum size was starting to prove challenging. Time for a new set.
Lucky for us, a local appliance dealer was clearing out the last of the 19XX series and I got W1986 and T1576 for around $1,800. As mentioned above, my wife always thought the previous set was too small for our growing family, so the larger size made the sale. Had Miele not introduced these slightly larger units, we would have been forced to move on from Miele laundry. Little did I realize at that this W&D would be some of the last and most robust and flexible sets they would sell in the US. This set has been serving us trouble-free for the last nearly 25-years. I do think I replaced the brushes on the motor about 10-years ago, but otherwise nothing. Based on the service menu, we have about 9500-hours on the washer, which works out to about 8-hours a week - sounds about right.
Although this W/D may last us forever (early 60's now), I am always on the lookout for a replacement set. Just last week I found a WP6065 Plus Little Giant washer for $250 and bought it. It was made in 2014 and the original owner had only used it for about 5- or 6-years. I am not sure if the WP's are more robust than the 1986, but since they are sold as "Professional", I am hoping they are at least as robustly made. They did not have the shipping struts, but the struts from my existing 1986 fit, so there must be some similarities.
I have not been able to power it up yet, due to the difference in the plugs and electrical requirement. The 1986 runs on a 240V, 20A circuit (two 1300W heaters = 2600W), where the PW6065 needs a 240V, 30A circuit for about twice the heater rating (5300W total). I do plan to partially test it on the 20A circuit with a cold water wash, but I still need to change the plug or temporarily hardwire it.
I read on this board or somewhere else that someone had disconnected one of the two heater legs, reducing the total amperage to about 2600W. I would still be concerned about using it on a 20A circuit, because each heater may be directly wired to one of the two legs of the 240V circuit. In other words, the amps are not shared across the two legs, but each heater is wired to one leg and, thereby, overloading the one leg that is still connected.
There also appears to be heater rating programmable function (Descriptive Technical Documentation), allowing the user to downgrade the heater in steps from 5300W to 2100W. Worst case scenario would be rewiring the outlet with 10-2. It is strange that my older 1986 required a 4-prong plug/receptacle, where the newer, 6065 only need a 3-wire plug. I think it has something to do with the older models were setup to use common US dryer receptacles and one of the plug legs was effectively unused on the Miele's due to the way they are grounded.. More research to be done.
