old style miele machine

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

Help Support AutomaticWasher.org:

Many of these 400 Volt Mieles can be changed to 230 Volt by re-arranging some connector strips in the machine. The result is a reduced heater capacity.
 
Miele

Seems to be a bolt down machine indeed! a mid 60's comercial high capacity washer! the comercials mostly are bolt down! the result was an advanced durability, cause the machines ran a several times a day, in Apartmenthouses with a lot of renters! So the suspension was a delicatly part of the machine, wisely left away at this commercial washer! some of the loundromats don't have a suspension eighter, do they?
 
Question to the un-learned

What would the top spin and or heater capacity be on this machine? I take it from looking at the controls that this machine picks the water level for you? How do bolt down something like this? This machine looks incredible for being about 40= years old from what my Gay eye tells me.
PS-Does that mean that you would have to get a new cord for this machine?As I said, I have never seen an old one in person, the states have only had Miele since 1988.
 
Miele

Hi to all of you from Germany!

I can remember very well sitting hours in front of this generation of machines as we had this type in our laundry room in the basement when I was about 4-6 years old (lasted until I was over 20 and was then replaced by a newer, more modern one which still goes strong!) and it belonged to our landlady. That was in 1965! (We had no washer at all at that time yet and got our first machine in 1969 as far as I remember, a Bauknecht, nowadays Whirlpool crab..)
So, it was the outmost fun for me to sit in front of the glass-door, watching the machine doing it's job!

This machine must have a capacitiy of not more than 4,5 kg dry weight, which was common for German machines until a few years ago.

The machine of our neighbour had also 3-phase 380V (nowadays 400V) but had no hot water inlet as this is still unusual in Germany for homestead washers unlike commercial ones.

The machine should have 700 rpm when spinning which was a lot at that time as other automatic front-loaders had only 300 rpm or didn't spin at all so that a seperate spinner was needed!

This version must be a commercial washer as it has no drain-pump (to be seen at the back where it has a hugh outlet with electric valve inside instead of a hose and pump) and only some programmes whereas the machine of our landlady had much more cycles arround the programme-switch.

These machines can be switched to 220-240V 3-phase as well as to 2-phase, yes, just by changing some cables inside, but it must kept in consideration that also the heater element will go down to not more than 3000W instead of 4500W or even 6000W (depending on the model) when connected to 400V.

The machine also still has 5 rinses with a lot more water in than today and the wash-power is absolutely of "Good Olde Tymes" though gentle to the fabric - well, it's just a MIELE!

This machine is a typical German front-loader of the early 1960s and very sturdily built!
ABSOLUTELY worth to be collected - very rare nowadays!

Ralf
 
Sorry...

Sorry - just saw it has only FOUR rinse cycles! So it's defenitely a commercial washer as the household machines had five!

Ralf
 
Looking again at the pictures...

Am I correct that there are two connectors for water tubes at the back of the machine? Maybe one for cold and the other for hot water. However, they differ from each other. Is one being unused in this machine?

Then the detergent dispenser. That is the nice heavy solid stainless steel one that I remember from the older Mieles. Now, being a commercial machine, is there a bleach compartment inside? I have never seen bleach compartments in domestic washers but I remember that liquid chlorine bleach was used in commercial washers. When I went to the laundromat in the 1960's they had those Bendix washers without detergent dispenser. There simply was a hole on top of the machine and you had to pour detergent and bleach in the machine when the appropriate signalling light burned. First the detergent and later the bleach. The colours of the lights corresponded with the colours of the jugs with detergent and bleach.
 
Bleach-dispenser - two inlet-hoses

Hi Mielabor!

Yes, THIS machine has two connections for hot and cold water - that is because it is a commercial washer.
In laundrettes there are usually machines with hot-water filling to shorten the total wash-time for the convenience of the clients, but usually at home only very seldom people have hot-water inlets with their household washers as they do charge extra for that purpose of the appliance!

The detergent dispenser! Yeahhh you're soo right in saying so! That is real sturdy MIELE-Quality from a by-gone Tyme... Smile!

In Germany traditionally no washer had a bleach dispenser as we usually do not use chlorine bleach for about 100 years anymore. In old household-books from the turn of the century you will already find notes that advise against the use of it as it damages the fibres! And with the introduction of PERSIL, "the first self-acting wash-powder of the world", coming onto the market in Germany in 1907, there was no need for the use of any extra bleaching-agent. Even before that time women preferred the lawn-bleaching method or sour-milk treatment of garments and only used chlorine bleach when that method had failed or if there wasn't any other possibility to carry it out (big cities, bad weather, sooty air, etc.).
And still people look suspiciously at the use of any chlorine bleach in the house... And as far as I remember MIELE never recommended the use of chlorine bleach in their machines.

Nevertheless there was a different habit to chlorine bleach in commercial laudries, especially when they used to wash garments of hospitals, institutions and hotels, to get them really disinfected.

Ralf
 
Changing the plug...

You can adapt the machine to 230 Volt but European frequency is 50 Hz and American frequency is 60 Hz. The timer, and possibly the motor too, will therefore run faster than was intended. And yes, the machine must be drained by gravitation (drain pipe lower than machine).
 
Ralf,
I assume that chlorine bleach was used in laundromats because of the reduced washing time that was usual there (30-45 minutes for a complete cycle). Chlorine bleach works much faster than the alternative perborate. I also remember that the detergent was very high sudsing. The window of the machines was usually completely covered with foam.
 
no pump

Yes, as far as I can see this machine has NO pump - because in commercial machines there were no pumps necessary, as they have floor-drainage with tubes that go directely into the sewage. They have a valve that opens with a clank and the water rushes down the drain... (Much faster than any drain-pump!! And lasts longer too!!)

In the past MIELE always offered the opportunity to change the electrical connection on all machines from 220-230-240V to 380-400-415V AC and also from 3-phase to 2-phase AC and even some from AC to DC, too!
Some commercial MIELE machines had even the possibility to be changed from electrical heaters to low-pressure steam injectors for 120°-130°C steam or steam heated coils with 400°C steam or could be bought with gas-burners at an extra charge as well!
But I doubt that this is still available...

Ralf
 
Hmm, now I come to think of it:
Chlorine bleach is also used in our Miele laboratory washer. We have a big 20 litre container next to the machine and the bleach is pumped out of it by the machine itself.
 
Lack of drain pumps is one reason commercial/laundromat washing machines last for ages, if not forever. No drain pump also means that these machines do not have to slow down spinning during high foam and or water draining situations, thus each spin gives full extraction. Finally no drain pump in theory means one less part to maintain/repair.

One reason one prefers hauling large down duvets to the laundromat or sending them to a commercial laundry is that those large washers do not mess around when it comes to spinning/draining out the massive amounts of water such items can hold. It is kind of scary to feel the vibrations coming through the concrete floor as the machine ramps up to speed, and watch cascades of water pour down the window of the washing machine door. On domestic/pump washing machines so much water would surely slow down the pump, and if the water amount was great, the spin cycle might time out before total extraction.

My vintage Miele using a series of short (30 sec) spins before the main final spin to help make sure much of the water is gone so the final spin can do it's job.

Miele washing machines and chlorine bleach:

According to the Miele techs one has spoken to, contrary to popular belief, it is the electrical components inside the drum (one presumes the sensors that deal with heating and such), that are sensitive to chlorine bleach damage. Miele's new uber washers sold in the United States allow use of LCB, though the warranty on the tubs is no longer lifetime, IIRC; and the outer tub is fiberglass.

Chlorine bleach and European laundries:

Europeans have in general not be huge fans of chlorine bleach (eau de Javel in France), mainly because even back in the 1700's it was known chlorine bleach weakens and can damage textiles, especially linen. Many well off households stuck to bleaching fields and then boiling with perborate bleaching and or sent their laundry out to the country (where one assumes clean air and land could be found for sun bleaching). Story is that some very wealthy French familes would send their laundry off to the French West Indies to make sure it was done in clean water and fresh air/sunshine.

Being as all this may, there are simply certian stains that will not shift with oxygen bleaching, and or would require such long boiling times the stains would not shift, that using a quick chlorine bath is the only remedy. Commercial laundries have access to a rather powerful chlorine bleach designed to "reclaim" badly stained linens. We're talking about items so badly stained that if the bleach ruined them it wouldn't matter as they were otherwise going to the rag bin.

L.
 
Capacity

This machine has a wider body than the household machine and also had a bigger capacity. It is supposed to hold 7kg of laundry.

The father of a school friend had a Miele laundromat for a while. We sometimes went there when the girl who worked there had to go to the dentist or something like that. The washers were model 707, similar to the 706. I loved the sounds that these machines made. There always was a loud click, or perhaps more like a bang, I'm not sure, but I think it was the opening or closing of the drain valve.

I'm not sure if the spinspeed is 700 rpm, that is the spinspeed of the household machines. It seems a bit much for a bolt down machine, usually they spin slower. The laundry was rather wet when it came out of the machine, we put it through a commercial spindryer before putting it in the dryer.

There is no bleach dispenser IIRC, just prewash, main wash and softener. We used to put 1/3 of a small package of detergent in the prewash and 2/3 in the main wash. I can't remember what kind of detergent was sold in the laundromat.

BTW, I think the machines at the laundromat had gas burners.

Louis
 
It seems that there are few people in this forum who know of the use of chlorine bleach in commercial front loaders. This makes me curious: did I happen to witness a rare practice or is it just my advanced age and are other people too young to remember this?

While I am thinking of this, memories return: I can see myself as a small boy waiting for the light to pour the bleach in the washer and then the smell of hot soapy water and chlorine that lingered in that laundromat. And then those large spin driers with their copper drums. The tokens for those were large old British one penny coins!
 
Laundromat front loading machines in the United States have long allowed chlorine bleach, and have little to show in terms of damage besides the dispensers. Mind you those dispensers used to be SS, but now for the most part are plastic. Inner drums from what one could see never suffered much damage, but cannot speak of the outer drums since those are not easily visable. However most all commercial front loaders are easily "rebuilt" with parts designed to be replaced, including rear bearings. So perhaps even if the use or over use of LCB caused damage, those parts that failed were swapped out when the machine was over-hauled.

L.
 
Theo,

The Bendix machines in the laundromat you used to visit probably came with instructions to use chlorine bleach for white laundry. The owner of the laundromat just followed those instructions and made it possible to use bleach. Miele commercial machines didn't have such an option AFAIK, at least not the machines that were at the laundromat of my friend's father. I don't think this is a matter of age, just a difference between American and German laundry equipment.

Louis
 
No Suspension

Bolt down washing machines don't need them and for the most part are one of the reasons commercial washers run (again) for ages. Forces generated by the machine are sent down into the concrete and dispersed through the building/floor. Because of this such washers will wash a full "load" and more importantly spin even when unbalanced. Trust me you do not want to be around a washer spinning 35lbs or more of wet laundry with either poor or overwhelmed suspension system.

By and large commercial units are designed under the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid)principle when it comes to mechanics. True some may have fancy electronic controls, but the the nuts and bolts of the units are simple and built to last. Contrast this to many of today's domestic front loaders that have hundred of "options" but are built like tin boxes and probably won't give ten years of decent service before being dumped into the rubbish heap.

It is VERY easy to find commercial washing machines 50 or so years old that still are chugging along doing their job.
 
comments...

Mieleabor:
Yes, as I had written above: in COMMERCIAL machines chlorine bleach is more often used than in household machines. BTW, I'm an alien here in my whole circle of acquaintances as I use chlorine bleach (Dan Chlorix or Eau de Javelle) on bad stains sometimes as frequently as an American, French or Spanish - absolutely uncommon here!
And the washer in a laboratory IS COMMERCIAL, maybe even a very special one with specific cycles/programmes!?

Launderess:
I agree totally with your oppinion and the experiences you made with the commercial machines and the bolt down way of installation!
Bleaching: Even me, I use to bleach sometimes some white articles on the lawn in front of our house when I cannot get them clean or really white again!
Chlorine bleach I use only on stains (table-napkins or cloths I use for cooking purpose/straining, etc.) if they do not wash out at 60°C as I refuse to wash at higher temperatures with modern detergents, or for disinfecting and cleaning purpose in house, kitchen and bath.
And what you said about the washing in the past: the English Royals once used to send their washing to Bonn, south of Cologne, former West-German Capital, where in the town-district of Beuel [speak: boyel] it was washed as it was said that it had the best smell when being washed there! The famous "Beueler Duft" [speak: boyeler dooft = Beueler Smell] was fab in whole Germany until the end of the 19. century!

Foraloysius:
Didn't know that the commercials had bigger drums, Luis! Have learnt something again!
And also have to agree to everything you wrote about these machines - I can only confirm this by my own experience! Bolt down machines usually had not more than 300-400 rpm which was just to extract the main amount of water to avoid dripping and splashing when emptied. It was common to use a seperate spinner with high spin-speed (1400-1600 or even 2000-2800 rpm) before the washing was put into a tumbler, a cabinet-dryer, a coulisse-dryer or onto the line!

Greetings from Germany - Ralf
 
Ralf,
My question about the use of bleach in this washer was born as I saw on the picture that there were three compartments in the detergent dispenser. Now as far as I can remember we never used fabric softener at that time and therefore I thought that the third compartment could perhaps be used for bleach. That would fit in nicely with my memories. My remark about the laboratory washer was ment to indicate that although Miele discourages the use of bleach in domestic machines it could well be possible that it was done in commercial washers like the one from the link. I am sorry, but I am always curious to know how things work:) Anyway it is an interesting discussion. Now what is a coulisse-dryer?
 
mielabor

Hi Theo!
The only thing I remember is, that the machine in our house had only two compartments, so maybe this one's one of the end of this product line? But I never found any machine in Germany with a compartment for bleach in it... Well, that is not correct to say so, but these compartments, if there were, (mostly in foreigen brands like Thompson Brand, or Candy or so) were named for starching (then both, conditioner compartment and the 'bleach compartment', had to be filled with liquid starch) and were emptied in the final rinse. When I stayed in Spain for two years I found out that in the same machine this 'bleach compartment' was emptied during the first rinse, while the conditioner compartment was emptied during the final rinse. So in Germany the same machines are switched differently than in Spain where the use of LEJÍA is common!
I can remember very well the time when conditioner came onto the German market and all the housewives complained that they had always to stay watching their machines for the final rinse to add the conditioner at the right moment! Quickly the industrie added a third compartment to their modells...

Now to your question of the coulisse-dryer!
These were once huge cabinet dryers built into walls as big as a small room. They had large racks, the coulisses, side by side, which could be pulled out seperately like sliding-doors or like books on a shelf, and on which the washing was hanging on bars, in rows one upon the other. Usually they were steam or gas heated and worked by convection; some had a fan for faster air-movement.
You pulled an empty one out, hanged the wet washing flat and neat as possible onto the bars and pushed them back into the cabinet/room. So you filled one rack after the next. After a while you could pull them out again to look if everything was already dry or needed a bit further drying.

Ralf
 
I can't remember that I have ever seen a coulisse-dryer. I suppose that they were only used in commercial settings?
 
Another memory emerges! I now remember that the very first washing machine of my mother didn't have a detergent dispenser at all. You had to put the detergent directly into the drum. Most homes at that time were not prepared for all those appliances that were rapidly becoming a common feature towards the end of the 1960's. Our washing machine was placed in the kitchen and my father had drilled a hole through the wall for the drain tube. The tube was hung into the toilet bowl during washing. We always had a clean toilet! After the washing was finished the tube was removed from the bowl and hung over the flush pipe of the toilet. At one time my mother forgot to hang the tube into the bowl and disaster struck... the complete contents of the washing machine was pumped onto the floor and, being of wooden planks, the water seeped down. The bed of our downstairs neigbours was completely soaked!
 
mielabor

Oh my Gosh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What a mess! We had that kind of "experience" when that bloody PHILIPPS TL washer had rusted through and all the water ran onto the kitchen-floor while we were sitting on the balcony enjoying a nice cup of vanilla ice-cream with strawberries! When that stupid machine had gone to the crusher we detected that this machine had also ruined the whole kitchen floor underneath, as this machine had no suspension but excentric wheels that stopped the machine from moving arraound the kitchen but always made a tremendeous racket because of the rattling during spinnig. Also it had only 300 rpm! After that desaster my mom got a MATURA COMBO which lasted nearly 19 years! It was one of the best machines I've ever seen!

Coulisse dryers were not only to be found in commercial laundrettes but also in big laundry rooms in appartement buildings. They were quite popular in the time between 1850 until 1950 but got replaced by more modern tumblers. I like these cabinet dryers more as they do not harm the garments at all and have no abbrasion on the washing, too! We have a cabinet dryer in our house which we use in winter time, when it takes too long a time to dry items on the attic.

Ralf
 

Similar threads

J
Made the mistake of purchasing a Miele W2
Replies
1
Views
1K
cad55ken
C
W
Bosch or Miele dishwasher
Replies
29
Views
3K
jrap330
J
johnbee
The Laundry Alternative PuriFi
Replies
2
Views
497
johnbee
johnbee
A
Front loader or top loader machines?
2
Replies
38
Views
2K
pierreandreply4
pierreandreply4
mrboilwash
New Miele DW does not regenerate
Replies
24
Views
2K
henene4
H

Latest posts

Sponsored
UnlistMe
Back
Top