Siemens WG56B2A41 - a review

[henene4]

So, I had a very extensive wash day with this machine.

TL;DR:
For most people, this machine would be a great upper end choice.
I do think iDos would be worth the money. It is amazingly quiet up to the final spin. It washes very well and rinses just fine.
Cycles are on the longer side, but there are plenty of choices to get around that.



Now, the "nerd" review:

The quality of the machine feels great. I honestly can't say my VZug for 3 times the money felt much more high quality - biggest thing might be the drum, with this drum just plain feeling tinny compared to the VZug.
There are the small things the VZug just did better. One thing that amazed me about the VZug: The cover for the drain pump was shaped and sized in a way that in cofortably fit the typical amount of water you'd have to drain when cleaning the filter - no faffing with large towels, or containers, or such. They really went out of their way to make that possible, but it's just such a nice touch I'll miss it on any other machine, even though I don't think anybody else has that.

Now, wash cycles and performance:
Any cycle starts with load weighing. That appears to be mainly for iDos dosing. Above 60°C, there is no effect on cycle times. On Cottons with no load, it does cut some time. iDos dosing for the main wash would follow if selected.
Main wash time adaption however appears to be absorbency based. The washer extended wash times on several different loads - but I really ran many full loads. Heating does only start about 10-20min in.
Which brings me to the annoying part: The cycle times are just to long - but for full loads, VarioSpeed is just to short. What's really annoying: BSH recently launched 11kg models that limit their non-Eco Cottons cycle to 10kg, have a 70l drum aswell - and only take 3h for Cottons 40, while this takes 3:30h. They COULD be faster, they just aren't. And I just don't see any need for 2:30h as a default main wash time, especially since you have so many ways to extend it.
And cutting the time could be so easy. The washer can start heating right away, like a W1 would - it does so on VarioSpeed. It only runs the recirculation during specific parts of the sensing, so it's not like that would be stopping it. That would save something like 15min, with no drawback in performance.
It does do some nice things however. It appears that on normal Cottons cycles (and Cottons based additional cycles) it does several spin washers followed by heating once it got close to wash temp to ensure EVERYTHING is at temp with very large loads. It dosen't hesitate to take time to heat to temp as well. With a very full towels load, it took over 1h of heating to get to temp, and just added the time back on at the end of the main wash.
With large loads the spray gets divertedonto the door glass by the clothes diverter - that's just a design oversight.

Rinsing - for how bafflingly it behaves sometimes - is surprisingly good.
Now, the suds control feature does work well, but it has 2 major drawbacks. First off, it triggers WAY to easily. You can't really wash a large load without risking it triggering, regardless of dosing. But, it only allerted me when I wasn't using iDos, so I'll have to monitor that if that is a variable. But it sometimes said "Suds Control" in the app with no visible suds. If you already have the load data, just adapt the interim spins to do shorter, lower bursts.
And that routine can cost you 1 rinse in effect. If it does not succeede with draining, it does 3 fills with short tumble periods. Those do NOT saturate the load. It tumbles less than 10 times in that 8min or so routine. So it really is just suds killing. Cycles that should do 4 rinses though (like Cottons with +1 rinse, or Towels with +1 rinse) only do 3 proper rinses then - that suds kill routine is counted as a rinse and displayed as "Rinsing" in the app. But the rinsing actually done isn't much in that routine.
Laundry does smell much more like softner with this though compared to the VZug and it does use plenty of water, even without WaterPlus in my opinion.

Spinning is another thing.
It spins really well - on par with the VZug. And the interim spins are very intensive, which is a plus.
Balancing is odd. Most full loads balance in 2-3 trys - but even a partial load of relativley easy to balance items can take several minutes.
The suspension is relly soft, and the balancing routine is pretty slow to react - it already hit the cabinet once on the very first wash.
And it just isn't very quiet on spins above 1000rpm. The OOB accepeted is just to big for it to spin quietly every time. Even though this has an accelerometer, like most BSH-machines.
What is impressive is the pumps. They are near silent. Really eary almost.
Another thing: If suds control is triggered during the final spin (which - again - can happen with 0 suds present), it just skips the final spin? No notification indicating what happend, just the usual suds control message, but also only in the app?
And it does fluff up on some cycles, but not on most? Hygiene with Speed did do fluffing, but a 3:30h Cottons cycle does not? Why?

I am missing some cycles on here. There are plenty, and some like Super 30 are actually really well programmed.
I don't get powerSpeed 59min - haven't used it yet, but it only spins to 1400rpm and only goes to 40°. Hygiene only goes up to 60°C, but down to 30° or even below?!? The Towels cycle in the app is limited to 4kg, but takes north of 3h?
I don't have a 2-2:30h cycle. Even with a 10kg load, you'd have an hour to 90min for heating up to 60°C and washing, which is fine for most daily loads, even if the drum is pretty full. And you'd have time for a full Cottons rinse and spin sequence.
But then you have buttons like "Intensive Rinse" which adds 3 rinses - in theory you should be abled to have like 7 rinses on Hygiene then, right? Why? Especiall if having an Extra Rinse button that just toggles 3 extra rinses (like it works in the app) isn't that hard to design and serves the same purpose?
Steaming works pretty decent, but as with many, it incorporates the Easy Iron option. I washed 4 cotton dress shirts, and the shirts cycle with steam is limited to 400rpm. Those shirts were drip dry. 600rpm would be just fine, especially with steam added afterwards and the barely 90sec final spin.



So yeah.
This was a downgrade - but the washer isn't bad.
I just don't get how you have programming that is so obviously missing some polsih, but then have apparently completley different forks of cycle design for pretty darn similar machines.
The hardware on this machine is - just like it is with electric cars currently - typical german engineering. Really well designed in really hard to copy ways.
But the software is SO questionably thought out - just like with cars currently.

If you got any questions, just ask!

 

[henene4]

Here's the few pictures I took...

 

[lavamat_jon]

I’m pleased that you’re enjoying the Siemens. I agree with you they are a generally decent all rounder and I haven’t encountered a machine which rivals its spinning performance. The difference is about 10-15 mins in the dryer between towels spin in the Siemens and my M Touch W1.

I must say I barely use the longer cycles - I find that 3:30 is just too much overkill and nothing really needs it. It doesn’t even offer an energy advantage compared to variospeed, as the long cycles maintain temperature for a good length of time. I find that Cottons variospeed at 1:30 will just about wash anything (even full capacity loads) to perfection with more modest energy and water consumption (despite the manual stating otherwise). If you overload it will adapt the rinsing/spinning, and add bursts to the interim spin cycle for more absorbent loads. If you wash a half load on variospeed it will cut the cycle time down to around an hour to 1:10. Cottons vario with water/rinse+ is usually done in around 1:40-1:50 which I think is the perfect time for me. I tend to mainly use cottons vario for whites and towels, or more heavily soiled coloureds.

I also really like the mixed fabrics cycle, especially with how flexible and adaptable it is. I use this for most clothes and again this will adapt depending on the load - if you load a full load it will adapt the rinsing and also extend the final spin cycle. Combine with variospeed and you can have a small load done within 45 mins. I also add the less ironing option to get an “easy care” type cycle, as I find the standard ways care cycle inadequate - it’s either too long at 2:30 default or too short at 0:47 with variospeed.

I don’t find the suds detection a big problem with most loads, the only time when it is annoying is with large loads of fleece throws, or with the dogs beds. It could be more adaptive to avoid adding an extra rinse unnecessarily in those circumstances.

Powerspeed is pretty much a redundant cycle to me, and is just a “me too” cycle to compared against Miele QPW, LG Turbowash etc. The powerSpeed cycle as well as being limited in temperature also doesn’t spin between the rinses. I find in the same run time the mixed cycle is a more adaptable cycle and gives better results - especially as you can go up to 60°C, 1600, and does decent intermediate spins.

I’m still pleased with mine functionality wise and find it very flexible. I wish it had a cycle between 1:30 and 3:30 for cottons, and that it did an anti crease after the spin by default (although you can hack this by selecting the silent option in the app).

2.5 years down the line the suspension is wearing on ours - it’s quite loud on spinning especially with heavy loads, although (allegedly) is normal operation according to the Siemens engineers. I also find the iDos really difficult to clean - there is an inaccessible part of the dispenser box where the iDos dispenses into which attracts mould and is very difficult to access to clean. It would be great if you could manually dispense softener, but again that is my personal preference.

It would be interesting to see the programming on the new 11kg models, given the cycle times are shorter.

Jon