Does Miele Have Out Of Balance Protection?
Hi Washerhelp - I'm a returning member, but, as ever, a great site.
Looking to get a new washer. Probably a Miele, based on what I've read at Washerhelp. Was interested in the LG direct drive system, but sort of gone cool on it after reading your review. (Not to say that it is a bad product, of course...)
Just wondering if Miele has an out of balance spin function? When I went into my local supplier to talk about getting a new washer, this out of balance issue came up. He said he has a Miele but there are still times when it gets out of balance. Seems like there is no getting away from it.
Anyway any advice (or thread you could point me to) would be appreciated.
Cheers for now and REALLY appreciate this site!
------------ Doc
Solution Summary
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This thread was marked as solved. Here's a summary of the problem and the fix, generated from the discussion below.
Query about Miele out-of-balance protection compared with an older Zanussi
- The problem
- The poster was choosing a new washing machine and asked whether Miele models have out-of-balance protection, after experiencing severe out-of-balance spinning on an 18-year-old Zanussi, especially with sheets. They also asked why a boil wash would not run on the Zanussi when only the cold supply was connected.
- Likely cause
- The discussion says all modern washing machines should have out-of-balance protection by monitoring the motor, with better machines also having better suspension. The old Zanussi was described as typical of its age, with little or no out-of-balance detection, so awkward loads such as single sheets can spin unevenly and cause the machine to move. The boil wash issue was most strongly linked to the hot inlet not being supplied with water.
- What fixed it
- The accepted advice was that a Miele should be as good as it gets for controlling unbalanced loads, though no machine can guarantee to prevent every awkward load. Avoid washing a single sheet on its own. For the Zanussi, if no hose is connected to the hot valve, fit a y-piece so the cold supply feeds both inlet valves; the machine should then heat the water itself. A 60°C service wash was said to be useful, but the hottest wash was preferred for cleaning out pipework.
- Checks to try
- Older Zanussi would spin severely out of balance and could move away from the wall
- Problem occurred most often with sheets, especially a single sheet
- Boil wash would not run with no hot water supply connected
- A Miele W3740 coin-balance video/review was referenced as evidence of smooth spinning
- Parts or tools mentioned
- y-piece connector
4 Answers
Thank you Doc. All washing machines should have out of balance protection which involves monitoring the motor. The more expensive ones will be the best. Another thing you need to cope with badly balanced wash loads is good quality suspension. A badly balanced load shouldn't be allowed to spin. It's always possible an awkward one might manage to get going and shake around more than normal but a Miele will be as good as it gets. Washing machines like Hotpoint, Indesit were the worst I came accross for letting bad loads spin although that ws a couple of years back and hopefully they've improved since then.
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You might be interested in my Miele coin balance test which shows my W 3740 on full spin, with a load of laundry in and a £1 coin balanced on top. The video is 2.61 meg which isn't too large.
I'm not saying you can't get an unbalanced load with a Miele, in fact just the other day I was surprised that a load shook about a little but I don't recon you can beat Miele for being smooth on spin. The only time the coin falls over is right at the end when the spin stops and the drum powers down. This is always where the most movement is.
I've now finished the Miele W3740 review which contains more videos and photos.
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Sorry to take so long to come back to you on this. I've been away from the computer a few weeks.
Downloaded the coin balance test and the review. Haven't had a chance to look at them yet, however.
Our old Zanussi (not sure what model it is) is not good with out of balance loads. In fact it'll spin with just about anything in it. A seriously out of balance load will cause the machine to walk out from the wall by a good foot or two. Having said that, it has been washing clothes for us for about 18 years!!! Don't think the newer ones would last that long.
Out of balance loads seem to occur most often when washing sheets. It's worst with only one sheet, but even if the drum is full you still get it. They all get wound up and then end up as a lump on one side of the drum. This happens even if you fill the drum up with other clothes.
Any advice???
Also, have you done a "coin test" on the LG washer?
After reading your article on service washes, I decided to start doing them on our Zanussi. I got a box of regular non-bio powder just for this purpose. There is a hot water connection on this washer, but no hot water supply on the wall. When I tried to do a "boil" wash, it wouldn't run. I had to settle for a 60 degree wash. Is this sufficient? Is it not running a boil wash because it has no hot water input?
Cheers for now,
----------- Doc
A Miele should but many normal washing machines may only last as little as 4 years. I just read a survey that said the average life expectancy of washing machines has dropped to 8-4 years in 2006.
The old Zanussi is no different to most other washing machines on its age. There was little or no out of balance detection available then. Washing machines could get very violent and literally jump up in the air or from under the worktop. These days they have software that monitors the load on the motor and either abort spin, refuse to spin or only allow a slow spin. Some washing machines are better than others at dealing with out of balanced loads.
Washing just one sheet is definitely a recipe for out of balanced loads. This might help How do I avoid out of balanced loads in my washing machine?
Other washing machines just have normal paint.
60 degrees is still hot but it's better to go for the hottest wash to really give the plumbing pipes a clean out. This is because washing machines can do a dilution rinse prior to pumping the hot wash water out. This involves topping up with cold water to reduce the temperature.
It doesn't matter if there's no actual hot water available as long as water still comes through. The washing machine should heat the water up even from cold. If you haven't connected a hose to the hot valve then you need to use a y-piece connector to split the cold supply and send it to both water valves.
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