Miele W906 Water Level Problem On Rinse Program
I have a Miele W906 that has behaved faultlessly for nearly 16 years. It has been plumbed in its current location for 10 years, connected to low pressure (loft tank fed) cold supply - there is no mains supply where it is located.
It has just developed two problems, and one would think they are related but I can't work out how.
Problem 1: With machine switched off but stop cock on, the drum fills with some fresh, clean water overnight. Stop cock off, this stops and if you take the detergent drawer out there is a drip, drip of water, hours after the machine has been used. Diagnosis = inlet valve failure (I have cleaned the filter).
Problem 2 has appeared at the same time - if put on a rinse only cycle, the drum overfills - it fills half way up the door, then immediately pumps out, moves on to second rinse and does the same. However, it rinses perfectly during a normal wash cycle, filling just the bottom of the drum with water as it always has. This is repeatable behaviour - washes ok, rinse cycle alone not ok. I have done two checks -
a) check voltage reading on the inlet valve during a rinse cycle, in case the valve is sticking open after power is off - it isn't. The valve is only open while it has power, it is the power that appears to be on too long.
I pulled out the water level switch and checked the contacts work. It has three switches in it, which do appear to switch correctly in sequence when I blow into the tube.
I haven't yet checked if the switches are actually activated by the water level during a rinse cycle - that might be the next step.
My problem is this - a replacement inlet valve is £100. I don't want to sink this into a 16 year old machine if it has another expensive problem, like some controller failure and while I don't understand what is wrong. However, the machine is otherwise in good nick - nothing much seems to be worn.
Anyone any ideas on how I can work out what is going on?
Many thanks for any help
Pete
ps: No error shown on front panel at any point.
Solution Summary
AI-generated from this discussion
This thread was marked as solved. Here's a summary of the problem and the fix, generated from the discussion below.
Miele W906 overfills on rinse-only programme and also lets water seep into drum when off
- The problem
- A Miele W906 developed two faults after many years of use. First, with the stop tap left on and the machine switched off, clean water slowly entered the drum overnight, and there was a persistent drip at the detergent drawer. Second, on a rinse-only cycle the machine overfilled to about halfway up the door, then immediately pumped out and repeated this on the next rinse. Normal wash programmes, including their rinse phases, still filled correctly and completed normally. No error code was shown.
- Likely cause
- The water entering the drum while switched off strongly supports a leaking/failing inlet valve. The rinse-only overfill was not conclusively diagnosed. Discussion suggested the pressure switch or programme/control logic could be involved because the valve was reported to stay energised too long on rinse-only, but this was not confirmed.
- What fixed it
- The original poster decided to replace the inlet valve with a cheaper alternative part and then reassess. No confirmed repair result was posted.
- Checks to try
- Inlet valve filter cleaned
- Voltage at the inlet valve checked during rinse cycle; poster reported the valve only opened while powered
- Pressure switch removed and contacts checked by blowing into the tube; poster reported the three switches changed in sequence
- Washes run with the 'Water Plus' option enabled; machine still behaved normally
- Parts or tools mentioned
- Inlet valve / magnet valve
- Pressure switch
- Miele Magnetventil 1678013
Safety: Further diagnosis should be carried out by a suitably qualified appliance engineer.
4 Answers
That behaviour is bizarre because a fault on any component that controls correct water levels should cause overfilling every time and not only on certain programme. There should be nothing different about rinses on the wash and a rinse programme. Sorry, it makes no sense.
General help on overfilling washing machines including description of how washers control water levels.
Need Professional Help or Spare Parts?
It's heartening to see if makes no sense to you either - that's helpful.
As the pressure sensor detects three different levels, I'm wondering if it uses first for normal filling, next for when the front panel switch for 'water plus' is on, and the third for overfill. Perhaps the second level (water plus) is used for a rinse only cycle, while a normal rinse during wash uses the first level? I'll try a wash with 'water plus' on and see if that has the same problem.
Thanks
A third level would normally be for detecting overfilling. I'd expect it to be first level for wash, second for rinse, and if it reaches the third it knows it's overfilling and starts pumping it away. There's no logical reason why it would overfill on rinse programme but not on the rinses during a wash.
Need Professional Help or Spare Parts?
Did a number of washes with Water Plus on over the weekend - it worked perfectly. It still misbehaves on the rinse only program so this is very strange. I'll change the inlet valve - found a much cheaper (15 euros) clone part on German Ebay, (Miele Magnetventil 1678013) and I'll wait to see what happens with that.
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