Miele have been recommended ... but Siemens are cheaper and have a similar 5 year parts & labour warranty. >>
www.washerhelp.co.uk/reviews/miele-overview.html
note that Miele have free offers for 10year guarantees now and again.
www.miele.co.uk/Promotions/PromotionList.aspx?fid=...5
or you can get 5 of these for the price of one Miele:
www.hotukdeals.com/item/319919/samsung-wf-b1456gw-.../
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My friend who repairs washers as a "sideline" just loves these "Oxytype" cleaner additives that seem to be all the fashion nowadays, He says the "grains" are heavy (like sand) and don't dissolve fully, they do however, set solid like cement in the bottom of the drum and pump-housings! and build up fouling the impellor, causing flooding and emptying problems. Oxystuff has replaced the bra-wire as the chief cause of washer problems! - he's making a considerable amount of beer-tokens from it though"
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We have a small independent shop locally who give good advice and are really customer- orientated. We have replaced washing machine and dish-washer in the last couple of years. They recommended a Whirlpool washer and a CDA dishwasher. I think they are the same manufacturer. Very happy with both and good after sales service. We had a programming problem on the dishwasher and CDA sent an engineer promptly. It turned out to be a broken earth in the wall socket which they diagnosed and fixed with no charge.
Ted
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Siemens and Bosch as brands are next best to mielle. Probably as good
I have a kind of houshold code of practise, all new white goods bought start with B end with H and have OSC in the middle
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I follow the AE household code of practise on new equipment.
I would not dream of touching a Miele. I do not want my white goods to last 10 years. 10 years down the line they are outdated, having been superseded by newer, prettier models. Inevitably, even in the most careful of households, there will be chips on the enamel, car park dings and maybe even a splosh of rust.
If my B...H lasts 10 years, well that's jolly good value. If it only lasts 4 (on the basis that I get 2 years free warranty from the shop, and then a further 2 years for free with my HSBC premier card), well then it only lasts 4 years, and I have a nice shiny new washing machine.
I live with my white goods; I like them to be newish and tidy looking.
If it costs £1,000 for a Miele that lasts 10 years, and £500 for a Bosch that lasts 5 years, which is cheaper? Answer, the Bosch, considerably, owing to the time value of money (although we don't have that at the moment... and when inflation hits the Miele may begin to look cheaper on that score).
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I'm not that impressed with our new miele washer. It certainly isnt as good as the Asko it replaced, but I dont think asko are still sold in the uk. Dont get me wrong - its better than many, but it seems less well built than the 10yr old miele dishwasher that we have. I can't help but feel that the accountants have been in. Design wise the shape of the door protruding from the machine means that it catches crumbs from the worktop above and redirects them into the washer.
I have a rule that I wont buy Bosch white goods again. The freezer is OK, the fridge is OK, but the tumble dryer has had many problems (despite being the least used machine in the house) and bosch refuse to sell me a small piece of plastic which broke, insisting that I spend £100+ on a new front panel complete with new switches etc instead. And they didnt tell me that until they had already sold me two things which were claimed to be the piece of plastic that I needed.
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Buy a £200 Zanussi or similar - ours is 8 yo and 100% reliable.
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We bought a JL own brand machine - AEG in disguise, I was told. Bought the £70 JL five year warranty, and after 3.75 years the bearings failed. JL honoured the warranty, and replaced it with a new version, so I paid another £75 for another five years cover.
Just hoping that one too gives up the ghost with just less than five years to go!
www.washerhelp.co.uk/reviews/john-lewis-JLWM1203-r...l
While we too live with our white goods, we do keep the washing machine in the utility room, where the Doberman sleeps. He's not complained yet about the age of the machinery.
Edited by oldnotbold on 19/01/2009 at 17:55
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Whatever you buy, don't over or under-load it and always leave the door ajar.
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Bosch - John Lewis is good but Co-op online is as good, cheaper and give you a dividend as well.
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COOP gives you a bit of dividend - don't they also give something to the wasters at Westminster who are wrecking this country? Just a thought!
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COOP gives you a bit of dividend - don't they also give something to the wasters at Westminster
Such as?
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Nor me - they come across as pretty good, huge increase in savers in recent months. Sent me £13.00 in Co-oP vouchers for just having a Smile account. I like them.
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and always leave the door ajar.
But the water will leak out when using it though ;o)
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I debated long and hard about adding "when not in use" to that sentence.
But obviously not long, or hard, enough.:)
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You can't beat a Miele with Bosch a creditable second; Sebo vacuum cleaners (X1 and X1 Extra) are also top notch.
Our Miele washing machine, now five years old, does two or three washes a day and never misses a beat - it's virtually guaranteed to offer at least 20 years' reliability.
This is a review of the Miele machine we have:
www.washerhelp.co.uk/reviews/miele-w864-review.html
My best mate used to own an independent audio/visual/appliances outlet and knew the ins and outs of virtually every model in the white and brown goods model available in the UK. His advice has always proved top notch.
There have been other similar questions in the IHAQ forums in the past.
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>>it's virtually guaranteed to offer at least 20 years' reliability.
What is a virtual guarantee, Stuartli?
Does it have something in common with being just a little bit pregnant?
Edited by Mapmaker on 20/01/2009 at 09:03
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On the subject of washing machines, what is the best washing machine design to go for, top or front loader ?
We will be moving house in a month or so and a new washing machine is required. Aesthetics don't come into it as the machine will live in the utility room.
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Top.
The (traditional) main killer of washing machines is the bearing. Imagine what it has to do - support the weight of a drum full of wet clothes running round and round at mega rpm.
A top loader's bearing has a much easier life as the load on it is symmetrical as a result of the drum spinning around a vertical axis. Alternatively, in France (not seen them here, but haven't looked) you can buy top-loading machines which have two bearings, one on either side, that support a drum that rotates around a horizontal access parallel to the front of the machine. The drum is loaded through a porthole through the side of the drum that is closed when in use.
Top-loaders you obviously cannot fit under a worktop, however. Moreover, in the 21st century, it is the electronics that kill a washing machine, not the bearing. Top-loaders tend to have a much bigger capacity too - all down to the stresses on the bearing in a traditional front-loading machine.
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The choice of top loading machines is very limited. Comet only sell one online.
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It's OK, I'm not in the UK.
I had heard the top loaders had an easier life, just wanted to confirm.
Thanks for the replies.
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>>Does it have something in common with being just a little bit pregnant?>>
The models come with a five or 10 year parts and labour warranty, depending on offers at any particular time - however the maximum failure rate figures for the various parts reveal that Miele's longevity and reliability standards are rightly legendary. The machine door, for instance, is guaranteed to operate at least 60,000 times without failure.
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"...however the maximum failure rate figures for the various parts"
Goodness knows where you find this level of information Stuart, but I suspect you mean Mean Time Between Failures (mtbf) or even Mean Time To Failure (mttf) but not maximum failure rate figures.
Edited by smokie on 20/01/2009 at 11:07
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"The machine door, for instance, is guaranteed to operate at least 60,000 times without failure."
Amazing what you can do with statistics!
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>>but I suspect you mean Mean Time Between Failures (mtbf) or even Mean Time To Failure (mttf)>>
I did, but couldn't think of the acronym..:-)
Without trying too hard (a lot of the information I know about Miele I absorbed from my best mate, who used to own an independent audio/visual/appliances retail outlet until retirement), I found this link:
www.miele.co.uk/downloads/quality_pledges.pdf
You do pay more for Miele quality, but it's worth it.
Edited by Stuartli on 20/01/2009 at 13:27
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>>Because it's worth it...
As a washing machine cannot go to the bodyshop when it is inevitably pranged that replacing more frequently than once every 20-40 years is a good thing.
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Pranged? A washing machine? Ours sits quietly (and I do mean quietly) in a corner and doesn't move. Not like the old one that walked round the kitchen. I'm missing out here, what does your washing machine do?
Incidentally - it's a Siemens, possibly a good reason why, couldn't say. It's hard to get excited about a washing machine. Fridge / freezer is a Miele, simply becasue it's the right size and a good brand. I only mention it because the two were bought within months of one another.
JH
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>>n it is inevitably pranged..>>
Don't drive your car near mine...:-)
Never pranged a washing machine yet and the previous one was 13 years old...:-)
Re the other reply about "walking" - you can stand a 50p coin on the machine when the Miele is on fastest spin mode and the coin doesn't move.
Edited by Stuartli on 20/01/2009 at 15:23
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Eventually some incompetent tradesman will drive his ladder into the machine; the glass in the door will be scratched; the enamel will chip.
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Sounds a bit of rough area in which you live...:-)
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>>you can stand a 50p coin on the machine
A salesman once said to me "you can stand a glass of wine on this machine, and not a drop will be spilled".
The wife said "Oh no!", and walked hurriedly away.
My retort was along the lines of " If I wanted something to stand a glass of wine on, I'd buy a table" (cleaned up for swear filter). I was asked to leave!
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Thank you bt, I'me feeling better now.
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Re the other reply about "walking" - you can stand a 50p coin on the machine when the Miele is on fastest spin mode and the coin doesn't move.
I bet it does move
I want a video posted on you-tube of you placing a 50p on the miele, loading it with washing, and running it on 1200 spin.
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My Candy - already installed and secondhand when I bought the current Ifithelps Towers eight years ago - used to shake a bit until I stuffed a beermat under one of the feet.
Still shakes if the washing gets into a ball, say a sheet wrapped around a load of 'smalls'.
Think it says in the destructions somewhere not to wash items of vastly different size together.
Can't see a Miele, Bosch or any other make being much different.
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Miele, and similar, don't shake so much - this is just because they're full of bricks.
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Miele and similar don't shake so much - this is just because they're full of bricks.
Nope
I have had my bosch apart and it has three hydraulic dampers, (look like car shock absorbers) with a much smaller concrete block than the norm.
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>>..this is just because they're full of bricks. >>
Which is what you are talking...:-)
Miele washing machines have a cast iron weight - others have one made of concrete.
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Quote from a Miele washing machine review:
"Cast iron tub weight: Most washing machines have one or more blocks of concrete bolted to a plastic outer tub. This is to weigh it down and add stability to the washing machine on spin. The trouble is that bolting something this heavy to plastic is not a good idea and I've also seen hundreds of them come loose (often) causing serious damage to the tub. The stabilizing weights on the Miele washing machine are made of an unbreakable cast iron cradle and they are bolted to a stainless steel tub. To an engineer, this is extremely impressive. It's over 20 years since I saw a washing machine with cast iron tub weights."
Source:
www.washerhelp.co.uk/reviews/miele-w-3740-review.h...l
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Stuartli, you are an invaluable fountain of knowledge, but may I ask, do you nominate the mags they use on "Have I got news for you"? :-)
JH
Edited by JH on 20/01/2009 at 19:54
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I'm a retired journalist - research was an important element of the profession...:-)
Edited by Stuartli on 20/01/2009 at 21:25
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I want a video posted on you-tube ...
someone, maybe Stuartli ?, has already posted this:
www.mielewashingmachine.co.uk/
"on Jan 2, 2009
When I decided to write this blog about Miele Washing Machines, I thought at some point about producing the world’s most boring video - a Miele Washing Machine in operation
However, a quick search on YouTube this evening reveals that not just one, but a few people have - thankfully - beaten me to it: ... "
You see, the Miele is not just heavy, it is M&S heavy, and it is your brother.
Edited by jbif on 20/01/2009 at 18:22
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Back on track, well more or less, the Gadget Show reckoned that an LG, with a direct drive drum, gave the best wash. Sticks in my mind because of my ancient Technics direct drive turntable.
tinyurl.com/75lgy6
They seem to like Gorenje (who?) and Indesit too. No mention of prices and they didn't exactly do a long term test.
JH
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No mention of AEG.
Ours has just developed it's first fault - a damaged door seal, but it's not leaking (yet!). Looking for a local service number I found the receipt and was surprised we have had it 11 years. It's nice and simple with mechanical dials and push buttons.
At the time it cost about £50 more than a Hoover. The Hoover it replaced did about 7 years before expiring.
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