... I got it today, two days after I decided I needed a new machine.
So far I'm delighted. The thing looks and feel just beautiful in real life, and it oozes quality. For instance it has an acrylic curved sheet over the front of the door. It's probably a safety future for when the glass it hot, but it also gives an almost spaceship-y feel to it.
And it is very user-friendly too, nothing like million-settings nightmare I beheld at my neighbors'.
Two very big and burly men delivered it, but even they struggled to get the ninety-nine kilograms of metal up the stairs and into place. (I tipped them well.) They asked me more than once why the durn thing is so heavy, and of course I had no answer for them, other than "I guess Miele judged it necessary".
Oddly, the reviews said it has no separate spin cycle, but it does. Also, when the guys tested it, they could not stop it again, and said that some of the more expensive machines could not be interrupted. This I found hard to believe, and found out after leafing around in the manual a bit after they left that he had accidentally activated the Safety Lock by holding the Start button three seconds. All I had to do was the same, and it unlocked and could be stopped/drained. (It's a smart feature if you have small kids.)
Funny enough, though, at first it seemed like I couldn't. It turned out that I was just being too enthusiastic and careful: the second press of the Start/Stop button I pressed maybe half a second, and it seems this was too long. When I just pressed it briefly, it reacted like expected. I suspected this was so after confirming with the manual that otherwise I had it right. It's practical to have a feel for how machines work.
By the way, though I read of some machines having a bigger drum than this one, this one has a much bigger drum than my old machine. And it's as quiet as one can expect a washing machine to be, also nice. The spin cycle sounds so much nicer than my old one... high tech, sorta like a jet turbine, only not loud at all.
Update: I just finished my first load. All went perfectly. Well, at the start I thought the door leaked, but it was just that Einstein here had closed it on a sock. :-)
After it's done, and until you open the door, it runs an "anti-crease" feature, rotating the drum every minute. Kewl.
24 comments:
The weight and practicality of your new washer might be due to the German engineering behind it.
As opposed to the 'that's good enuff' engineering by US companies. What they can't reduce in quality from the original design and engineering can certainly be enhanced by having their product made in Mexico or China.
Ha, now I'm flattered - but it wasn't me, the other guys made the most useful suggestions, for sure.
Miele (I don't know if it's still a totally Germany-based company or if there can be found some "Made in PRC" labels on your machine) is well known for heavy duty applications. Almost all my farmer clients use either a Miele or a Constructa for washing overalls and kids' gear on end. It's pricey but solidly good. Miele is pronounced meele, the last e like in "the".
Now away from the Mac: enjoy your Miele!
(:-))
Oh, I'm already washing. Just had to use it.
Funny enough, the Miele started up in French language mode, and the delivery men also thought that it's a French company, but Wiki sez German.
Update: I just finished my first load. All went perfectly. Well, at the start I thought the door leaked, but it was just that Einstein here had closed it on a sock. :-)
After it's done, and until you open the door, it runs an "anti-crease" feature, rotating the drum every minute. Kewl.
Most US engineering these days isn't "good enough" most of it is, "good enough to get home and work through the limited warranty period. These days, at least some washers int he US are made here by Japanese companies....
The US appliance manufacturers are way behind the rest of the world in effective engineering. In part, this is due to the huge home market. In part it's due to the fact that few US residents have been taught to understand "life-cycle-cost." This is why US marketed laptops tend to be cheap pieces of crap--except for the business models. Nearly everything here is sold by appearances--when it breaks, you will buy a new one, as nothing is designed for repair.
There are exceptions, but they have to teach true cost to their customers, who are used to buying primarily based upon price.
I suspect that the wieght is due to a couple things:
One, as mentioned, German "over-engineering." They expect you to buy ONE.
Two, washers are notorious for getting out of balance and "walking" (and thumping.) More mass=less instability.
I hope you blame them when you find out it's a piece of junk. Should have gone with the steam kind. Much, much better. I have found that when people ask for advice they generally just want people to tell them to do what they were already planning to do anyway. You're weak and malleable, so it's no huge surprise.
Not intended as a negative comment, but I suspect you'll find that the impressive weight of your washer is courtesy of a ruddy great chunk of concrete-type stuff, rather than it being heavily engineered!
It's used low down and central in all / most machines to give them a/ a low centre of gravity and b/ as much 'solidity' as possible, as it needs this dead weight to dampen vibration, movement and noise!
I has a Miele that lasted all of 4 years. Apparently impressive build quality, and sound levels were good, but I did not realise how poorly it actually washed clothes, until I needed to have several loads done elsewhere during a kitchen re-fit ... the difference was so dramatic I retired the Miele to Freecycle! I'd forgotten how heavy it was until someone came to collect it and we needed to carry it ... removed the back panel to seal off the water connections and drum spindle for transit, to be confronted with a bloody great lump of the grey stuff!
There again ... it's German concrete, so perhaps that makes it worthwhile?:-)
Philocalist: OK, fair enough.
Anon/Josie/Hank: Never go away, please, I'd miss your edgy comments too much.
Excellent how in the same paragraph you accuse me both of being malleable *and* of just doing what I was planning to do anyway. :-)
The first comments were suggesting you get a Miele, and so anyone after that was going to be ignored. You don't form your own opinions, it's whoever gets to you first. Anyone can see that from reviewing old blog posts. So that's how you can be both.
All righty.
Yay! Go Eolake! Go the new Miele!
You won't regret it. Ours withstood two floods because of a mechanism that locked everything down and sealed everything up when it detected it was standing in water.
Our street flooded (nothing to do with our plumbing), and it was almost anthropomorphic to see the poor washing machine all locked up, almost looking confused about the situation!
Anyway, we de-programmed it, drained it, threw out the clothes that had been stuck inside, ran it on a hot wash; and hey-presto! As good as new.
Are you sensing a theme here?
Anyway, Miele's are REALLY good!
I'll shut up now!
Baroness, you´re so refreshingly funny!!
(:-)))
Last I heard from Joe was an email in late July, he said he would keep reading but not comment anymore, he was tired of various aspects of comments and commenters. This was after the heated debate over the Aniko Photos post.
Oh, a wasps´ nest...
I´ve deleted my comment, the contents was a joke, but I can´t hold it up, people would misunderstand.
I didn´t know the context.
Joe was ok up to a certain point at the time, when he got somewhat deranged, which I had noticed before this blog thing.
I had liked his way of joking, until that point came. Mmmhh.
high tech, sorta like a jet turbine, only not loud at all
This is because it uses a switched reluctance motor, which is very cool and high tech. It has no permanent magnets and no coils on the rotor.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switched_Reluctance_Motor
--Ben
Seems quite cool, even though the name sounds like a joke.
Are you sure the Miele uses one? When I google
"Switched Reluctance" miele
... I don't get any obvious connection, only one via Dyson vacuum cleaners.
I'd be surprised if it wasn't. They're cheap to manufacture, compact and reliable with modern computer controls. The weird chirping, buzzing and squealing are much different then a normal synchronous motor.
It's not really a weird name as "reluctance" is a standard electronics term to do with the capacitive effect of resistance. Not related to the plain English meaning of not wanting to do something.
My boo boo. I meant magnetic above not capacitive. Sorry.
You Europeans with your compact under the counter front loading washer driers, I despise you all.
Be a man and get a "you can put a shelf 6 inches above it if you don't want to get to the on button easily" front loading dryer and a "really, you don't want a shelf above this, else things will fall in" top loading washer.
Next you'll be telling me you don't drive a Ford SUV and have a 500,000 sq foot ranch home in a subdivision.
(not jealous really owner of 8 year old Kenmore appliances that have only had new belts and that's about it. Like a 1970's Ford Escort, no one could love them, but parts are aplenty, easy to fix, and you probably know someone at Halewood or Dagenham who could get the parts cheap.)
Miele my Miele ...
... with reference/reverence to "Captain my Captain"?
Anyway, Congrats ;-)
(I have an about 15 years old Zanker machine, I just had to exchange the wastewater pump a few years ago - not bad. Hope yours will last longer - there's a good chance with a Miele.)
I'm not sure what the reference was. Probably the "(something) my (something)" thing has been used several times through the history of literature.
I was reminded on the movie "Dead Poets Society" with Robert Williams ...
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