Miele W5740 drum rubbing seal

[ian33a]

Hi everyone, first post so please make allowances!

We have a Miele W5740 washing machine which is now 13 years old. It's been fine until a few weeks ago when we heard a loud noise and we noticed that it had moved in its space. We moved it back and ensured that it is properly level. In the past week or so we've noticed that the inside drum is rubbing against the door seal and causing a loud noise under rotation. I cleaned the seal thoroughly and it was fine for a test run but the noise has returned.

If I clean the door seal and rotate the drum by hand there is about 3, perhaps 5mm of play in the rotation of the drum and the drum is still circular rather than elliptical. I can hear no sound of grinding bearings and such like. Obviously, this is done under "no load" conditions.

The unit works other than that, no fault codes, just the noise.

We're trying to decide what to do: get an engineer out, get a Mele engineer out, or get a new machine - and if so, what?

I'm wondering if the spider has seen better days and partially cracked - but there's no way to tell without extensive work. I can't see how it could be the shock absorbers because I doubt if the rotating drum would have moved within the fixed case of the whole drum if that were the case (but I could be wrong). 

If I call an engineer out, I'll have that cost and, if I call a Miele engineer out, it will cost even more. If he condemns it, I may get a discount on a new one but they cost an arm and a leg to buy! Plus, although not the claimed 20 year age of life of the product, it's 13 years old and distinctly middle aged.

 

I wonder if anybody has experienced a problem like this and what the cause of the problem was.

Many thanks

Ian

 

[Whitegoodshelp (Andy)]

Hi there Ian. You can tell if a drum spider has cracked by slowly revolving the drum completely and a few inches at a time. Each time you rotate the drum a couple of inches, you pull at the bottom (6 o'clock position) to see if there is any movement and play at that particular point. A cracked drum spider will allow movement and play when that section reaches the 6 o'clock position and will be a different feel to all of the other sections.

Sadly, many Miele's don't reach 20 years because when they break down, they are sometimes just too expensive to have repaired and uneconomical to repair. Also bear in mind that Miele's 20 years refers to 20 years of average washing, and not actually 20 years. I forget exactly how many washes Miele count as average, but it's probably a reasonable amount, though people with large families are likely to exceed it.I forget exactly which I forget the I forget the exact amount of washing

When you say you heard a loud noise, was that possibly the load getting out of balance and thumping about, or could it be some obstruction that got inside the machine has damaged the drum?

[ian33a]

Thank you for the information Andy,

I did as you suggested but couldn't detect anything obvious. That said, first thing this morning I called the local Miele resellers as they also have a Miele trained service operation there. I explained everything to him and he said that he thought that that it was either a cracked spider or shot bearings and admitted that neither was a cheap repair.

My wife, unusually, had already decided in her head that we would be better off buying something new than risking a call out and still having to buy something else. 

I'd already noticed that Miele are not offering the ten year warranty that we enjoyed and that they don't even attempt to match the five year offered by some of the other German brands. It could be argued that, as our machine didn't pack up within the ten year warranty period, then it's likely that we wouldn't need another one with a ten year warranty. That said, if a manufacturer doesn't want to stand behind a product and offer an exemplary warranty to go with the high price asked, I have to wonder, slightly, if the product is as well made as it was. Consequently, we've bought a Bosch machine instead - with a five year warranty, and significantly cheaper.  We've had plenty of Bosch stuff in the past and our house is a mix of Bosch and Siemens now so, fingers crossed.

 

[Whitegoodshelp (Andy)]

Hi Ian. I always thought that Miele used the 5 and 10 year warranties as promotional tools. I could be wrong, but I used to see them come and go. Maybe they still do them, but only on certain models and at certain times.

I just needed to buy a new dishwasher, I chose Bosch. I've always had a lot of respect for the quality of Miele white goods appliances, and still believe that they are by far the best. But unfortunately I also believe that they are now just far too expensive, and not good value for money. To be good value for money they need to last at least 20 years, and I've no longer confidence that if I bought one, it would last that long, because their repair prices are just frighteningly expensive.

I've had multiple cases where people have reported to me that Miele themselves have told people that their 9 or 10 year old Miele appliance is beyond economical repair.

I just paid £519 for a Bosch dishwasher, which comes with a two-year warranty, and the special offer of 100 free premium dishwasher tablets. A Miele dishwasher would have cost at least twice as much, with some of them costing 3 times as much.

I would expect a Bosch dishwasher to last 10 years easily, although obviously who knows? But if I bought a Miele at twice the price, then it should last 20 years to be the same value. If I bought one of the Miele's that was 3 times the price, it would need to last 30 years to offer the same value for money as a Bosch.

I currently feel that if you have plenty of money, and likely to remain having plenty of money for some time, then treat yourself to a Miele - the best. It will be more pleasurable to use, probably quieter, and just generally much better. But when you don't have a great supply of money, a Miele is an expensive luxury that could also turn out to be excellent value for money in the long run, but there's a risk it may not if it breaks down after 10 years.