Miele novotronic w842 water inlet fault

[mbaustian]

I was given a Miele W842 that was purchased in Europe (The Netherlands I believe) and brought to the US many years ago and used (or so I was told) in Chicago. It had a broken selector dial which I was able to repair (permantently, as in I'll have to break it again to access the circuit boards.) I'm confident that I have the program selector knob oriented correctly. When I try to run it (using instructions in an English language manual my wife found on line) the machine will begin to fill and after 15 secs or so the Check Inlet indicator light begins to flash, after a few more seconds the filling stops, the drain pump engages, most of the water will be pumped out, and the program terminates. This happens on all programs. I am aware of the pressure/flow requirements and checked the filters which were spotless and hoses which are not kinked or otherwise obstructed. I measured the flow from the stopcock looking for 5L in 15 sec and the flow I measured was well below the minimal required as described in the manual. I ran a 3/4" line directly from the pressure pump on my domestic water system and the flow level from that was way in excess of the minimum (>5L in 7sec) yet I get the same behavior. The machine agitates and spins it just wont fill completely and progress through the program(s) normally. It would be a shame to throw it away but there are no repair people in our area willing to have a look at this. I guess I'm looking for insights into something obvious that I'm overlooking. I should say that I initially was concerned that the problem was some control clock misbehaving due to the frequency difference between US and Europe. I've set that idea aside as the previous owner claims to have used it is the US. Any ideas would be appreciated.

 

[JohnD]

when did it last work?

have you ever seen it working?

What's happened to it since then?

Miele parts and manuals are AFAIK deliberately not made available to anyone outside the Miele organisation and its appointed agents.

 

[mbaustian]

It has sat for quite a while and I have never seen it work. I can find out tomorrow when it last worked as the previous owner is a coworker of my spouse. I spoke with Miele-USA on the phone and got the impression they would sell me parts if I knew what I wanted. I had to sign some form and they sent me a page from the parts manual.

 

[RichardMNZ]

Just checking you have reconnected the black hose from the pressure tube to the back of the control board.

I'm assuming this w842 is similar to the w828 model where the two pcbs are at the top of the machine.
When it does fill with water, how high up the window does the water reach?

 

[mbaustian]

Okay so the pressure hose was not connected and that did solve the problem. Thank you so much. I wish I repaired appliances for a living. This would be my favorite site!

 

[mbaustian]

If I may on a related item. Now that I have this machine working I am wondering if the higher frequency (60Hz) here in the US would make it prudent to run the spin at 900 rather than the 1200rpm top speed. The thing wrings water out like crazy. I do not use a drier so it is nice to have the vigorous spin but I worry about the motor.

 

[jj4091]

It might be a good idea to do that as it also increases the load on the motor ( current drawn ) when the speed increases due to the higher frequency. This might lead to fuses or circuit breakers tripping if it goes over their limits, plus it might lead to premature failure of bearings or other items. I'm not sure what, if any, effect it will have on the electronics of the machine.

 

[RichardMNZ]

The motor is computer controlled. Will it make a difference? Many years ago I had something similar (w828) and the machine spin speed was 1100rpm but it felt much higher.

 

[JoanC]

I also have an old Miele w842 from the 90's which was brought over from Europe, which also sat unused for about 5 years before I bought it a couple of years ago. It worked a few times and then stopped. When I was trouble shooting I cleaned out the drainage as the hard water had almost welded the screw in piece and there was black sandy residue inside. I also had water inlet problems which I repaired by drilling through and therefore bypassing the solenoid in the hose to allow the water to flow.

Miele Canada has told me because it is a European made washer, they have no parts list, so I would have been buying a replacement hose on how it looked. Also any replacement hose was going to be almost more than I paid for the machine .

To answer your question. I use the 1200 rpm spin all the time and love it and I think my predecessor used it as well for over 10 years. The benefit of having drier clothes outweighs any possible concerns.

I am now having an issue with power, which you might be able to assist with. The only service manual I found online is in German. The dryer plugs into the back and works so the unit is getting power, however none of the lights come on. A couple of people suggested an internal fuse at the cord/machine junction.

The machine does not have lights if the door is open so I am suspecting either the door latch and/ sensor or perhaps something with the orange door release button itself is stuck in the open door position. I had trouble last week when the orange door release button did not push in/work to add more clothes during a cycle. I slammed the door several times as others have recommended for a latch issue and nothing. I have not tried sticking a screw driver in to wiggle it around (assume that is what the door slamming is supposed to do) I have turned the breaker on and off to no effect.

Any other suggestions?