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Miele DW grinding noise?

12 years ago

Hi,

Our Miele Inspira was installed Oct 2010 and had been working perfectly. Last cycle (yesterday) I noticed a loud grinding noise part way through the cycle, but it stopped after about 30 secs so I let it be. This morning I went to unload the dishes and noticed while the food was all gone and they looked clean enough, they felt kind of greasy, esp on the lowest level.

I cleaned the filter, but nothing much was in there.

I decided to run the load again and as soon as I closed the door, the grinding started, so I turned it off. An internet search of similar problems didn't turn up much, just one which indicated it might be "scale on the impeller" and to run through a pint of vinegar or 2 Finish DW cleaners at the same time with very hot water to fix it.

Would that come from hard water? We have a whole house softener. And if I should try the vinegar, where do I put the pint--pour it in the bottom, or a cup sitting in a rack? It didn't say.

Thanks for any help.

Featured Answer

mlotrean

6 years ago

After about 10 months of a quiet running dishwasher, I noticed this grinding noise right after starting the cycle. I checked the non return valve and made sure the impeller blades rotated and all looked ok but I was still hearing the noise. I then called customer service who had me start and then stop multiple cycles to clear anything possiblely blocking the draining process. In the end, I didn't hear it, so thought it was resolved. But, I went to run a wash cycle and there it was again. Thankfully I read the posts here and decided to check again. I looked really closely with a flashlight and a tweezer by the impeller blades and there it was. A cherry pit! Thanks for your helpful advice!

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Comments (8)

weissman
12 years ago
Why don't you call Miele? You're obviously still under warranty.
honeychurch
Original Author
12 years ago
Thanks--just did that and they were great, walked me through and after removing the filter and valve and starting a cycle, a little piece of hard plastic came floating out....

All is quiet again and hopefully my issue is over. Lesson here for me--call Miele. I think it wasn't my first thought because customer service usually isn't too helpful these days.
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tyguy
12 years ago
I agree with you. I tend not to call CS often these days either as it tends to be so horrible. Glad Miele was good to you. I am sure that was the problem.
fauguy
12 years ago
Once you remove the triple filter, under it on the bottom left area there is a non-return valve that pops out, which is probably what you had to remove. Under it is the impeller blades that spin around and are attached to the drain motor. If something get's down in there, it can make noise while the unit is running.

My issues with the non-return valve is that when it drains the water out, it rattles the metal ball inside of it and you can hear it if you are 15 feet or closer to the unit while it drains. It's been looked at by 3 Miele Techs, and even had the non-return valve replaced 3 times and impeller motor replaced once, and it still does it like 80% of the time. They've all said it's normal, and even their unit at home does it. I just fine it weird that mine was quiet during the drain cycle for the first 10 months before it started this.
Keith Buckingham
6 years ago
I tried looking under the filter too, removed the little housing with the ball bearing, and nothing else in there - the first time. When I checked online again and convinced myself it was worth looking again, I found an olive pit next to the ball bearing that had been rattling around when the impeller was trying to pump the water out.

My suggestion is therefore to always look (more than once if the noise persists), at that impeller area, and the housing with the ball bearing.

I don't think the problem has anything at all to do with the quality of your water, especially if the noise started suddenly one day.
shangalar100
6 years ago
Yep had the same problem. In my case a small screw stuck in the drain below the pump impeller. I couldn't get to it with my finger as the space below the pump impeller is quite small. Was about to give up. Had to use a straw to push under the pump impeller to see if anything was there. Then used a tweezers to get the screw out.
Barry Gausden
last year
In my case one of the grommets that cover the screws on the inside of the dishwasher had come loose and was jamming the impeller. Thanks to everyone here for pointing out you may need to dig around in the impeller housing to find the foreign object.

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