No advice, just sad!

I had my handiman install my Miele Optima about 6 years ago. Before we installed it , I had a "Whole House water softener" installed, on the hot side only, by "Raine Soft Water", (A Competitor to "The Culligan Man").

So I went thru none of the trials You have, and in fact, I've never even read the manual (I know, Shame Shame)butttt---We had a Kitchenaid before and I ran that for almost 10 years without reading the manual and it always worked great until the lime from our Extremely Hard Water in S Calif, totaled it (Hence the water softner now).

Well, after about 6 years, we are quite happy with the way the Miele does the dishes but to be honest, that's probably about once/month,, as there are only 2 of us, we just find it's easier and faster to just hand wash them. Also neither of us wishes to acquire a Doctorate In Miele DW Operation--so we ain't gonna spend the time reading the manual trying to acquire one!

If I can's add soap, push a button or two and get clean dishes, then, at least for us, It ain't worth the trouble!

Good luck with yours!!!

Gary

There may be residual water in the tank. Miele dishwashers are thoroughly tested prior to shipping.
I would add all the salt....and the water is just a one-time process...in the future, you will only add the salt and NO WATER...
Be sure there are no salt crystals on the threads of the reservoir before screwing the cap back on...also, Miele recommends running a rinse cycle after the addition of salt...hope this helps!

My Miele Diamante Plus that I got two years ago had some water in the salt container. I first filled it all the way up with water, then added the full box Miele Salt with the funnel. The manual says that the excess water will come out of the opening while adding the salt. Then screw in closed and run a rinse cycle. After that, I set it to 5-7 grains hardness. The box lasts me about 7 months. When adding the 2nd box, all I has to do was empty it into the container as it was full of water.

@dodge59 I know, I never had to read a manual before either. Your lime experience makes me wonder if hard water is responsible for the early demise of our KitchenAid DW. It was a top-of-the-line model from their Architect Series six years ago when we installed it. Would you mind sharing with me the symptoms your DW manifested as it failed? I purchased two expensive LG front-loading steam laundry appliances a few years ago, too, and your post is making me wonder if they are at risk for a short life as well due to our hard water.

@ottlane - Got it, thanks. I did wipe the threads down and run the rinse cycle this morning, after speaking with Miele tech support.

@laat2 - Brilliant! I so needed the laugh you provided with your German engineer humor. I think your translation should be included in the Miele manual as a sidebar.

@fauguy - Your post gave me the confidence I needed to proceed with the salt routine, thanks. Apparently, Miele dropped the reference to excess water from the current version of their manual. Had that info been in the manual, I wouldn't have had to post on GW for help. BTW, feel free to PM through GW. It appears we are neighbors here in SoFL.

The "hard water symptoms" were easy to see. It looked like snow inside the dishwasher, it got on the stainless inside, would get on the soap and jet dry dispensers and muck them up.
I would run lime away or clr thru it occasionally to try to "Clean it Up" but even after several washes using either of these 2 cleaners it still looked a mess inside. Soooo, I poured a ton of CLR into the thing, removed the impeller,racks, and anything else I could get loose. I took a stiff brush and scrubbed away, kept adding more clr as I went.
Actually got rid of most the "Snow" on the racks, the stainless interior, and the dispensers. I didn't look as new, but a lot better.

It ran a few times after this and then the pump went "Kaput" figured it probably ate some really big chucks of our hard water (Lime). We were about to remodel our kitchen at that time, so decided not to fix the old KA, and also not to subject any new dishwasher to such a "Harsh Environment". All around our misc faucets in the house, sinks , tubs, shower, you can see the lime buildup on the cold side only, Hot side is clean as a whistle! I have tried, (without success), to get the wife to only use hot water, but alas!!! Sooooo, I am going to have Raine connect both the hot and cold sides to the softener. I will have to run a pipe of "Non Softened water" from the front yard to the back, and that is in fact why I did not install the softener on the cold side in the first place. However, looking at faucets on the cold side and the couters below them, and the water spouts on the tubs, I think it will be worth it. We have to have the worst water (as far as hardness goes), of any US City!

Good Luck with your new dishwasher!

Gary

purpleplume,
What area are you in? I'm a bit surprised that you have 15 grains with city water. I'm in northern Broward, and first called my local city water and was told 5. Then a couple months later I had a Miele tech out because of a small issue, and had him check the hard water. He had a kit that you had to fill with a special liquid agent and the water, and it would turn color. He said it was 7 grains. But with my Diamante Plus, you can eneter in an exact number. It has a group setting of 0-4, 5-7, 8-10, etc. So I have it set to 5-7, but from the factory the default was 0-4.
The company that did our install is called New York Minute and are trained by Miele. I had them connect it to the hot water, since we don't use any China or Crystal expect at Christmas. I called Miele about it, and they did recommend a hot hook up, unless 25% or more of the washes would be using the China Crystal mode.

@fauguy - I live in NE Fort Lauderdale, zip code 33308. After testing the water from my kitchen tap with a Sofchek water hardness test strip I picked up at the shop where I purchased my Miele DW supplies (a vacuum shop at Commercial & 18th Ave.), I set my DW settings to 15 gpg. If I end up having a Miele tech out here at any point, I will ask them to recheck the water hardness. Our DW allows me to set the water hardness at the precise setting, as opposed to setting based on ranges. Unfortunately, I don't have much confidence in information obtained from my local water utility department; that's why I tested the water hardness myself.

BTW, I spent time on the phone today with one of the founders of NY Minute, the company I booked based on your excellent recommendation. In my case, the installers left much to be desired. The lead installer spoke only broken English and communicating with him was a challenge. I put down layers of beach towels on the floor surrounding my dishwasher and the kitchen sink, yet the lead installer repeatedly ignored my requests to set his wrench, drill, etc. on the towels, and I repeatedly heard him dropping his tools onto the floor. As a result, I found multiple areas of damage (divets) in the marble flooring when they finished.

Additionally, I just discovered that it appears I am missing two pieces of my dishwasher installation. Earlier today when I phoned Miele tech support to ask about how to tell when a cycle was complete, I learned that in addition to the audible setting (which had been disabled when our DW was installed) there should be a "prism" mounted to the underside of the granite counter, just above the Miele control panel on the DW, that serves to reflect the red indicator light that illuminates and flashes when a cycle has completed. According to the Miele tech, this prism is shipped in the box with the DW and comes with a corresponding stainless steel frame. Both pieces are to be attached by the installer. NY Minute's install team did not install, discuss, or leave me any such parts. Although my keyword search of the PDF manual does not indicate any matches for "prism," I discussed this with NYM today and also have a call in to the Miele Territory Manager who handles Miele issues for the dealer from whom we purchased our DW (FL Builder Appliances).

Wow! I also purchased mine from FL Builders Appliance in Pompano. The install guys were good, but wouldn't say great, but did speak English OK. They did the install fine, but did not test the water hardness. The only part they forgot to install was the 4 tiny push caps that go on the sides that cover the four side mounting screws. Mine did come with a top metal piece, but the install manual says its only used for top-mount installs, but mine isside mounted. When my unit is done, there is progress meter on the front, and has a yellow LED light at at "End".

Please keep us updated when you hear back.

I'd say they (NY Min or Miele) needs to seed one of their top people and check the install and fix those issues. You can always threaten to return it.

When I was looking 2 years ago, I also went to House of Appliances is Boynton Beach, and they wanted like $275 for installation, but they have their own in-house install team, not sourced to another company. But I went with FL Builder App because there was a tax-free thing at that time, and they were able to process it, where House of Appliances didn't seem willing.

Our water hardness is 17 grains per gallon. I add salt to my 6-year-old Miele constantly. A lot of water always pours out when the salt is going in. It seems the salt reservoir is usually completely full of water and salt and when I add salt it is replacing water. I don't think it's a malfunction because it has done this from the beginning and the softener works great. My manual and the current manuals do state that water runs out when you pour in salt. I can't speak to your other concerns, but I don't think you have to worry about this...