Didn't happen in the 15 or so times I tried it on my W4840. My machine does have some quirks of its own. E.g. when I try to pause it, sometimes it'll pause but not unlock the door. And sometimes, when a first attempt to pause fails ("Machine Locked", meaning it's too hot or the water is too high, but it really isn't), a second attempt will succeed. I had read other people's reports of this stuff, so I figure it's a quirk (software bug), not a sample defect. I wrote to Miele support about it, and they can't really explain it either. I doubt whether a technician could do anything about it. Anyway, at this point I'm pausing it just to see if it acts funny, not because I want to add something :-)

Thanks for the report back suburbanmd.

We had just finished our first empty load and the light failed on the door opening (it just gives a quick flash)

It may be specific to the W4800 washer... so I hope I get some follow-up on that end. We live in a bungalow and the laundry room has no windows, so we can really tell when the light is not working...

The last Miele Tech on the old washer thought they may have upgraded the control board that may have solved this issue,,, but not for sure...

I have the 4840 and have not noticed the light going off unless I am too slow loading the machine. That is very strange. You know how the machine has to be "awake" before you load it? Several times I have had my laundry half in and then it goes to "sleep". I have to pull out the laundry and wake it up again!

You can wake it up by closing and opening the door, or pushing a button on the panel. No need to pull everything out and start over...

I thought it was something about the weight of the laundry so you have to take them out to get an accurate measure. Is that not correct? Will it work (i.e. re-weigh) again just by pushing a button? I am curious about this as I thought it had to be empty and then re-loaded for an accurate weight. I feel like an idiot, if I read that incorretly.

I'm not aware of the 4840 weighing the load. The manual says it "calculates the water absorbency of the laundry in the first 8 minutes".

Some LG's do weigh the load, by tumbling it a few times before adding water. Then they indicate the weight, by displaying 1 to 4 bars on a display. You can use that as a guide to how much detergent to use. I'm not sure I understand this, since dry weight isn't necessarily correlated to water absorbency.

Hii There,

Just reposting it up to see if I can capture any W4800 users...

Cheers

No issues like this with our W4840. However, we also have the pause-unlock door weirdness as well. I also considered it a firmware bug that wasn't worth getting worked up over.

My 4840 do not have this problem..... sound like bad ground issue to me......

Hello,
We have a 4800 and have had it for around 8 months now. We have both exact issues as you describe - the light is flakey and sometimes flashes on and immediately off. As well, pressing the start button doesnt always work.

For the light issue, we generally just re-close the door and reopen it - the light mostly works after this.

For the start problem, we have called Miele and they told us to press the start button very quickly - apparently pressing and holding the button could cause this issue. We now press the button as short as possible but the problem still occurs.

After reading this thread, Miele has apparently replaced several parts of your washer, and even replaced the entire washer with no resolution. Is this true?

We have been contemplating calling Miele again but if they do not understand the issue, I dont want them changing parts for no reason.

Do you have any further information?

Thanks.

I ended calling Miele again in order to get them to record the complaint (I am worried about what happens when the warranty expires). They sent a technician by and he found nothing wrong (surprise). He figures the child entrapment sensor is the reason the washer doesnt start everytime. However, he had no idea what was wrong with the light and has never seen it before (I was able to recreate the issue using your trick with the pause button - mine does it 50% of the time).

He also explained that these units are driven from software and perhaps a software fix would resolve the problems. I asked them if there has ever been a software update on any kind on this model and he said no. I would expect the odds of any software update to be practically zero - apparently Miele really doesnt try to resolve their issues.

I also showed him your posts on this forum and explained to him I do not want him randomly replacing parts for no reason. I then printed out your previous thread and gave it to him to circulate at Miele - maybe some good can come of it.

These issues on the machine are not a big deal as long as they do not get worse - the biggest problem I see is that Miele is not really doing anything to support their products. Zero software updates is a joke when it is clear that issues do exist.

I am a long-time Miele owner (several appliances) and I definitely had some second thoughts about buying this machine since it was designed only for the North American market (seemed like a bad omen to me). I wont be recommending this product in the future - too many tiny little issues and too little understanding by their support people (not knowing there is no heater during "Normal" mode is unbelievable).

Here is how the child/pet W48XX entrapment sensor works:

• When you load your clothes, and then start the machine, if the clothes settle and turn the drum the tachometer sensor reads the drum rotation and stops the machine while unlocking the door mechanism. This is exacerbated by clothes settling when water is administered to the tub if enough drum revolution occurs through water wetting the clothes, thereby causing a lopsided weight situation, hence causing the drum to revolve. The water jet that is above the door is entirely unnecessary (and can be turned off through the firmware) but was designed to exhibit that water was indeed being introduced into the drum as people were concerned that they did not see water, or that there was too low a water level (common to those who switch from a TP to FL).

I wont be recommending this product in the future - too many tiny little issues and too little understanding by their support people (not knowing there is no heater during "Normal" mode is unbelievable).bmac,

We have been very fortunate to have a Miele tech whom has refined, informed, and resolved our issues with our units. I do feel that the North American catered solutions are proving to be a problem versus will just sticking with what Miele does best; eventually, Miele will get it correct, but it comes at the expense of the early adopters (at least those who have given up or do not know of the issues). My wife and I still feel our W4840 and T9820 were good acquisitions and remain happy with them, but I do not consider us average owners as I have been tenacious about resolving matters versus accepting the rote responses from the Miele New Jersey corporate office, and customer service.

fahrenheit_451, can you tell us what your Miele tech has done to (for) your washer, other than the Jan. 2008 software update? I'm going to call Miele on Monday for the first time, for service on my 4-month-old W4840. This is for a software issue that I can't bring myself to ignore. I'm pretty familiar with the timing of the Custom cycle, which I use for 95% of my laundry. So I know that an extended Custom cycle starts with the timer at 1:40. I also know that at 0:08 it finishes with the initial distribution tumbling and burst spins, and tries to start spinning continuously, slowly at first and then faster. Well, something funny has happened, and two things have changed: Extended Normal now starts at 1:38, and the two minutes have been taken off the spin, so what happened at 0:08 now happens at 0:06. So the spin is shortened by two minutes, and the Max Spin part of that is perhaps cut in half. I never touched the Service Menu before this, but I've tried various options on there, in the hope of getting it to recompute the cycle timings, but nothing changed it.

Of course, if I wasn't aware of what the machine does, I probably wouldn't notice anything, except that water extraction may be a bit less effective than before.

I agree with you, fahrenheit_451 - the start/stop issue is probably the child/pet sensor going off when something shifts slightly. However, when you call Miele, they inform you that you are probably pressing the start button too long. When I asked how long is too long, they informed me to just press it shorter (pretty scientific reponse).

Which gets back to my point, it seems Miele has left support for the NA machines with no life-line to the designers/engineers. That is why the support people are ignorant even to how the machine is supposed to work and apparently do not have someone to ask for clarification (or they are too proud to ask).

All my other experiences with Miele appliances have been outstanding. And to be fair, I havent had a bad experience with the 4800 washer - just a couple of tiny issues. Unfortunately, these tiny isues have exposed a support problem which I doubt will be resolved.

suburbanmd,

The timing that is displayed on a custom cycle is more a general guideline as indicated from the owners manual p.24 states: 8. Start the program
Press the flashing "Start" button. If a delay start is set, the remaining times elapses in the display. Once the delayed start time has elapsed or immediately after the program starts, the approximate program running time is displayed. The washer calculates the water absorbency of the laundry in the first 8 minutes. The overall program time may be shortened or lengthened. Additionally the sequence cycle is displayed. The washer shows the current program step. The drum door will be locked and the drum light will turn off once the program starts.

Unless Miele is documenting and including in their unit database your machine's serial number includes the new firmware then the only means of determining whether your machine has the latest firmware is through the physical attachment of a laptop with Miele's proprietary software communicating between the two. After a Miele tech has actually connected to your machine then corporate's database is updated with information via Wi-Fi in real time. My machine's firmware had the "Hygiene Info" switched to the "on" position to display the machine should be run on a Sanitize cycle if too many cold water washes have been executed.

Our machine's door latch that was originally perfectly spaced and starting to hit the latch roller was adjusted. I have another thesis on the sagging door matters of both the dryer and washer might, given the time, post a thread regarding my findings.

bmac,

I agree with you that although minor, issues that should be resolved, yet remain issues are unacceptable. Dealing with Miele US Corporate is fruitless other than getting them to actually schedule a tech to service your units. Unless the person you are speaking with has field experience, or they are in front of your machines, then they are useless. Now a great tech...that's a different story; we have been fortunate.

I guess I'll give it a couple more weeks, and see how the spin cycles go, before calling Miele. Don't want to let things go, but don't want to tilt after windmills either...
Does Miele freely schedule a tech visit under warranty, or do you have to fight for it?

You mentioned in another thread that the January 2008 software update introduced Hygiene Info? My machine's service menu does have that option, which I just turned on. So I guess I do have the latest software. Have you ever actually gotten the hygiene warning? I doubt I'll see it, since I do at least one wash at Sanitary temperature each week.

Re the door latch, I don't understand that issue. The "tongue" on my machine's door does hit the latch roller on the body. But isn't that why there's a roller there? It closes smoothly enough.

Does Miele freely schedule a tech visit under warranty, or do you have to fight for it?No, they have to have a valid reason to send out a tech. There is a series of questions that they ask about your machine and even a series of steps they might ask to enter to determine a fault. If they cannot then they default to explaining how the machines work and Miele's theory about fabric care.
My machine's service menu does have that option, which I just turned on. So I guess I do have the latest software. Have you ever actually gotten the hygiene warning? I doubt I'll see it, since I do at least one wash at Sanitary temperature each week.Yes, you should have the latest firmware. We have never seen the display as we use the Sanitize several times in the course of a month.
Re the door latch, I don't understand that issue. The "tongue" on my machine's door does hit the latch roller on the body. But isn't that why there's a roller there? It closes smoothly enough.The original door latch assembly had neither the sloped tongue nor the roller receiver latch. When the door began to sag it simply slammed into the receiver versus engaging. We have the new roller assembly, but it was getting to where the tip of tongue was hitting the roller instead of riding up the roller.

On second thought, before I let this go, let me ask something of W4840 owners: If you set up for a Custom wash, Hot, Max spin, no options, what is the initial timer value? Add the Extended option, and what is it now? Thanks.

Custom wash, Hot, Max spin, no options = 0:58h
Plus Extended = 1:28h

Thanks. So it actually adapts the initial timer value too. In my case it took 4 months and many washes to go down from the original 1:10h to 1:08h, where you now have 0:58h. Not sure what it's based on. Maybe incoming hot water temperature, but then it would also make sense for the initial time to vary depending on selected wash temperature, which it doesn't (on my machine anyway).

@ suburbanmd,

Did you happen to disable your bleach dispenser using the program menu? If so, this would have shaved a few minutes off your cycle times.