SHOP PRODUCTS
Houzz Logo Print
sshrivastava

Miele W4842 - Profile Wash How-To

sshrivastava
13 years ago

Believe it or not, the Miele W4842 does have the ability to do a profile wash. However, it's not something that can be selected from the myriad of buttons on the front panel. My definition of "profile wash" for purposes of this article is setting your machine to a target temperature and the machine fills with tap cold water that is then gradually heated over the course of the main wash program to the temperature you've selected. This allows stains on your clothes to be exposed to a wide range of temps, starting at cold, for maximum stain removal.

Step 1 - Enter the service programming menu:

  1. Open the door of the machine and the lights will come on.
  2. Press and hold the START button while you close the door.
  3. When the START button begins flashing rapidly, release the button and press it five times quickly in succession.
  4. If you are successful, you will see the programming menu magically appear!

Step 2 - Change the water intake option:

  1. Scroll down to the "Water Intake" option, then hit OK.
  2. Select the "Cold" option ("Hot + Cold" will be the default)
  3. Once you're back to the main menu, scroll down and select Exit.

You have successfully programmed your W4842 to exclusively use the cold tap for all water intake. If you select a heated cycle and avoid the "Normal" unheated cycle, the machine will engage the heater and raise the temperature of the water to the target temperature while it washes. I verified this by using both the Wrinkle Free and Custom cycles set to HOT. I confirmed that the initial fill of water was tap cold, but over the course of the wash I was able to open the door and see lovely, hot and steaming water in the tub. Eventually the machine locked the door due to temps in excess of 130F - as stated in the user manual. This confirms that the water did, in fact, reach at least 130F with an hour remaining in the cycle. It's reasonable to presume the water had enough time to go from tap cold of about 60F to 140F over the course of the main wash. The door glass was quite warm to the touch just before hitting the rinse cycle, and since the glass is well insulated with an air gap the temperature inside the drum was substantially higher.

What this will do:

  1. Remove a wider range of stains, and prevent some stains from setting.
  2. More efficient to heat water at its destination rather than heating at the source and incurring heat loss on the way to the machine.
  3. Reduce shrinkage at higher temperatures by gradually increasing temperatures rather than initially shocking the fabric with hot water.

What this won't do:

  1. You cannot use anything but COLD water in the Normal cycle, since that cycle does not engage the heater.
  2. You will not get the full benefit of the "Clean Machine" cycle, since that cycle wants very hot water up front.

In order to use your Normal cycle with anything but cold water, or to use your Clean Machine cycle to full advantage, you will need to go back to the service menu and re-select "Hot + Cold" fill.

Since Clean Machine and Normal are probably the two most seldom used cycles on the Miele, the loss of full functionality of these cycles may be an agreeable compromise for some to get a true profile wash in other cycles. I've missed having a profile wash option since I replaced my Asko with the Miele, and now I feel like I've been able to get the best of both worlds.

Comments (14)