You should be able to find and download a user manual for the units. If not, contact Miele and they will help. I have Askos not Mieles but thought the setup was the same. Washer plugs into dryer, dryer plugs into wall. You should already have a 220 hookup for a dryer. Mine fill with cold only. There is only a cold line run to the machine and no option to run a hot water line to it. I'm not sure what has your plumber confused.

Prices of used Miele laundry machines are all over the place. People who know what they have ask high prices (but usually not *that* high, more like $1200 for the pair). But some people move into a house with Mieles in them and think it's some low-budget off-brand they've never heard of, and would rather have something made by GE or Whirlpool that was bigger, and put them on sale for cheap (the 240v power requirement for the washer is a dealbreaker for many would-be buyers too - hopefully they have the double-outlet breaker box that plugs into a US-standard 240v/30a dryer outlet and powers both machines which are each 240v/15a, but note there are two kinds, one with a 4-prong plug with seperate grounding and one with a 3-prong plug with combined neutral and ground. Being a pure 240v appliance with no 120v parts, I don't think they actually use the neutral wire even if present). I bought my Miele W1926 (4" deeper version of W1918) used in good condition for $200 if I recall correctly, and have seen them for $50, or a pair of that vintage (late '90s) for a few hundred. Craigslist tends to be much cheaper for appliances than eBay, especially since the latter probably aren't located nearby. If you're near a large city and don't mind waiting, I'd pass at that price, but if you need them now or don't want an uncertain wait of undetermined length - if similar machines show up at all - you may want to consider them. In my area (near DC), reasonably priced used Miele sets show up on CL about every 3 months. The W1918 and W1926 were their best washers IMO - very easy to use and to-the-point controls and a powerful internal 240 volt heater. They were dumbed down after that. I haven't used their dryers so can't speak to how good they are.

I don't think you could go wrong with either.. both are of European design (or half-European for the Duet) and I trust the Europeans' longer experience in making reliable front-load washers. Salesmen at the appliance stores I visited have generally recommended Bosch, Miele, and/or Whirlpool. You might want to consider the availability of Miele service and parts though. I bought a Whirlpool Duet 9400 in March and have been pleased with its performance. I had a white bath rug with blue dye stains that no top-loader would ever get out, but after running it through several laundry cycles with the Duet (washing and drying each time), the stains eventually disappeared. I really don't know what to make of mc58's problem with the Duet 9200. I had a 9200 for a couple weeks before exchanging it for the 9400, but I never experienced problems as bad as described by mc58. See my recent post about differences between the Duet 9200 and 9400 here: http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/laundry/msg11133252652.html?6 That said, if you do decide to go for the Duet, I recommend avoiding the 9200 and getting their 9400 model (or if you want steam, the 9500 or 9600). Even though there aren't supposed to be significant differences between them, it seems from these boards that most owners of the 9400/9500/9600 are quite pleased with their purchase.

Wow now I am yellous. How nice it looks and great for getting through alot of laundry quickly. I had som trouble with my dryer and had to take it apart, took forever to dry a load of towles and after 2 hours it still said 1,45 h on the display. With the help of my neibour we took it apart(he has done it before with his dryer, the same model as your condenser). We found nothing but alot of dust and the 2 weels the drum runs on in the from had left residue on the drum so it sounded like dadonk dadonk dadonk as the drum went around but after a good vaccuming and scrapeing of rubber it runs so much better and hopefully it will run for another 10 years of trouble free service. You ok, here it has been a week af alot of snow and cold cold, the coldes in 7 years. Almost snowed in but 4x4 and a snowblower we are fine.