I found this thread not only interesting, but it was also the kick in the pants that got me to do something about the repeatedly failing water intake valve/solenoid on my Miele Optima (G2420-SCI). The unit was installed new in 2008-2009. We moved into the house in early 2013, and by August that year we experienced our first failure. I do not know if the valve failed in the interval between 2009-2013. I called the local factory authorized installer, and they came out promptly. As I learned after the 2nd failure, they didn’t replace the entire hose/wire/valve, but simply cracked the case and wired-in a new valve. They charged me price of entire unit. Eighteen months later, same problem. I found some info on retrofitting the Miele valve with a GE valve, but I guess I was too timid to try it then. So, I called Miele and explained the problem. They comp’d me 33% on the new part, and this time they changed out the entire assembly. It worked fine until July ’16 when it developed same problem. This time they comp’d me the entire part and did another replacement. Every time they checked the inlet water temp it was below 130 degrees. The new part installed in August ’16 has barely lasted 8 months! We tried to use the machine over Easter weekend, and it came up with the same humming sounds of no water coming in and then popping off the “F12” fault code. After embarrassingly spending/wasting $1000 on 3 valve replacements, I finally decided to look back into the GE valve, and that’s how I got here. I was a GardenWeb member for years before Houzz, but lost touch, until I found this thread. Good x2. I followed the instructions on the YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LaqSO-Oyuw I opted to use the GE WD15X10003 valve as per the video, and not the WD15X93, mentioned earlier in this thread. As far as I could tell online, the two units are functionally comparable. The bracket and molded switch housing of the X93 are somewhat different, necessitated by the fact that the X93 is designed to be tucked into a cramped under-washer position in a GE system. It is also about $10 cheaper than the X10003, but the X10003 was available by Prime on Amazon, so I could fix it right away. I would guess that any of a number of these valves would be fine, since they would sit on the floor of the under-sink cabinet, and not require specific in-machine installation. The water inlet connection on the GE valve is a 3/8” Female iron pipe thread (FIP). My water source connector is a S/S flex hose with a 3/8” female compression fitting. To mate them I needed to pick up a 3/8” male-male brass connector with one end MIP and the other a compression thread. Connecting them was no problem, but getting them leak-free at the MIP-FIP connection was a bit of an issue. One has to hold the valve in one hand while tightening with the other and it’s hard to get a good grip on the valve portion. I used plumber’s tape first, but on the second try I used 1 wrap of plumber’s tape and a thread filler-sealer called “Hercules Block.” It’s a somewhat messy blue paste, but it did the trick. The wire connections were straightforward, just as explained in the video. I test ran it twice yesterday, and it worked normally, just as the OEM valve, and so far, there are no leaks. The time between failure and repair was only 3 days (not the typical Miele 3 weeks), and the out-of-pocket costs for valve, connector, sealer, electrical connectors was $40. (not $450+). The satisfaction of DIY, and un-shackling from the burdensome, confiscatory Miele system?....priceless. My only regret is that I should have done this after the 2nd failure...or the 3rd...slow learner, I guess.

We have both brands of dishwashers in our households. Total of four, two Miele and two Bosch. There are pros and cons with both of them. With the Bosch, which we use daily, I feel I can get more dishes in the dishwasher than the Miele. However to get the dishes completely dry you have to crack the dishwasher open yourself immediately after it is done washing. the Bosch gets things much cleaner than the Miele as far as caked on food. The Miele on the other hand is just as wonderful as the Bosch but has a few extra features that I wish the Bosch had. The Miele when it is done washing has an arm that automatically opens the dishwasher to allow the dishes to dry. I have found on some occasions trouble with this because the arm does not always go back in and it takes several tries to get it fixed and back in order to run another load. However I love the fact that it has the utensil shelf, I feel like I get more utensils in the dishwasher with the Miele than the Bosch utensil basket and with a family of 7 I need to get as much washed in one load as possible. The Miele also has a funky bottom rack on the left side and is hard to load pots and pans because it seems as if it is made for square dishes and a cookie sheet behind it. Whereas with the Bosch you can just keep loading and loading and also change the layout of the rack with a couple of clicks on the top and bottom. Either dishwasher you go with you will be absolutely happy with. Both dishwashers are the best you can buy and the one feature about these two brands are that they actually heat their own water up before putting it on the dishes which helps to get them cleaner compared to other brands. If you have never had one or the other you won't even notice the differences between them.

You can absolutely use this in your washer. I use citric acid for everything: washer, dishwasher, tea kettle - it works better than vinegar, while being gentler and without the stink of boiling vinegar. The thing is, however, your washer only fills with a small amount of water and swishes it around a little - nothing like the inside of the dishwasher (that's why washers with self-cleaning cycles spin the drum to slosh water into every corner of the tub). You can still run a cleaning cycle, if you want to. Hottest, longest cycle and the LemiShine goes in the main wash.

Right now I am washing a couple lightly soiled dishes but mostly crystal, using China cycle with pre wash. I am trying crushed Miele tab (about 1/2 tsp) in the pre wash and 1 tsp citric acid in main compartment, no extra dry. Whatever is going on here is occurring during the intermediate and or final rinse. After many tests, the residue is there regardless of soap amount, within reason. Both the Somat x5 and Miele RA (German and US versions) still leave the residue. Putting RA at 0 with or without detergent still leaves residue, just less. So it’s something going on with our water, I believe. Opening the door and spraying vinegar in during final rinse helps, but not pragmatic. Our Anaheim water hardness ranges from 17-21 gpg and was measured by Miele tech as 21, so it’s set accordingly with RA at 2. One other factor -water takes about 4 to 5 minutes to even get warm here on the 4th floor of our building, essentially a cold water fill. So as opposed to running the water prior to a cycle, I enabled the Heat Accumulator function. To make sure this wasn’t causing the residue, I have ran the machine with the feature enabled and not enabled; the Heat Accumulator didn’t seem to help or hurt the issue.