This is a two way street. The people that get all ruffled at Miele when they suggest that there might be operator error are guilty of the same behavior they're accusing Miele of. They are not considering the possibility that they or a particular use might just using the appliance improperly ! I've had almost 20 years with these machines and Miele sometimes sends out or you receive a bum steer. I've personally seen ones arrive with seized pumps or non functioning heaters - you can count them on less than one hand, but they are out there. second, Miele designs and builds one of the most advanced and highest quality units in the industry today. Like any other company, they sometimes ship a defective unit or it gets broken in transit from Germany or they just get or specify a not so good batch of parts. This does not man that they are a bad or inferior company. It does mean that THAT particular user's experience is not so rosey and like a wrecked car you can't un-wreck it. Knowing that you design and produce one of the best machines in the market it's natural for a company to take the view that if there is an initial prob. that it is operator error, especially when the data actually bears this out. Now, what this doesn't take into account is that the product might just not be the correct choice or a particular individual. i.e I just like rinsing my dishes so they don't get crusty or I like using x brand of detergent which for whatever reason doesn't work in a particular unit. (asolo - I agree with you in principle, but some combos just don't work especially in the prior generation) Or - my dishes are wet AND I refuse to use rinse aid. The prob. is big corp. brother makes NO provision whatsoever for the fact that sometimes a product is not a good fit for or able to meet the needs of some customers. For those that take umbrage at all the try this or that. Take a breath - most of these are good suggestions that have worked for people that have had problems with these in the past - sure it'd be nice to take it out of the box and have it adapt to my habits without needing to read the manual, but that isn't the case with much these days. Again - all this hopping on one leg patting one's head while tugging the left earlobe may be more than a particular customer wants or feels (s)he should have to invest in getting a tool to work for them. But, refusing to do it once you're in the game AND THEN calling the product or co.'s stuff, junk isn't quite fair. I'd advise megg not to get a Bosch - or any other Euro washer and the results are very likely to be the same. I do hope (s)he will come back and tell us what they ended up replacing the miele with and how the new unit fairs.

I read this today; "Hardness minerals affect laundry in a gradual manner often not obvious in today's automated washing processes. People accustomed to hard water may not notice the increased detergent use, faster fading of colors or yellowing of whites, shortened fabric life, greater demand for hot water, increased wear on the washing machine, and extra wash and rinse cycles. Wasteful Hard Water ... Everything from soap's ability to clean to the life span of the washing machine can be affected. A study conducted by the American Institute of Laundering determined that detergent and laundering costs can be as much as twice as much in hard water as compared with soft water. Most modern detergents also contain builders, but in much greater quantities than soap. Unfortunately, the builders tend to be consumed in softening hard water. This limits their ability to clean, and requires greater quantities of detergent to be used to get laundry clean. Rinse Cycles and Water Temperature It's a well known fact that the hotter the water the cleaner the laundry, and this is particularly true in hard water. Hard water's effect on soap and detergent, which reduces cleaning ability and hampers the rinse, means hotter water and extra rinse cycles may be required to clean laundry. The energy used to heat water and to operate the washing machine for extra cycles translates to higher costs and wasted expense to consumers. Fabric Life and Appearance A Purdue University study found that fabrics washed in hard water tend to wear out as much as 15 percent faster than fabrics washed in soft water. This is probably due to the presence of hardness residues left in the fabric after laundering, making it stiffer and causing increased friction and wear on the fabric as it flexes. The Purdue study also found that hard water has a generally negative effect on colors and whites. Colors were found to fade and whites to darken more quickly in hard water. In addition, the study found that laundry washed in hard water became resoiled with greater ease. Washing Machines The dissolved minerals in hard water tend to collect in water-using appliances, shortening their life. Washing machines are not immune to this process, and the buildup of these minerals can clog pipes and cause excessive wear on moving parts. A study by the American Water Works Association (AWWA) found that washing machines used with hard water can wear out up to 30 percent faster. A washing machine, which might otherwise last 10 years, will likely last as few as 7 years where hard water deposits can be formed." Here is a link that might be useful: The Water Quality Association - Soft Water

>>>" I really just want to be able to select a hot wash and know the water is hotter than 104. I need to research if the compact Electrolux can do that, "<<< It does seem to be able to do that as far as I could tell from checking out the compact Electrolux recently. While it was difficult to find much in the way of in depth reviews that got into the details like actual temperatures, I did find a Q&A response from Electrolux Support on the Home Depot webpage for the EFLS210 where the company responded to a question like yours. The responding rep said: "The temperature of the cold water when it enters the washer will be whatever temperature you have your home set to. On an Energy Star cycle [warm setting?] it will be around 100°F, on the regular cycle [hot setting?] it will be around 120°F, and on a sanitize cycle it will be around 152°F." Because this seemed unclearly incomplete, I called the Electrolux customer support number to get a more detailed response. I happened to get a rep who actually was familiar with the model. I was deluged with detailed info. I was only able fully understand what I was told by looking at the "cycles and options" chart on page 15 of the "Operating Manual" that I had downloaded. I'd recommended checking out the manual if you haven't already downloaded the pdf. The rep started by telling me that an "Energy Star cycle" was the "normal" and/or "whites" cycles using the default temperature setting of "warm" with the default option of "eco friendly" engaged. That should produce a wash temperature of "around 100°F." When you switch off the "eco friendly option," the warm temperature should be mixed a little higher, around 104°F. (This assumes that the water arriving at the hot inlet is at or above 104°F. ) If you select the "hot" temperature option for these cycles without switching off the "eco friendly" option, it seems that the wash water does not get much hotter than the "warm" setting. (Dunno if that might also be true for your present LG WM4370, but maybe something to look into?) Anyway, when the "eco friendly" option is disengaged on the compact Electrolux, the rep said that the Automatic Temperature Control (ATC) is supposed to mix the intake water to produce 120°F wash water temperature --- provided your hot water line is delivering water to the washer at or above 120°F. (The rep gave the standard advice that "you might want to run the hot tap on a nearby laundry sink to be sure that some of the cooled standing water has been purged if your laundry is any distance from the water heater.") The Electrolux rep further explained that the washer's "steam" option is a recirculation pump that pairs with the on-board water heater to keep "hot" washes hotter for a longer time. When you choose the "heavy duty" cycle or the "normal with steam" cycles, and bump the temperature selection to "hot," and deselect the "eco friendly option" when using the "heavy duty" cycle (the "eco" is automatically deselected when you choose the "normal with steam" cycle), the washer should maintain a wash water temperature around 120° for most of the wash cycle before cooling down towards the end of the wash time. The subsequent rinses are with cold water. The rep was a little unsure of how the sanitize cycle worked except that the onboard water heater heats the wash water up to 152°F and that the cycle takes almost two hours to run. (From posts by owners in various places, it seems that the Sanitize cycle takes about 1 hr. and 52 min.) After ingesting that passle of info overload, I also stumbled into some discussions of the EFLS210 and its immediate predecessor model (EFLS20Q) here and at Automatic Washer.org. (AFAIK, the prior 20Q differs from the current 210 mainly in having a couple of fewer cycles.) For searching here and at AutomaticWasher, I found that a poster named Practigal seemed to have the most in-depth info. You might include that screenname in a search string when looking for discussion threads.

The washer seems to spin just fine. Initially it did seem finicky, but i suspected it was not perfectly level. i filled it with bath towels and did a rinse and spin. That revealed one leg that needed a little extra extension to get rid of most of the vibration. It has successfully spun out at 1600rpm after that on almost all loads. The front is still enamled from what I can tell. It looks identical to the WWH860. I doubt they would change that process as it would require a lot of process changes. Paint or powder coating also looks very different. The exterior parts look to be virtually identical to the previous models, with the exception of the doors for the TwinDos and Drain Trap.